2941 Break Down (Part 1)

Even though Auros' body was made of energy, it still retained the collective mass of the city and its citizens and had to follow the laws of physics. Gravity pulled the Bringer of Unity down in the now-unstable soil, taking away his mobility.

'Dammit, there is not enough air element left to lift me.' He thought. 'If I don't dispel my protection, I'll be a sitting duck while those accursed Eldritches take their sweet time to cast whatever they want.'

Little did Auros know that Orulm heard every one of the lost city's thoughts the moment he formulated them. As soon as the elemental balance was restored, the Eldritch-Skinwalker hybrid conjured a series of useless arrays all around the golden giant.

Auros was still wondering what point barrier, life-sensing, and bridge-building arrays could possibly have when the Eldritch snapped his fingers and unleashed a Disarray spell.

Orulm had chosen magical formations that would overlap with those conjured by Auros and connect them together without disrupting them. This way, the Disarray spell triggered a chain reaction that got rid of all the cursed object's defenses in one fell swoop while also dealing him a huge blow.

The resulting explosion engulfed the lost city, blinding Life Vision and giving the Eldritches an opportunity for a surprise attack. Before the dust could settle, the six Abthots unleashed as many Chaos Annihilation at the golden giant.

Auros conjured a Spirit Barrier to protect himself but the attack came from every side and his mana was spread too thin to matter. The anti-Guardian spell pierced through his body and consumed considerable amounts of the world energy that the lost city had painstakingly accumulated since his release.

'There's no such thing as a perfect ability. There has to be a weak point!' Auros thought while calling upon the earth element again for protection and using the storm created by the elemental unbalance to clear his line of sight.

Just as he had suspected, only the original Abthot could cast such a powerful spell. The copies acted as simple energy reserves and their bodies were shriveling quickly as the mana they contained ran out.

The lost city ignored the clones and focused his Spirit Barrier solely against the Eldritch, knowing that once he got rid of Abthot the other attacks would fade as well.

["Not so fast."] The sound of Orulm's voice made Auros curse himself for forgetting about the other Eldritch.

He turned around just in time to see Orulm consume the mana he had stolen from the lost city to fuel his next spell. Their energy signatures matched no more, making Auros vulnerable to the Eldritch's magic again.

A modified version of Chaos Annihilation burst out of the Skinwalker hybrid, aimed at Auros' knee. The Cursed Element was replaced by Orulm's unique Eldritch bloodline ability, Break.

A Chaos spell imbued with it would not just destroy something. It would erase it from existence like it never had been there in the first place. For living beings, it was no different from regular Chaos.

A life force contained the full blueprints of the entire body so as long as one was alive, the missing parts could be regenerated. For a mystical artifact, however, things weren't so simple.

If one rune was damaged, the spell of which it was part would be weakened but in time it would be repaired by the pseudo core. If one rune was deleted, instead, the enchantment would fall apart.

Best case scenario, the artifact would lose one of its functions. Worst case scenario, it would implode due to the disruption of the spell matrix. It was the secret of Orulm's strength since he needed but one successful blow to turn the most powerful piece of equipment of his enemies into a piece of junk.

When the Annihilation struck, it consumed part of the energy comprising Auros' calf and all the runes it contained. The lost city experienced blinding pain and his limb went limp.

Sending more energy was useless because once the damage was repaired, there was no way to restore the leg's functionality and all the enchantments it contained. Several hosts died in the aftermath simply because the information about them stored inside Auros' spell matrix had been erased as well.

Losing a single host was not only a nigh-impossible eventuality. It also implied losing all of their knowledge and skills.

Countless spells that until a moment ago Auros knew like the back of his hand disappeared from his memory.

The shock from the physical and mental amputation paralyzed the lost city that flailed around in the attempt to regain his balance. Abthot focused her Annihilation on the injured leg, making Auros lose control of his flight spell and fall to the ground with a boom.

["Relax, old friend. The good news is that I have no way to safely kill you. That's why I aimed away from your pseudo cores."] Orulm said, his voice filled with mock compassion. ["The bad news is that I don't need to."]

Another Break Annihilation struck the left foot, erasing more runes and disabling more enchantments. The damage was severe but not fatal. A cursed object was a living being with its own life force.

As long as the pseudo cores were intact and they had a stable energy source, the destroyed enchantments could be regenerated in the same way as a lost limb. It would take time and a lot of world energy, but it was possible.

'I don't know if I have either!' Auros thought as Orulm shot a third Break Annihilation after a short pause to regain his strength.

This time the spell struck the right hand of the giant, leaving nothing above the wrist. More memories and spells were lost forever but this time the Eldritch had been lucky, hitting the spot where the essence of a few Lesser Divine Beasts was stored.

The mana organs that the lost city treasured above all, the source of his dream of one day gaining the bloodline abilities of all Guardians faded as well and Auros found himself crying for the first time in his millennia-long life.

Not even while he was still imprisoned inside a cage had he felt so helpless. Back then, he knew that he only had to wait for an opportunity to escape. The Council could trap him and weaken him, but it couldn't take anything away from him except for his freedom.

["In fact, finding you here is kind of a lucky strike."] Orulm said while Breaking the right hand of the colossus as well. ["I'm going to offer you a deal, if you are interested."]

Abthot looked at her colleague in worry. Break was a very powerful and expensive ability that was supposed to be used to weaken an enemy before dealing them the final blow and sucking their life dry.

Each blow permanently consumed a part of Orulm as well and it would take him days to recover, no matter how much he fed. It was the reason he had avoided using Break until he was certain that the enemy wouldn't dodge.

Orulm was overusing Break, consuming way too much life force to deal with a single enemy he couldn't even feed off.