The Powers That Be by Aer-ki Jyr (best pdf reader for ebooks txt) 📗

Paladin spam produced more and more for her in preparation for the time when the predicted arrival came. “Got one, with more than one Essence weapon this time.”

“The Founder will be able to overwhelm us within seconds.”

“Even with your Black Shield?”

“He will most likely be able to overload it with one strike.”

Kara raised her arm up and produced a hologram of a piece of chest armor, spinning it slowly around so Strovok could see all of it.

“What is this?”

“Something we’ve been working on. Something that will hold more Essence than your body can. A lot more.”

“Your Magicite? The Founders have this technology already.”

“I know, but this isn’t just Magicite.”

“A weapon?”

“An automatic defense. I’ve helped our Mastertechs create a nullification shield that will protect our non-Essence troops briefly.”

“That is worthless to us.”

“Will the Founder come looking for me with his own Magicite? Or will his own Siphon or whatever other stuff he has be enough?”

“Could be either, but I would wager his own skills are more than sufficient.”

“So if we create technology and fuel it with our Essence, we can use it against him here.”

“A personal well will allow for recharge, Kara. Our abilities have limits that we have to raise with training. It is not simply about power…” he said, trailing off as he finally caught on.

“And?”

“How large of a nullification shield can you produce?”

“Unlimited, though inefficient given our current designs. The question is how much technology can we carry. If we can pick the battlefield, we don’t have to carry it.”

“A true trap then,” Strovok considered.

“But I need you to teach me the Black Shield and other defensive and containment techniques so I can help craft them into machines.”

“I cannot give you what I do not possess. The Responders will not give me the blueprints.”

“I’m an Archon. I create blueprints for fun. What I need is the technique so I can experiment with it.”

“Black Shield is far beyond you, little one.”

“Catch me up faster then.”

Strovok sighed. “It doesn’t work like that. There is a progression you must follow.”

“That’s what the Responders say. I say they’re lying. I got Siphon way early, and Morgan got Jumat way early too. Things happen, and people take different paths. Help me craft a faster path, Strovok. Help me cheat.”

The Mek’tal huffed, then patted himself on the chest with his big left arm. “You strike at my pride, but I do not know how to teach in a way that I have not been taught.”

“Then generate the Black Shield now, and sustain it while I beat on it.”

“It is not a physical shield,” he said, generating the effect none the less. It was invisible, like nearly all Essence techniques, but it cast a hazy effect around him when viewed by Essence-enhanced eyesight, hence the name.

Kara reached out her hand and stuck it through up to her wrist, then held it there, trying to create an Essence Rush in her arm and having the shield stop it…painfully.

“That is unwise,” Strovok cautioned, but he maintained the shield nonetheless.

“Maybe, but I gotta feel it to learn it. Can you reduce strength to the point where I can easily break it?”

“I do not know. I’ve never tried to produce a weak shield. There is no point.”

“There is now. Please try. Losing gives valuable experience, but winning gives a different kind.”

The Black Shield flicked on and off numerous times, then finally remained constant.

“That’s as weak as I can maintain it.”

Kara pushed against it inside her arm, but it wouldn’t budge, so she brought forward her other arm just shy of the shield and fired small Torrents into it…which were basically an Essence drill that would tear through matter in a corkscrew fashion, but it wasn’t Hard Light, which would pass through a Black Shield due to its physical nature. Torrent was more or less a tiny tornado drill, and the Black Shield did block it.

Kara drilled into it just over her wrist, because if she dipped it down she’d cut into her own flesh or Vorch’nas, and she didn’t want to see what happened in either. She worked on the shield for nearly 10 minutes before it finally broke and the Essence in her arm was able to move through momentarily before the Black Shield reformed.

“Finally,” Kara huffed. “You really don’t know your strength.”

“Did you learn something?”

“A new feel. It’s a puzzle piece, and I need to collect as many as I can before I start trying to put them together. Are there techniques that disrupt Black Shield?”

“None that you know.”

Kara raised her right hand and created a Reflect shield between them.

“I will have to raise intensity of the Black Shield, otherwise it will be destroyed. And I may overwhelm your Reflect.”

Kara flicked her thumb, still using physical gestures to summon abilities, and created a Nullification shield behind the Reflect to protect herself against whatever it was he was going to throw if the Reflect shield failed.

“Reckless are you, little one,” Strovok said with a smile. “Fortunately I like reckless. Prepare yourself. I am not sure of the power levels needed.”

“Go as low as you can and adjust upwards,” Kara said, feeling something hit her shield and bounce back…then she felt it ripple through the Black Shield in a way that made its hard structure bend a bit.

Another puzzle piece gained.

Kara just hoped she could get enough of them to learn Black Shield, for it was the primary defensive ability the Vargemma had, and anyone without it was seen as an easy mark for a master to overwhelm with a simple force against force engagement…which was the equivalent of arm wrestling and usually ended within seconds.

Black Shield gave weaker opponents the ability to resist this at low energy cost