Chapter 53 — Exit, Stage Left — For Evolution
There were many sensible ways to react when an Apex-stage metal monkey was trying to kill you.
Caelan had no time for any of them.
Chrome Eidon's fist struck the ground where he had stood a fraction of a second earlier, collapsing the street beneath it. Caelan emerged from Stellar Movement several metres away, fully enclosed in the Azure armor, Razorstag burning white in his hand as black cables tore through the air after him.
He turned.
Razorstag met one cable.
The weapon's edge flashed.
The strand snapped aside before it could touch him.
Another came from behind.
Eyes of Fate showed it first.
Caelan ducked.
The cable passed above his helmet and erased half a ruined wall.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that hurting Chrome Eidon and actually defeating Chrome Eidon were two entirely different ambitions.
Archoniel struck from above.
His radiant sword crashed against Eidon's golden shoulder with enough force to split the pavement beneath them.
CLANG!
Eidon barely moved.
Then something white and blue struck him from the side.
Frostclaw.
The temporary Elite wolf slammed bodily into Chrome Eidon, crystal-armored shoulder driving into the Apex creature's ribs. For the first time in several exchanges, Eidon actually stumbled.
Frostclaw landed gracefully, enormous dark-blue claws scraping across the stone.
"Apologies," he said with the same calm dignity Alex had possessed even when he was small enough to fit beneath a table. "But your performance has gone on quite long enough."
Chrome Eidon slowly turned his head.
"You."
Frostclaw lowered his body.
"Me."
Eidon swung.
Frostclaw moved.
The fist passed centimetres above his crystalline head.
Frost exploded beneath his paws as he twisted around and raked both foreclaws across Eidon's flank.
Sparks flew.
Thin scratches appeared.
Nothing deeper.
Chrome Eidon looked down.
Then back at Frostclaw.
His grin widened.
"Oh, this is going to be fun."
"That wasn't the reaction I hoped for."
Archoniel descended beside Frostclaw.
Caelan landed on the other side.
Three against one.
Adult Legendary.
Elite angel.
Elite frost wolf.
Against Apex.
Still not enough.
Caelan knew it.
Path Maker knew it.
There was no route in which the three simply overwhelmed Chrome Eidon through greater force.
They could delay him.
Damage him slightly.
Force him to work.
But eventually one mistake would happen.
Against those cables, one mistake was enough.
Caelan's mind should have been nowhere except the battle.
Instead, an older question pressed briefly at the edge of his thoughts.
Not whether he was human.
That answer had already been settled.
Not whether he was the original Caelan Ardyn.
He wasn't.
What remained was stranger.
If he eventually returned to the universe he remembered, what exactly would he be returning to?
Han Shuren.
Lin Rue.
Chen Hao.
Heavenly Flame Sect.
People he remembered loving.
People who, somewhere in that universe, might still have the original Caelan.
The man whose later memories now lived inside an Aetherkin who had never experienced them.
A cable snapped toward his helmet.
Caelan vanished.
Not now.
He appeared behind Chrome Eidon and drove Razorstag's edge across the metal monkey's back.
A thin glowing line appeared.
Eidon spun.
Caelan was already gone.
Identity could wait.
The people here could not.
Yuto was real.
Renji was real.
Daichi was real.
Stormmane was real.
Luminel was real.
Whatever Caelan's origin meant, the choices he was making now belonged to him.
That was enough for today.
Chrome Eidon suddenly launched a web of dark lasers.
Archoniel raised his shield.
Frostclaw threw up a wall of ice.
Caelan compressed the wind.
The three defenses collided with the attack.
The explosion shook the district.
When the light cleared, Frostclaw skidded backward through broken stone while Archoniel struggled to keep his shield raised.
Caelan's boots carved grooves into the street.
Chrome Eidon laughed.
"That's it?"
Caelan looked at Razorstag.
Tiny cuts.
Nothing more.
Even the weapon Vellum had specifically chosen to pierce refined adamantite lacked enough force in Caelan's hands to do decisive damage.
Caelan looked toward Frostclaw.
Then Archoniel.
"Buy me time."
Frostclaw's ears shifted.
"How much?"
"All you can."
Archoniel understood immediately.
"You're leaving."
"For a while."
Chrome Eidon laughed from across the battlefield.
"Running away, blondie?"
Caelan ignored him.
Frostclaw looked at Archoniel.
The angel raised his sword.
"We'll hold him."
Frostclaw's crystal claws dug into the ground.
"For as long as we can."
Caelan looked at both of them.
"Don't try to beat him."
Frostclaw gave him a dry look.
"I had gathered that."
Archoniel lifted his shield.
"Go."
Caelan disappeared.
Chrome Eidon's grin faltered.
"Hey!"
Frostclaw lunged into his path.
"Your opponent hasn't left."
Eidon looked down at him.
Frostclaw's jaws opened.
A blast of freezing energy struck Chrome Eidon directly in the face.
Archoniel followed with holy light.
The Apex monkey roared.
And Caelan was already several streets away.
Ride Razorwind.
That had been Vellum's advice.
Caelan had found it irritatingly vague at the time.
He still did.
Bond properly.
Even worse.
Vellum had said it with the smug tone of someone who either knew considerably more than he was explaining or knew nothing whatsoever and wanted credit if something interesting happened.
Unfortunately, Caelan was desperate enough to try.
Behind him, the battle continued.
He could feel it through the faint Fate threads still connected to Gilded Hollow's defenders.
Frostclaw.
Archoniel.
Stormmane.
Luminel.
Stormtusk.
Vellum.
All of them fighting.
He needed more.
Not another technique.
Not another clever use of something he already possessed.
His Adult form had reached a wall.
He could feel that now.
Something beyond it existed.
And if the development of Aetherkin depended upon experience, essence, understanding and the legends they embodied, then perhaps Vellum's ridiculous suggestion was not entirely ridiculous.
Caelan reached the western battlefield.
He heard Razorwind before he saw him.
VROOOOOOM!
A red-and-black streak blasted between two enemy Adults, turned sharply and drove one directly into a wall.
Then something enormous dropped from above.
A spider Aetherkin nearly the size of a house slammed into the road in front of Razorwind, eight armored legs spreading as webbing burst from its abdomen.
Razorwind braked.
The spider lunged.
Caelan appeared between them.
Razorstag flashed.
One enormous foreleg separated cleanly.
The spider screamed.
Caelan followed with a burst of wind that hurled it backward through a collapsed market stall.
It scrambled away into the smoke.
Razorwind stared at him.
"You again."
"I need a ride."
Razorwind's engine lowered.
"You already ride me."
"A serious one."
Razorwind's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
Caelan looked toward the corrupted swamp.
Dreadtide's colossal silhouette still towered above it.
"We're going there."
Razorwind followed his gaze.
The sea-monster roared.
Black water rose like a tidal wave.
Razorwind's engine revved.
"That thing?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I need its essence."
Razorwind paused.
Caelan continued.
"For evolution."
The Roadstreaker stared at him for another moment.
Then his engine growled with delight.
"Now you're talking."
Caelan swung onto his back.
Razorwind lowered himself.
"Hold on."
"I know how to ride."
"You know how to sit on me."
Caelan's eyebrows lowered.
Razorwind's engine screamed.
"Let's find out if you can ride."
They launched.
Wind exploded behind them.
The Roadstreaker's wheels bit into the street and hurled them forward.
Caelan leaned with him.
Not commanding.
Not merely balancing.
Moving together.
Wind Ki spread around Razorwind's frame, reducing resistance and guiding the currents flowing over his armor. Light shimmered across the red-black plating. Razorwind adjusted instinctively, responding to Caelan's movements before either consciously decided what came next.
They turned.
Together.
Accelerated.
Together.
Dodged an incoming fireball without speaking.
Together.
Something stirred.
Caelan felt it first through the place in his body that had changed when he evolved into Adult.
A pulse.
Razorwind felt it too.
His engine note changed.
"What was that?"
"I don't know."
"Do it again."
"I'm not doing it."
"Well, start."
Caelan almost laughed.
They accelerated.
The city blurred.
The battlefield became streaks of flame, ice and shadow.
Caelan's golden light spread farther across Razorwind's frame—not a Destiny Enchantment, not ownership, but resonance. His wind shaped itself around Razorwind's speed while Razorwind's motion pulled more from Caelan in return.
Two different legends.
Temporarily moving as one.
Something inside Caelan answered.
Not evolution.
Not yet.
But a door had moved.
He could feel it.
Razorwind laughed through his engine.
"Faster!"
Caelan leaned lower.
"Faster."
They became a red, gold and blue streak tearing toward Dreadtide.
Dreadtide had begun to hate Luminel.
This was, Luminel felt, an entirely reasonable response to several hours of being struck by lightning.
The enormous sea-monster roared as another bolt hit his shoulder.
Luminel teleported away before a tentacle could smash through him.
He reappeared above the corrupted swamp.
"You really should consider retirement!"
Dreadtide answered by firing a stream of black water.
Luminel vanished again.
The attack carved through three ruined buildings.
"Apparently not!"
Then something shook the ground.
Not Dreadtide.
Heavier.
A shape crashed through the enemy line.
Stormtusk.
Daichi's fully awakened Responsibility Sigil had pushed Clark through Tidemaw and into his temporary Elite form, and the result was enormous.
Stormtusk thundered onto the battlefield with frozen armor covering his massive body, great tusks curving beside his face and an immense war hammer gripped in both forelimbs. Water spiraled around him with every step.
Dreadtide turned.
Stormtusk looked up.
"You're ugly."
Luminel stared.
"That's your opening?"
"I panicked."
Dreadtide roared.
A tentacle came down.
Stormtusk hurled his hammer.
The weapon struck the tentacle in midair.
CRACK!
Ice spread instantly.
The entire limb froze solid.
Dreadtide jerked backward in surprise.
Stormtusk charged.
For something that large, he moved frighteningly fast.
He caught the returning hammer.
Turned.
And struck Dreadtide squarely in the chest.
BOOOOOOM!
Frozen mist exploded across the swamp.
Dreadtide staggered.
His tentacles thrashed wildly, destroying trees and broken structures.
Stormtusk pressed forward.
Another swing.
The hammer struck Dreadtide's back.
Ice spread across the oily skin.
The sea-monster screamed.
Stormtusk grinned.
Dreadtide summoned water.
An enormous vortex formed around them, sucking debris, mud and entire sections of broken road into its rotation.
Stormtusk planted his feet.
Water answered him.
Not Dreadtide.
Him.
The vortex shuddered.
Stormtusk roared and slammed the hammer into the ground.
The battlefield froze.
Water became ice.
Mud hardened beneath a spreading layer of frost.
Jagged frozen pillars erupted around Dreadtide, cutting off several routes of movement.
Luminel hovered above them.
His eyes widened.
"Again!"
Stormtusk raised his hammer.
Blue-white light poured across it.
Dreadtide tore one frozen tentacle free and lunged.
Luminel struck first.
Lightning descended.
Dreadtide recoiled.
Stormtusk swung.
"GLACIAL JUDGMENT!"
The hammer crashed into Dreadtide's skull.
The world turned white.
Ice exploded across the monster's head and shoulders.
His corrupted hide cracked.
Black fluid sprayed across the frozen ground.
Dreadtide roared so loudly the swamp itself trembled.
Stormtusk pulled his hammer free.
Luminel descended slightly.
"That hurt him."
Stormtusk breathed heavily.
"Good."
Then they heard an engine.
A distant whistle became a scream.
Luminel turned.
A red-black blur appeared between the ruined buildings.
Stormtusk looked over.
"What—"
Razorwind hit the edge of the frozen battlefield at tremendous speed.
His tires sparked.
Caelan crouched low on his back, Azure armor gleaming with golden light, Razorstag held in one hand.
Luminel's eyes widened.
"Caelan!"
Razorwind accelerated.
Dreadtide was still recovering from Stormtusk's attack.
Cracks ran across his frozen skull.
One section of corrupted flesh had split enough to expose the pulsing core beneath.
Caelan saw it.
Eyes of Fate showed the angle.
Path Maker showed the route.
One line.
One chance.
He leaned forward.
Razorwind understood without being told.
They accelerated together.
Dreadtide noticed.
Too late.
A tentacle swept toward them.
Razorwind turned beneath it.
Another came low.
He jumped from a ridge of broken ice.
For one heartbeat, they were airborne.
Caelan moved.
He left Razorwind's back in a burst of Stellar Movement.
Razorstag shifted in his hand, narrowing into a piercing blade of condensed light.
Dreadtide's exposed core filled his vision.
Caelan struck.
Razorstag punched straight through.
Dreadtide froze.
Every tentacle stopped.
Caelan drove the weapon deeper.
The core split.
Light erupted from inside the sea-monster.
Stormtusk stared.
Luminel slowly lowered his spear.
Dreadtide made one final sound.
Not a roar.
Something deeper.
Then his enormous body began breaking apart.
Dark flesh became light.
Corrupted water collapsed.
The poisoned swamp started evaporating around them.
The Elite Aetherkin dissolved into luminous essence that rose like thousands of fireflies.
Caelan landed.
Razorwind skidded to a stop beside him.
Stormtusk stared at the disappearing monster.
"He just..."
Luminel nodded.
"Yes."
Caelan looked upward.
The essence hovered.
Then moved.
Toward him.
Light entered the Azure armor.
Through it.
Into his body.
Dreadtide's accumulated essence flooded through Caelan's Aetherkin form.
Power.
Experience.
Fragments of elemental understanding.
Water.
Darkness.
Pressure.
The persistence of something that had survived countless battles.
Caelan staggered once.
Razorwind moved beside him.
"You all right?"
Caelan did not answer immediately.
Something inside him was changing.
Not enough to evolve.
Not yet.
But the ceiling above his Adult form no longer felt quite as solid as it had before.
The bond he had touched while riding Razorwind remained there too.
A new thread.
A new possibility.
Caelan looked at his armored hand.
Luminel watched him carefully.
"You felt something."
"Yes."
"Evolution?"
Caelan looked toward the battlefield where Chrome Eidon still fought Archoniel and Frostclaw.
"Not yet."
Razorstag hummed in his grip.
Caelan turned toward Razorwind.
The Roadstreaker revved.
Stormtusk rested his enormous hammer on one shoulder.
Luminel raised his spear.
Chrome Eidon's distant roar rolled across Gilded Hollow.
Caelan's golden eyes narrowed behind the helmet.
"But we're closer."