Silverspear (Rise to Omniscience Book 6)

by Aaron Oster

  Having known that Katherine might try something like this, Morgan had completely shut off his body’s ability to feel physical attraction to anyone. He’d left everything else intact, but he knew that if he’d come in here unprepared, Katherine would likely have gotten her way. Now, he could enjoy the delicious meal she’d had made, and all without the danger of this leading to something more.

  They’d been making small talk for the last twenty minutes, Katherine trying to steer the conversation towards them going out, but each time, Morgan had changed the subject. Finally, she’d grown silent, giving him the opportunity to eat.

  “Am I ugly?”

  The sudden question made Morgan choke on his food, and he was forced to take a quick sip of his drink to not devolve into a coughing fit.

  “Excuse me?” he asked, his voice still sounding a bit strained.

  “You heard me,” Katherine said, leaning forward. “Do you find me ugly?”

  “Um…no,” Morgan replied, not really sure where this was going.

  “Really? Because I find that hard to believe,” Katherine said, her face set and determined. “I know Sarah meant a lot to you, I know she did, but she’s been gone for over two years. You’ve found the strength to move on since you’re still here, so why? Why not be with me? You know how much I care about you, how much I love you. Even after you vanished, even after all this time, my feelings haven’t changed. So why?”

  Morgan sat back, thinking over his reply carefully. He could see the pain and hurt in Katherine’s eyes. The insecurity that she’d likely never needed to struggle with. She’d never been turned down before, and while it may have been a fun challenge at first, his continued rejection was seriously starting to damage her self-confidence, both in her looks and ability to lead. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he couldn’t. He would have to skirt the truth, and in a way that was believable.

  “Fine,” he said, looking up to meet her gaze. “If you want to know the truth, then here it is. I do find you attractive. In fact, you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met in my entire life. Not only that, but you’re strong, kind, and caring. You’ve been an amazing leader to your Kingdom and have accomplished so much in your life already. And I do care about you, so much so, that I had to turn my ability to feel that attraction off before I even walked in here tonight.”

  “Wait, you can do that?” Katherine asked, eyes going wide. “Just turn it off?”

  Morgan nodded.

  “It’s a skill I picked up a bit after Sarah…well, you know. Anyway, it’s the reason I was able to keep going, even when I no longer had the will. And it’s why I can’t be with you or anyone else. A part of me, the part that had the capacity for that kind of love, died along with her. I’m sorry, Katherine, but you have to move on as well. You’re one of the best people in the Five Kingdoms, and I’m sure you can find someone who can appreciate that as much as I can, if not more so. But I just can’t.”

  Katherine stared at him for a few long moments, her expression unreadable.

  “Turn it back on.”

  “What?”

  Katherine leaned forward, taking his hands in hers and staring into his eyes, her twin violet orbs burning with certainty.

  “Turn your ability to feel back on, and then say it again. If you can do that, then I’ll let it go.”

  “Katherine, I…” Morgan began, but the woman cut him off.

  “Do it!” she demanded, tightening her grip on his hands.

  Morgan swallowed hard but nodded. He couldn’t fake anything around her, and lying wasn’t something that came naturally to him. It would be impossible for him to fake turning it back on, which meant he would have to go through with it. Truthfully, he was scared that he wouldn’t have the self-control to say no to her. Scared, that in his weakened emotional state, he’d agree, if only to feel the comfort of a woman’s embrace.

  He could honestly admit to himself that it would be one of the hardest things he’d ever have to do, and he didn’t know if he’d be strong enough to still say no. Even now, with his physical reactions to her shut off, a small part of him wanted to say yes. He’d been alone for so long, suffered in silence at his loss, and Katherine could make that all go away. She would love him just as much as Sarah had, but would he ever forgive himself for betraying her? There was also the fact that Sarah could be brought back. That was what he was fighting for.

  Slowly, Morgan reached for his skill and began to pull back on the physical side of the connection. His heart began to pound, thrumming in his chest as the feeling began to come back. He could feel it growing as he let more and more in, the burning desire he felt for her, the need to say yes, not only to satiate his physical needs, but to have that emotional connection to another human being once again.

  “Well?” Katherine asked, her eyes seeming to dance in the flickering lamplight of the room.

  Morgan felt his throat become suddenly dry. Katherine’s lips were parted, ever so slightly, the glossy pink sheen covering them looking suddenly very enticing. His body began to react before his mind did, and he unconsciously began to lean in closer. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, knew that it was a bad idea, but found that he could not stop himself.

  Katherine’s lips parted a bit more, her eyes widening just a hair, as Morgan’s hand moved up to cup her cheek. As Morgan drew closer still, Katherine’s eyes drifted shut, her full lips open and receptive to what was about to happen. Morgan knew he should stop, tell her this was all a big mistake and that he didn’t feel anything for her, but he wasn’t strong enough.

  Their lips were a scant inch apart now, Katherine’s warm breath licking his cheek and the scent of lilacs and lavender wafting over him. He closed his eyes as well, feeling his heartrate redouble. A massive explosion suddenly rocked the palace, throwing the unprepared duo off their feet. Morgan landed on his ass, immediately clamping down on his wild emotions to try and regain some semblance of reality.

  “What the hell was that?” Katherine exclaimed, shooting to her feet and practically glaring all around her.

  A loud boom came at the door, and then it was flung open to reveal Bell, as well as half a dozen guards. The aide, to her credit, took one look at her queen and ordered the guards to stay outside before moving in and slamming the door behind her. As revealing as Katherine’s normal attire was, something this skimpy was for the eyes of her date only.

  “Bell, what the hell is happening?” Katherine demanded as another massive rumble shook the palace once more.

  “The Pinnacle beast that’s been roaming closer has suddenly appeared near the city. We don’t know how it managed to cover such a distance without Garrison Blue’s knowledge, but they’ve been left some two-hundred miles away from here.”

  “Damn it all! They’re useless, the whole lot of them! Do we have anyone here that can drive that thing away, or at least hold it off for a minute so I can get them here?”

  “It’s already broken through the wards and is attacking the wall,” Bell said, her face a bit pale. “We also don’t know their exact location, so finding them can be the work of a few minutes or a few hours. I’m afraid you’re going to have to go out and deal with this yourself, unless you’d like your personal guard to…”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  Both women turned to see Morgan back on his feet and stretching, his arm pulled over a shoulder, and his eyes fixed in the direction of the Pinnacle beast.

  “Are you sure you can take it alone?” Katherine asked, sounding unsure.

  “Probably,” Morgan replied. “It’s been a while since I’ve really cut loose. Guess it’s time to see what I’m made of.”

  He flashed her a grin at that, then vanished into thin air. Katherine stared at the empty spot for a few long seconds, then slammed her hand down on the table, shattering the wood and sending food and dishes flying in all directions.

  “Get me my armor, Bell! Now!” she demanded.

  “I thought you were going to let Mo
rgan…”

  “No,” Katherine hissed, her face twisted in anger. “That beast just interrupted a very intimate moment that I’ve had to wait four years to happen! Now, get me my armor, so I can go kill that bastard!”

  Bell didn’t ask any questions this time, immediately jumping to it. If this beast had really disturbed what she thought it had, then Katherine’s wrath would be merciless. At that moment, when she thought of their upcoming altercation, Bell found that she felt sorry for the beast. The poor creature did not know the hell that Katherine was about to unleash.

  ***

  Grace jolted awake as the entire palace shook. The room was dark, illuminated only by the light of the single lantern on her bedside. Lumia was nowhere to be seen, leaving Grace to wonder just what time it was and how long she’d been asleep. Another massive boom sent dust and fragments of stone raining down from above, driving all thought of time and sleep from her drowsy mind.

  What the hell is going on? she thought, leaping out of bed and heading to the door.

  It swung open as she was coming near, revealing the healer who’d been tending to her.

  “No need to worry, young lady,” the elderly woman said, placing a hand on her shoulder and steering her back to bed.

  “What’s happening?” she demanded as she was forcefully guided back.

  “Just some beast attacking the city. It’ll be taken care of in short order. Now, back into bed. You need the rest.”

  Grace made a sour face, but there was little she could do against the woman’s surprising strength. She glared at the woman’s back as she headed to the door, closing it behind her. Grace wondered if she might somehow be able to sneak out, but she was pretty sure the woman would now be guarding the door. She was also some five stories up, and a fifty-foot fall wasn’t something she could exactly survive, let alone walk away from.

  She sat there for a few long moments, feeling the shaking and shuddering of the palace as whatever it was attacked the city.

  “‘Just a beast,’ my ass,” she muttered, looking once more toward the window and wondering if she could use her Body shift to risk a climb down.

  “Holy shit!”

  Grace leaped out of bed as her eyes landed on a ten-foot-long humanoid beast hovering just outside her window. It was covered in glittering scales, had massive wings, and its glowing emerald eyes were fixed squarely on her. She felt the familiar fear grip her then, the same as what she’d felt when facing the gazelles, only this time, it was about a hundred times worse. Was this the beast that had been attacking the city? Should she run to someone for help? Would they even be able to do anything against this monster?

  “Open the window, girl. We don’t have all night, and I’d really prefer not to be seen like this.”

  Grace blinked, a slow and confused movement as her mind tried to comprehend why a massive lizard-like beast could be talking to her.

  “Lumia?” she asked, the uncertainty in her voice clear.

  “Who else would it be?” the drake asked, rolling her eyes. “Now open the window and climb out. You’re not going to want to miss this!”

  Grace hesitated for only a moment longer before rushing to the window. She’d been wondering about Lumia, and how she was associated with someone as strong as Morgan. Now that she saw her like this, it made a lot more sense. Lumia had been hiding her true strength all along, and if she were as powerful as she looked, Grace could well understand how the two of them could have trained together.

  The window swung open and Grace hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to continue. Luckily, Lumia held out her arms. They were scaled and strong, and both were tipped with fingers containing wickedly sharp claws. Still, Lumia was gentle, tilting her arms and holding one below Grace’s knees and the other at her shoulders.

  “Just relax back,” Lumia said. “And try not to panic.”

  That was all the warning Grace got before she was swept off her feet, the drake’s powerful wings pulling them away from the palace.

  “Holy shit! What the hell is that thing?” Grace asked as they pulled around the palace wall.

  She’d been clutching the drake’s chest in terror, but the sight before her was so massive and terrifying that it took precedence over everything else.

  “Just watch,” Lumia said in answer. “As I said before, this is not something you’re going to want to miss.”

  25

  Morgan appeared outside the palace, hovering some hundred feet in the air. He’d already sensed the power of the creature approaching through the walls and seen the intensity of its burning, blue core. This was undoubtedly a Pinnacle beast, though how powerful it was remained to be seen. He rocketed towards the wall, wind whipping against the fine clothes he’d been forced to wear to dinner with Katherine.

  He did a quick check of his status. Seeing as he’d moved up a rank just a few days before, he wanted to make a note of his attributes before he went into the fight.

  Name: Morgan

  Advanced Supermage: Rank - 66

  Energy to Next Rank - 511,000/131,000,000

  Ability Advancement - 15,000,000/15,000,000 (Max.)

  Ability - Natural Disaster

  RP - 7,080/7,080 (Regen - 71.5 per second)

  Strength - 694

  Agility - 1,042

  Constitution - 822

  Intelligence - 708

  Wisdom - 715

  Skills - Hypersonic Flight, Maximum Increase, Stormforge, Earthen Shift, Nature’s Wrath, Compression, Gravity Tear, Sunblast

  Traits - Dense Body Max., Recovery Max., Aura Sense (inherited), Aura Flare (inherited), Perfect Self, Soul Stealer, Suppression (inherited)

  Extra - Gravity Storm (7th category), Starbreaker (7th category), Collapsing Star (HyperNova), Shooting Star (Comet), Massive Meteor (2nd category), Continental Crush

  The entire scan took less than five seconds, by which point he’d reached the city walls and the massive beast slamming against them. It was perhaps fifty feet in length and about thirty at the shoulder. Its hide was comprised of tough glimmering green plates, all interlocking in a way to cover any weak points. The beast must have weighed somewhere in the hundred-ton area, judging by the damage to the walls and the impressions it left in the ground with its oversized rounded feet.

  Morgan had never seen a beast that looked even remotely like this one. It had a very long nose extending from its massive greenish-gray head, and a pair of tusks extended out from the sides of its mouth. The tusks were made of glowing blue metal, and its trunk was covered in the same plaiting as the rest of its body.

  It had a long tail that looked to be nearly fifteen feet long, plaited in the same armor-like hide, and seemed to be as sharp as the sharpest of blades. Spiky protrusions extended from its back, tail, and legs, all glimmering with multicolored light. Judging by the way its tail was beginning to glow, he guessed another, more powerful attack was incoming.

  He streaked down, increasing his speed and momentum, then activated Maximum Increase. Muscles bulged all over his body, shredding the fine shirt to pieces and tearing several seams in the pants. Morgan hardly noticed his ruined clothing as he slammed bodily into the beast with the force of a falling meteor. The creature let out a massive trumpet of pain as the plaiting on its chest was dented, and its hundred-ton body was thrown back a good few feet. Morgan pulled back, streaking around the beast and calling down to it mockingly.

  “What the hell are you supposed to be, a walking pile of junk?”

  The beast shook itself, its eyes swiveling up to find the small figure hovering in the air above it.

  “I am not junk! I am power!”

  The beast’s deep gravelly voice shook Morgan down to his very bones. By the way it spoke, he could surmise that while powerful, it wasn’t nearly as intelligent as Octagon had been, nor even as smart as Charza the Shade, the other Pinnacle beast he’d come across. His single attack, while at a glance might look impressive, was little more than a flesh wound on a beast this big. Now that he
had its attention away from the city, Morgan could examine its status.

  Name: Raja the Ore Eater

  Rank - 48

  Ability Type - Mage

  Power - 712

  Defense - 1532

  Ability - 988

  When Morgan’s Aura Sense had last grown, he’d gained the ability to not only see the full status of others, but he had also gained the ability to see the expanded status of beasts. Beasts’ statuses were far more simple, and their strength was divided into three categories.

  Power determined their physical strength. Defense determined how much punishment they could take, and Ability determined how much damage they could do with their abilities. He never bothered with a beast’s expanded status unless he knew they were a real threat, which was why he hadn’t bothered with the gazelle that Grace had faced. Now, facing a monster like this Raja, he was using everything he had at his disposal.

  A power rating that high was bad enough for a mage-type beast, but if he was going to have trouble with anything, it would be with its massive Defense. The Ability damage of close to a thousand did not bode well for him either. It meant that he would have to fight seriously, which meant getting this beast farther away from the city. The only way he could think of doing that would be by taunting, something he didn’t especially like to do.

  “You’re not power,” Morgan called in a scathing voice. “You’re weak!”

  Raja’s body flared blue at that, its eyes blazing with anger at the insult. Its trunk whipped forward, but instead of sending some sort of energy beam as Morgan had expected, the nose extended. It whipped towards him at a blinding speed, and he whirled to the side. Still, the trunk caught him, sending him tumbling through the air as he tried to regain his equilibrium.

  The beast was faster than any creature that size had a right to be. But bitter experience had taught him not to make assumptions. Morgan finally regained control a few seconds later, catching himself a few feet from the ground. He was just in time to see the beast charging at him, tusks now glowing as it closed the distance.