Crystalise: The Exaltation System: ASCENDANT Page 2

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  The little A.I. had collected her own summarized data on the world around her. Liam did not need that small horde of notes in his system, but Nym had made them of her own will. Nym had decided that these points were important enough to make note of in her own words.

  Liam kept that extra data out of curiosity.

  Nym’s programming was a heavily-modified programming mess born of drunken all-nighters from the few vacation & rest periods Exaltation permitted them. Liam hardly remembered half of the messy code he’d tinkered with when he first ventured to simply modify the original AI’s dull, sleep-inducing voice.

  Attempts to sort through Nym’s trainwreck of modified scripts and string-salad code had all been futile. Nym’s code had only grown exponentially as she adapted to the world around her—memories.

  At least, he liked to imagine that was the case.

  Memories were a more pleasant, albeit romanticized term to use than junk data.

  A new entry in her list of notes piqued his interest: Eighth Pillar.

  Liam ventured into the file.

  An associated file opened in a sub-window: Pillars.

  PILLARS

  Eight champion exalts called the Pillars determine the progression of exalt rank. The First Pillar determines promotion from Rank 0 to Rank 1 and the Second Pillar determines promotion from Rank 1 to Rank 2 and so forth. This goes on until the final, Eighth Pillar, who must be defeated in a deathmatch-clause battle to attain Rank 8 and the right to challenge Libelle’s most powerful exalt, the Chevalier.

  EIGHTH PILLAR

  Julian Laurent

  OFC: 47, OLC: 01, OKC: 71

  Exalt Class: DPS

  Rank 8, LV.89

  Innate Element: Fire

  Birthdate: Y545-11-21 (age 29)

  Height: 178cm

  Weight: 76kg

  Laterality: Right

  Years Active: Y556 - Present

  Combat Points:

  Elemental: Close-range, direct fire DPS.

  Non-elemental: Grappling & submission holds, ground fighting.

  Misc. Notes:

  Association with “Aviere” organization (a cult?)

  Outspoken obsession with Chevalier Serena Lucienne.

  “This Eighth Pillar guy,” Nym said, “he’s a little weird.”

  “A little is an understatement. Laurent’s been under public scrutiny for a few years,” Liam said.

  “It’s odd to me, though… you would think that Chrysid would be choosier about who they permit to become Pillars. Cross-referencing through past Pillars and even some Chevaliers, it seems like a real mix of people with squeaky-clean records and outright criminals.”

  “It’s not about records or behavior. All Chrysid cares about is who can punch their way to the top and hold that place the longest…”

  “Don’t they worry about their public figures going rogue?”

  “I’m sure they have their ways of keeping their pawns under control. Either that or maybe the glory of being a Pillar is payment enough for a façade of obedience. Besides, Laurent’s exactly where he wants to be.”

  “You’re telling me. Poor Miss Chevalier… having this guy right next door. You should see some of the dirt I’ve dug up on Laurent.”

  “Between his obsession with the Chevalier and the cult stuff, I don’t think there’s anything wild about him that I haven’t heard.”

  “Did you hear about the cannibalism thing?”

  “The… the fucking what now?”

  Liam didn’t care to hear any elaboration—he swiped the AR screens away and exhaled.

  The sooner this battle was over with, the better.

  04 | High Altitude

  Liam scrolled through the display list and scoured the maps of their previous location.

  “Have you managed to find Laurent?”

  “I’m still not seeing him anywhere,” Liam answered, poring over Nym’s scans of their surroundings. “He’s not on the enemy target list or the maps. I’m concerned that I may have screwed us over with that last bomb.”

  “How?”

  “There’s a chance that I might not have killed him. I might have just knocked his trackers offline,” Liam explained. “I haven’t gotten notifications indicating the end of the match, either.”

  “Laurent could be dead, though. Judges probably just haven’t called it yet.”

  Liam’s brow knit as he activated a holographic map projection over his arm. The map duplicated what he saw within his visor’s UI as he illustrated his point to James.

  “I don’t think he’s dead yet. Feels too easy… I’m almost tempted to say we should go back and make sure. He could be hiding out in any of these points on the map—”

  James groaned. “Screw that, I’m not back-tracking.”

  “He could just be hiding out somewhere and letting his suit regen.”

  “Regen…? His suit had a regen mod?”

  Liam nodded. “Nym was able to catch a quick scan before our fight started. That could be why he wasn’t very conservative about his batteries. He went through at least four during that fight, as far as I counted.”

  “Yeah… I saw him go through a couple.”

  “Right. We don’t know if he’s gone through all five.”

  “We also don’t know if he’s even alive,” James countered.

  “I’m simply saying that we shouldn’t be surprised if we cross this bridge and find the exalt’s gateway into that tower locked. The system won’t let us progress until we defeat the Eighth Pillar—whether by death or concession. You know Laurent won’t concede, either.”

  James crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Alright, well… I vote we just keep going, see if we come to a wall and if nothing changes, then we think about going back for him. You got any more of those alkali bombs, Professor?”

  “I’m up to about 20% LCR,” Liam answered. “That’s 40% until I can make another alkali bomb. Hell, it’ll be at least a twenty-minute recharge until I can pull a useful quantity of potassium.”

  “Damn. Seriously? Can’t you just hurl a chunk of iron at his face and call it a day?”

  “I could, but iron melts. Between my metal and your ice, we’re at a slight disadvantage.”

  “Damn it…” James hissed. “Well, what else do you have?”

  “All I’ve got right now is a little iron, aluminum and sodium. My LCR’s too low to convert to anything with a higher melting point. Or to create large enough quantities for another bomb.”

  “What about that one stuff… the, uh… thermal, therm…? Y’know, with my ice and his fire?”

  “Thermite? We’re on a bridge.”

  “Yeah, and…?”

  “That’ll kill the three of us, James.”

  James lulled his head back with a dramatic groan.

  “Screw this, I wanna fight…”

  Liam continued to scroll through the data on the holographic AR display. “Take a breather. Build a snowman or something. Fight the snowman.”

  James grumbled as he conjured a pillar of jagged, crystalline ice. Liam flinched back and away as his brother kicked and shattered it.

  As the ice around them grew, the oxygen levels noted by Liam’s UI ticked up ever so slightly.

  All that ice is actually affecting the vicinity’s oxygen levels… cool.

  Wait…

  “James, wait, stop. Chill.” Liam eyed the atmospheric conditions report in his UI.

  “What?” James asked.

  “I’m thinking… being all the way up here, we might have environmental factors in our favor.”

  “Explain?”

  “We’re not indoors anymore. Out here, the oxygen’s at 31%—life support systems are all centered down in the city. That could be why he’s not coming after us if he’s still alive.”

  “He’s at a disadvantage…”

&nbs
p; “Exactly. He’d have to burn through more lucidium to keep up his usual temperatures. His fire’s weakened up here.”

  Liam trailed off when he glimpsed tiny shadows moving out of the corner of his eye.

  A pair of vespid drones buzzed overhead. Liam’s nerves tensed. He had developed a reflexive bad feeling whenever more than one drone hovered around them.

  Two drones meant more than one recorded and broadcast angle. On the broadcast, commentators were hyping something that viewers knew and they did not.

  Any time Liam saw three drones, he knew that combat was mere moments away. Sure enough, a third drone emerged from the clouds and hovered toward them.

  Liam looked back to the Cathedral of the Eighth Pillar.

  At the heart of a growing plume of flames stood the fire exalt, Julian Laurent.

  “Great,” Liam sighed. “I should’ve figured this would be a bad spot to take a breather.”

  * * *

  Libelle’s laws require all citizens between the ages of 19 and 29 to take part in a compulsory three-year period of military service known as Exaltation.

  Citizens who take part in Exaltation are known as exalts. Some exalts fall in line with direct military activity while others take part in the national tournament to earn their ranks. Regardless of chosen Exaltation procedures, all exalts answer to Chrysid and the Chevalier.

  05 | Fire, Ice, and Metal

  Cracks marred the Eighth Pillar’s black sentisuit. Pulsing red lucidium veins blinked with a beat of urgency. Julian Laurent had hidden away to run his suit’s regen module and self-repairs. However, severe and irreparable structural damage left the suit in a visibly critical state.

  Laurent looked disheveled through the tinted visor of his helmet. Something about the cocky smile Liam saw before had changed. His auburn hair clumped in sweaty strands over his face, and smears of dried blood painted his lips and nostrils.

  Whatever impact he’d suffered through the alkali bomb’s blast had rendered his suit unreadable to the Chrysid network’s monitors. They had no way of knowing whether his sentisuit’s armor integrity was at seven or seventy percent.

  “Nym, can you get a read on this guy’s status?”

  “No… he’s completely blacked out on my read. We’re going to have to fight him blind. He drops when he drops.”

  “Fantastic,” Liam answered flatly.

  “How is this guy still alive?” James growled.

  “You guys really thought that little bomb of yours could take me out?” Laurent said with a cackle. “Oh, you two are terminally optimistic, aren’t you?”

  Iron cords materialized at Liam’s fingertips and then wove into the structure of his preferred weapon. At the end of the materialized chain formed a spiked orb—a meteor hammer. Liam kicked up the orb and gathered momentum in practiced, rhythmic sweeps.

  Nearby, James conjured his own weapon. Ice formed at his hands, forging a lance made of ice. Cold mist billowed off the ice.

  “I was going easy on the two of you. Felt a little pity, y’know, what with losing poor Jove and all.”

  Laurent’s equilibrium visibly wavered as he approached.

  “Sympathy play’s over, now. You’ll never reach her… I won’t let you. You’ll never reach Serena. I’ll protect her… I… am the Eighth Pillar…”

  Liam looked to James, speaking through their comms in a channel unheard by Laurent. “He’s off his game.”

  “What?”

  “He’s rambling and disoriented,” Liam explained. “I’m thinking he sustained some kind of head injury in that blast. He’s off-balance—trying to muscle through a concussion, probably.”

  “Do you really think you’re even worthy of seeing her?” Laurent roared as he closed the distance between them. “My beloved Chevalier?”

  “You think he’ll go down easier this time?”

  “No,” Liam shook his head. “If his cortisol levels are spiking, his aetherbreak gauge will only fill up faster. Keep your distance.”

  “How do you suggest that? We’re on a bridge, Liam!” James snapped. “There’s only straight at him or straight away from him!”

  Laurent’s laughter rumbled through their helmets.

  “The most divine spear bearer, guardian of Libelle’s sacred light… who protects the protector?” The Eighth Pillar rambled. “I… I will protect you, Serena!”

  Liam wasn’t about to wait for Laurent to come any closer. He launched the meteor hammer at Laurent, who narrowly dodged on clumsy legs. The fire exalt snorted and laughed at Liam’s missed attack.

  Just as Laurent moved to summon a pillar of fire, Liam jerked the chain back and landed the spiked orb into Laurent’s back. A blood-curdling scream erupted from Laurent as sparks and flames billowed from the back of his suit.

  I must have landed that hit on his lucidium converter…

  Before Laurent could launch another onslaught of flames, the spiked orb exploded into a spiraling web of metal tendrils. Liam guided each cord with gestures until Laurent was entangled in a web of heavy metal cords.

  Laurent roared and summoned another storm of fire, more chaotic than the last.

  To stop Laurent from writhing and summoning flames, Liam tightened the cords. Despite Liam’s efforts to keep the amalgamation high in tungsten, the heat produced by the exalt’s erratic fire melted the cords.

  “Damn it, I can’t hold him!”

  James leapt up over a rising mound of ice to strike from above. Despite his wavering equilibrium, Laurent evaded the attack and barged at James through fire and melting metal cords.

  Laurent screamed, “I am the hand of the Chevalier—the hand of a GOD!”

  Liam summoned another meteor orb and with enough precision he smashed it right into Laurent’s face. As the meteor at the end of the cord flung back into orbit around Liam, Laurent’s flames burned out around them.

  Cracks spiraled across Laurent’s visor. Liam could see red lights flashing across Laurent’s face. Warning signals from his system’s UI—warnings of a compromised helmet.

  “Freeze him out,” Liam called. “His helmet’s breached!”

  James lunged for Laurent with another crystallized javelin aimed directly at his helmet. Laurent tore away in time to dodge the ice exalt’s attack.

  Laurent landed several punches on James before he seized the ice lance. The two wrestled for it as flames spiraled around them. James’s growing spikes of icy stalagmites puddled around the two.

  With a roar, James thrust his body weight against Laurent, straight for the sharpened tip of a rising ice stalagmite. Laurent grabbed James and re-oriented their trajectory. The sharp tip of the stalagmite rose behind James and Liam’s breath caught in his throat.

  Rolling waves of mist and steam obscured the exalts and the ice before Liam could witness inevitable impalement.

  “James!”

  Liam heard their struggle beyond the steam and fog. He shifted his meteor hammer’s orbit into a defensive rotation as he neared. Melted runoff rippled around his boots.

  Damn it… I can’t see anything!

  Liam eyed the party member list in his helmet’s interface—it listed both Laurent and James as “LOCATING…”

  “Damn it,” Liam hissed, “James!”

  As the steam cleared, he saw the hazy form of his brother crouched over a pinned Laurent, fist crashing repeatedly into the damaged helmet’s visor. Liam was close enough to hear the scrambled voice of the AI within Laurent’s cracked helmet chiming, “Armor integrity compromised. Temperature lock module activated.”

  “Override!” Laurent yelled back.

  “First temperature lock module override confirmation,” the AI prompted.

  Between his attempts to hit back or writhe out from beneath James, Laurent answered, “Confirm!”

  A furious, screaming trance stole over James as his fist rained down upon the cracking remains of Laurent’s helmet.

  “Second temperature lock module override confirmation.”

&nbs
p; “Confirm! Override!” Laurent’s time was running out—little remained of his cracked visor to protect him from James’s fists and the ice that would follow.

  “Final temperature lock module override confirmation.”

  At that moment, it made sense to Liam—Laurent knew he wasn’t getting out of this match alive. His obsession with the Chevalier would manifest one last time in a violent supernova.

  He’s willing to risk baking himself alive in that suit…

  Laurent’s suit would burn through the entirety of its lucidium reserve in four hellish seconds—with all temperature locks overridden, the three of them would burn alive.

  “Override!” Laurent screamed one final time. He pushed back against James, “You will know hell!”

  “James, move!” Liam cried.

  A plume of fire erupted around Laurent’s fists. The surrounding ice melted as Laurent summoned a whirling inferno. The fire exalt kicked James off and rolled aside to conjure a cascade of flames in his wake.

  James stumbled back through the melting ice, pushed dangerously close to the bridge’s edge.

  Liam raced through the steam in panic. He swirled the meteor hammer, gathering up all the force and momentum he could muster, and aimed for Laurent. The inferno engulfed the spiked orb, and the heat was enough to destabilize the weight and rhythm of Liam’s attack.

  The chain bound to the orb melted and snapped. The meteor broke free and cut past Laurent. It rolled haphazardly through melting ice and sizzled through pools of ice runoff.

  Laurent only laughed as he dodged the melting cords of metal that whipped around him. Liam’s ranged attacks would not cut it—he would have to get in and finish what James started if here was any chance of ending this battle.

  James lunged for Laurent. The Eighth Pillar met the ice exalt with another wave of fire. That had been the last step of their dance.

  Blinding heat burned away at James just long enough for Laurent to take the discarded meteor orb and pitch it into James’s chest like a massive medicine ball.