Savage Awakening 497. The Lost Ruins (VIII)

A/N: Hey folks—couldn’t get a chapter out Sunday, will be back tomorrow!

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There was the crash of chains shattering.

Then lines of thick, rage-filled light burst into being, streaking for the center…

A heat began to build.

A build—and build—

It was something like a nuclear blast, but greater, stacking well past the point of blowing up.

The lad just sat on it, letting more and more heat-streaks race in, even as the golems kept beating him.

He was working on something big in there. The Sage could just feel it.

“COME ON, LAD!” he roared.

They’d pushed Zane, alright. Pushed him to work his powers into something even stronger.

The pressure in Zane’s fists was immense, a tension begging for release—so many streaks pouring in it made the image of a Red Giant mid-air—

The Sage scooted a couple of steps back.

Then Zane cranked all the way back, and punched.

***

The sun golem was blown straight through a line of buildings, trailing smoke. The density golem went flying into the wall, shattering kingdoms. The dwarf went careening into the ravine.

Skill gained!

Overclocked Red Giant Punch

Zane blinked at his smoking fist, breathing heavily. He surveyed the damage and felt pleased.

He’d needed something a bit more explosive to get them off of him—he’d just refused to believe he didn’t have it in him.

In the end, all it took was loading as heavy a blow as he could in close quarters.

He was kind of inspired by getting blasted by all those ion beams. That sun golem liked to charge up its blasts—it gave them a real ‘oomph.’ He figured he’d try it out.

It worked out quite nicely, it seemed.

Now he was on his feet again—now he’d gotten them off him. He was still feeling pretty battered—missing a tooth or two, with quite a few ribs broken. But he was so pumped up right now he couldn’t even feel it.

The golems were wheeling their way back now, sporting new craters on their faces, but very much in fighting shape—just disoriented. Split up from their master.

He seized the chance.

He charged—not for the dwarf this time.

This time, he charged the golems straight up.

They’d beat him up pretty badly, well past 50% health. Took their time beating him.

You didn’t just do that to him and expect to get away with it.

They should never have let him up.

It was time for some payback.

***

His hammer took the sun golem just as it was righting itself, sending it barreling over. Another hammer ripped for the density golem and knocked it off course.

Then he was locked in a brutal melee.

The sun golem yanked out its cannons. The density golem whirred, readying to charge…

Zane put himself right between them, feeling them locking onto him.

He stood there, bracing to take it.

It was new for him. He was used to being the bull, not the bullfighter. But this time, he had an idea.

One good thing about getting pummeled for a good minute or two—it did give time to figure out just how to finish these bastards. Even as he was fighting, he was thinking about how he’d wreck them when he broke out.

One thing he’d noticed while getting walloped—they hit quite hard. He had to give it to them. The trouble was it was three-on-one—all of it fell on him.

He had a hunch he knew just how to even the playing field.

Zane closed his eyes, making his senses spread wide. Feeling for the moment. He felt that ion beam charging on one side—all that lightning, sun energy concentrating on one spike of sunsteel, ready to blow. On the other side, the density golem gathered all its gravity…

The sun golem blasted. The density golem charged.

Ion blast struck dozens of planets’ worth of steel—sent that sun electricity arching down the full length of it, conducting through every joint, locking out its limbs. The density golem skidded hard—

Right into the sun golem.

CLANG!

That impact flattened its cannons. Both golems went flipping sideways.

Zane roared—and unleashed his hammers.

Two hard bashes, two brilliant explosions—two brand-new dents down the golems’ faces.

They tried coming at him again, but he put himself between them, chucking hammers, leaping away, smashing full force. Making sure he timed their blasts just right. A savage dance between man and machine.

In the end, Zane got the better of the damage.

With Limit Break, he could hurt them like never before. Really put good solid dents in them—making them wreck each other all the while.

He could see the moment he started to break them. Saw cannons and gears coming off; with every exchange, they looked more like big lumps of scrap metal.

The Forgemaster had finally clawed its way back onto the battlefield. It tried wedging its way back into the fight, lumbering and groaning. But Zane made a wide sweep of his chain and forced it away.

He didn’t need it helping its minions, just as he was about to finish them.

A wobbling sun golem tried sniping him, but he leaped, cocked back two hammers, and gave a furious war cry.

CLANG-CLANG!

Two hammers landed right on a crater—and that did it.

Half its body caved in.

Its ion beam went wide, whacking the density golem yet again.

And Zane turned and gave that thing a taste of his might too. CLANG-CLANG!

They simply could not withstand him anymore.

The density golem was the only one that could even resist. It still managed to get a few hard clubs in, managed to throw him off course at times.

Warning!

Health under 25%

But no matter what it did, it just couldn’t stop him.

These things slowed down when you hurt them. Zane just didn’t. If anything, he fought even harder.

His essence was starting to run low—but he was so pumped up he didn’t even feel it. He made himself a machine of destruction.

Pumped up like that, Limit Broken, sending hammer after hammer crashing all over the battlefield, he felt untouchable.

It felt like everything he threw was a death blow.

That last minute was a massacre. Just Zane, exerting at his limit. Showing off all his body could do.

Until two piles of scrap metal lay at his feet.

At the very end, he didn’t even use his hammers. Just took his fists to them and tore them apart.

Then he rounded on the dwarf.

Heaving thick breaths. Badly bloodied. His head was still ringing from all those density hits—he’d gotten whacked so hard it felt like the Concept was beaten into his skull. But he was still grinning.

The dwarf was cracked, smoking—but it had to have something like 50% health left.

It was the monster, though, that had to hesitate.

It had just steel and bone now. There was no comparison to Zane’s body. Zane’s physique shone so much brighter in the Astral Plane—that life force blazing with each Limit-Broken heartbeat…

Even beaten up this badly, he had the edge he needed.

It was time to finish things.

As he advanced on the Forgemaster, it hefted its wrenches. A magnetic field started to stir—

Zane didn’t let it finish. One Red Giant Step and blasted for it. Made it roll out of the way, field shattering—the earth seemed to shift beneath its field as it moved, granting it quite a bit of extra distance.

He frowned.

The thing was pretty mobile—he had to give it that.

He went at it again, hammers blazing, and this time it barely managed to get out of the way. It did that same earth-move trick again. The thing was playing all defense, he realized.

He got what it was doing. In an all-out brawl, it thought it could not match him.

That, by itself, gave him a swell of pride.

The one thing it had on him was that he was pretty beat up. Zane could admit that. He was pretty sure most of the critical muscles in him were torn now. He was still explosive—but he was running off sheer essence, sheer Asura vigor at this point. And with how long he’d held this Limit Break, he was running low there too….

This thing’s only hope was to hold him off until he ran out and keeled over.

It was, in his view, a weak hope.

He was pretty sure he could chase it down and smash it as is.

He still did feel a bit woozy—his head was still ringing where that golem had clobbered him, over and over.

… Hmm.

The next time he lunged, he made a fist.

It tried that same roll—but this time, he called on that Concept. Held it with his will. And pulled, as hard as he could. It was a bit clumsy of an attempt, he had to admit.

But it got the job done.

The dwarf veered off course, off balance—

He closed the distance between them with one explosive step.

And smashed that thing’s face in with a single Overloaded Red Giant Punch.

He crushed it hard into the ground, so hard it broke past the steel layers and ate straight dirt.

Then he stood over its fallen form and finished the job.

Smash after smash after smash, every explosion digging its grave deeper.

He knelt there over the ashes. Smoke rising all around him… all that was left was the pleasant quiet of total destruction.

The skeleton dwarf faded away. Corruption beaten right out of it. Its bones lay, after all these years, to rest.

Level up! 

Level up! 

Essence Level 577 -> 579

Zane grinned at his fists.

Nice.

That Concept of Stellar Gravity still intrigued him. It wasn’t fresh in his mind anymore—though he was pretty sure he could make that basic pull again with some practice.

He had a feeling he’d only taken the first step with it.

That golem didn’t have the best grasp of it. He’d seen the Sage use gravity to hold down Empyreans or even wrench them toward him… that sparked a happy thought.

There was some strong anti-bird potential there.

He figured he had plenty of time to figure it out.

In the meantime—it was time to claim his prizes.