Chrysalis

It needed to be tested at some point, and what better time than now? I’ve increased Gravity Magic to the second rank thanks to all my stuffing about with Gravity Fields, and the bomb was always going to be on the list of things that I want to see how the Altar interacts with.

As it turns out, quite well.

As the spell is unleashed and I activate the Altar of Self, I’m rather startled to feel all of the gathered energy drain out of it.

All.

Not a single skerrick left. As it is usually wont to do, the Gravity Bomb soaks up every drop of power it can get, and when it does, it goes absolutely nuts.

HOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWL!

The air screams, and I mean SCREAMS. I didn’t put anything like my full reserve of gravity mana into this thing, and it sounds an awful lot like some of the biggest I’ve ever cast.

I, of course, do the sensible thing and sprint away like my life depends on it, which it likely does. Despite the fear of my own mortality this spell always seems to invoke in me, particularly when I’m near it, I keep a close eye trained on the ominously dark sphere as it streaks away from me into the teeth of the oncoming horde. Hordes.

The two armies had been running toward each other, ready to fuse into an even greater mass of slavering destruction, but the flight of my friends and I has changed their trajectories. Like murderous puppies chasing a toy, the lead demons in both groups have angled towards us and led the rest of their fellows to follow in behind.

So it is that when the Bomb strikes, it detonates right in the faces of the frontrunning monsters from two armies, both of whom are leading their allies into danger like twin pied-pipers.

energy into a super-dash, but I don’t have the juice! This far down, it’ll take probably an hour to refill the Altar all the way, there

FWOOSH!

it impacts, the dark sphere of the Gravity Bomb expands rapidly in the swirling vortex

Holy moly!

size and

demon armies behind me are immediately lost in the haze of ash and dust as the air fills with debris and demons. Monsters are being yanked off the ground and hauled into oblivion, I can see their

demon larvae are getting

slow revolutions, and the ash-filled atmosphere of the third stratum is allowing me to witness another new sight. I can clearly see the path the air is travelling as it spirals down into the heart of the void, a vast, sweeping descent that spins around and around, curling more and more tightly to the bomb

running, Tiny! Don’t look

a genuine order gets as I yell at him. This is not a time I want him to indulge his

the bomb, even as far from the epicentre as I am, is absurd. I grip the ground with my ant-claws with every step, cursing my

You’ll have to be

can’t

front of me, my friends must be well in the clear. I always feel a moment of

be safe, we keep on running. Better to put all the distance we can between us and the demons for when all of this blows over. When the dust

us, the high-pitched shriek of the wind has been joined by a dull roar as the bomb drags in everything it can touch and crushes it. The horizon behind us is looking dark indeed as even the light seems to be struggling back there. Such a horrendous power I’ve unleashed. What would happen if I put all

shudder to imagine. I mean, I’ll have to try it at some point, but I

it more staying power to boot. We’re kilometres away when it finally flickers and fades, the ensuing quiet all the more jarring after the din and