Seed Of Speed

The Noz'jow Sea spanned out passed the horizon with a hazy orange mist floating just above the yellow waters. Diego and Celita landed on the gray sand beach and he plopped down on the ground with an exhausted sigh. He had flown them the whole way here without stopping while also fending off the occasional bolt of lightning. While it was not enough to endanger them, it did put a serious drain on his mental reserves.

Celita gave a chuckle as she pulled out a white crystal and threw it as far as she could into the waters. "Now, we wait," she said as joined him sitting on the beach, albeit in a more graceful fashion.

"So, what was the stone?" Diego asked.

"Light beacon... Horsin's transport lives in the waters and will be looking for it," she replied.

"Not going to tell me what the transport is?"

"And ruin the surprise?" she teased with a chuckle.

"Fine, wake me up when its time," he ġrȯȧnėd as he shut his eyes.

Celita shook her head with a light smile on her lips and pulled out her pipe. She filled and lit it, enjoying herself while he slept. Although there was no night and day in this world, he had spent well over a day, flying at high speed, to get them there without having to waste their strength going through the marsh. Of course, they would still have to travel through it while escorting a large group of non-combatants which was a headache she was not looking forward to.

Diego was granted a few hours of sleep before he was shaken awake by Celita, with her saying, "I'm getting feedback through our Speaking Stones. They should be surfacing any minute."

He ġrȯȧnėd as he stretched and sat up. While he was brushing the sand off his body, something pointed broke the surface of the water. Even in the poor lighting of this world, the spiral that was quickly growing in size as it approached the color shifted between deep purple to green with a shimmer like a jewel. There were spines and bubbles, marring the flawless shell... that right, it was a shell.

With more than fifteen meters of the shell out of the water, two ruby red claws erupted from the surface, sending a tidal wave of yellow, acidic water racing towards the beach. Diego and Celita made a quick retreat as the massive hermit crab came scuttling out of the sea. It's four smaller legs were the next to appear as the full thirty-meter-tall shell freed itself from the water's grip. Two glossy crimson eyes rotated on mobile stalks and it snapped its claws at both of them, threateningly.

"Holy sh...!" Diego cursed.

"Relax, that's Horsin's pet," Celita said.

"Pet, yeah... Hermit crabs were all the rage in my old world... only they were only ten centimeters," he replied, rolling his eyes.

A small blue figure popped out from between the shell and the crab and landed on the beach. It moved on six spindly legs that stabbed the ground as it moved forward. It also had two set of arms, the top ones ending with a pair of large claws and the bottom set had a more 'hand-like' appendage that had three 'fingers' instead of five.

"Horsin!" Celita shouted as she dashed forward.

"So, this is the human you told me about?" the lobster-man said with a snap of his claws.

Horsin towered over Diego at over three meters tall and had a long lobster tail behind him. His body was covered in a thick blue shell that was riddled with white scars. His face was humaniod, yet the color matched his shell perfectly.

"This is Diego. Diego, this is Horsin, the Beastman Guardian of this world like I am of our world," Celita introduced.

"A pŀėȧsurė," Diego said with a slight bow.

"No offense, but I don't see how this human can be any help. My children hatch with a stronger body than him," Horsin said.

(Really?) Diego sighed mentally.

::Until you re-advance to the Demi Body Stage, your body will still give off a weak, 'mortal' feeling to beastmen. Those like Horsin, who have likely never met a human before, don't understand that our power comes from more than just our bodies::

"You can't judge humans like beastmen or demons. They have so many tricks, it's ridiculous," Celita retorted.

"Tricks mean nothing in front of power. I'm sorry, Celita, but I'm not risking my people's lives in the hands of a weakling," Horsin said.

Diego rolled his eyes with an angry sigh as he pulled out his spear then said, "Then how about I give you a demonstration?"

Horsin laughed, revealing a mouthful of needle-like teeth, and replied, "Ha! You may be weak, but you have courage! I like that!"

Shaking her head, Celita said, "I need both of you alive at the end of this, and still able to travel."

"I won't break him too badly, but I can give you shelter until he's healed if he doesn't know his limits," Horsin ȧssured her.

"Oh, you better use your 'True' form the start, old friend," Celita said as she jumped away.

Diego released his cultivation as his six silver wings formed on his back, and he split into six bodies, each holding a spear their hand. The Diegos made a half-circle around Horsin then they raised their empty hand and each of them summoned five {Thunder Clones}.

"Numbers can't make up for true strength and defense," Horsin replied as his body erupted with a deep blue light.

As the blue light faded, Diego was now looking up at a giant blue lobster, fifty meters in length. While Horsin was similar to the lobsters that he had seen on his old world, there were a pair of white spines on the shoulders of his clawed arms that reminded him of the water cannons that were over blastoise arms from Pokemon.

::That is a good analogy for you. Those spines do, in fact, spray water at high pressures, and judging by the sea they just left, it is very likely that it is highly acidic as well... and those two will not be the only ones. You will need to keep your spear covered by your Intent to prevent your weapons from dissolving, and I'd recommend you use your Manifested Armor for the same reasons unless you want to ruin your clothes and armor::

(I could just not get hit,) Diego retorted ċȯċkily.

::Don't think because you got the advantage on Celita before that you can actually win this fight if he got serious. She, and Horsin, stand at the peak of their worlds, matchable only by the strongest individuals. You would need to advance to the middle ranks of the Demi-Body Stage before you can start fighting them seriously::

(It won't take me long to reach that point,) he thought with a smile.

Horsin grew impatient with Diego not moving, so he slapped a claw down in attempts to crush most of the Diegos. That snapped Diego out of his silent conversation and he raised his spear overhead as his [Speed Clones] dashed to his side, raising their spears as well. Each of them activated [Tri-Bladed Drill], overlapping their chi blades so that a vicious purple and white vortex formed over their heads.

Celita grinned as she saw the familiar attack, having suffered a minor wound in her 'True' form. She had been able to dodge most of the attack and still ended up injured, so with Horsin not pulling back his claw, she would finally see the true might of this skill. While his claws were the strongest part of his shell, and even stronger than her scales, she was not worrying about Diego in this exchange.

When Horsin's claw slammed down against Diego's [Tri-Bladed Drill] vortex, all six of his bodies were pushed to their knees and had to anchor their spears on their thɨġhs, reinforced with a [Chi Skin Barrier]. It was an incredibly heavy and intense pressure, but in the next moment, a thunderous crack rang out above them and the shell shattered. The chi blades shredded the inside flesh instantly and Diego and his [Speed Clones] were inside the claw as it shook the ground with its impact.

While Diego and the [Speed Clones] took the brunt of the attack, the thirty {Thunder Clones} scattered to escape the claw. Realizing where he was, Diego, and the [Speed Clones] instantly casted {Spatial Swap} with the other clones on the outside then detonated them. Horsin made a strange shrieking sound because of the attack and the claw, while not charred black, gave off a fair amount of steam.

Enraged, Horsin released his <Acid Jets> racial ability, aiming for the larger clusters of Diegos, but he did not stop with just the two cannons on his shoulders. Down the back of his carapace, over a dozen similar cannons released <Acid Jets> as well. Under the power of another racial ability, <Acid Will>, he had the ability to control the acid he released for roughly a minute after it left his body, so he could easily redirect the other streams of acid to chase after Diego.

Diego had to abandon his {Thunder Clones} since they could not use chi skill as he activated [White Lightning Array] to escape. Since the advancement of the skill, Diego could move in twenty different directions along the chi lines. While it seemed a little redundant, with his [Speed Sight], he was able to make instantaneous corrections to his direction which allowed him to conserve chi while increasing his nimbleness to a frightening level.

He escaped the initial blast of acid, but he quickly realized he was being chased by the droplets. He hastily activated his Manifested Armor with enough prana to last him maybe three minutes which was just in time as the first few drops hit him. Although the acid could not penetrate the armor, Diego could feel it constantly eating away at his reserves, and with that multiplied by six, he knew he was in trouble.

He deactivated his [Speed Clones] to lose the acid damage they were taking, casted {Wings of Wind} on himself, then reactived the clones. One of the strange quirks of the ability is what it would replicate. All of his clones would have clothing and armor, but it would not recreate his weapon. Through trial and error, he had also learned that it would copy any of his spell effecting his body when he activated it, but he would have to cast the spell on each of his bodies if they were already separated.

Thanks to the fact that he had six identical bodies, he was able to large spells that would normally be worked in tandem with multiple mages. Once he was able to form five bodies, Shadowbolt had given him a few ritual sigils which were normally reserved for Masters because of the skill required to work in balance with the others mages. His ability eliminated that difficulty, so while it took longer than a normal spell to prepare and a lot more mana, the power made up for it.

"Thunder's Judgement, Lightning's Fall!" the six Diegos yelled out in unison just as their spears grazed the clouds.

Diego and his clones reached the peak of their flight and turned, falling to the ground like a meteor, aimed directly at Horsin. With the start of their attack, the crimson lightning was released and poured like a waterfall between their bodies. Diego did not directly attack Horsin with his spears because his spears would act like lightning rods if they penetrated his shell and roast the lobster, but that did not mean he got off easy.

A bolt of crimson lightning, as thick as a tree trunk, smashed down on top of Horsin's head, leaving behind a charred, scorched black section of shell. A thick layer of steam was released from every gap in his carapace as his body twitched slightly. Suddenly, he regained full use of his body and raised up with his claws high in the air threateningly, but before he could act, a voice of reason interrupted him.

"That is enough, Horsin! Diego has proven himself strong enough to handle a few horned demons, and with his clones, he can also handle tides of demonspawn!" Celita shouted as she appeared next to one of the Diegos in her Battle-Form, just in case Horsin had lost himself to his inner beast.

He clicked his still-fuctioning, massive claw a few times, but in the end, Horsin changed into a more humaniod appearance than before. Now, while his skin was still blue, he only had two legs and four arms, one of was charred black from the inside out. There was undisguised rage in his eyes, but he was clearly holding himself back from acting on his anger.

"I... I can help heal your arm," Diego said, tentatively.

"My natural regeneration will handle it," Horsin replied through gritted teeth.

"You started this, Horsin," Celita said with a smirk.

"And you didn't goad me into it?" he accused.

Celita shrugged, "Maybe a bit, but you jumped to the bait way too quickly. You've gotten ċȯċky with that shell of yours. Now, let him heal you."

Horsin snorted but held out his wounded arm as he looked away.

::Let me handle his arm. You don't understand their physiology, so you would end up wasting a lot of mana with poor returns::

(Of course,) Diego replied with a mental chuckle.

::Pay attention to the spell as well. This will be the most effective healing method for you since it is a combination of Time and Light::

Diego felt the shift of his mind as Katalina took over his body. She left a 'window' to his third-eye as she formed the spell so that he could see it. Back in the sect, he had learned a few healing spells, especially Light-based one due to his perfect affinity, but none of those had more than three rings for its sigil. The one Katalina casted had a total of six rings with a beautiful pattern of white and silver glyphs.

"I'm not healing the full damage, just repairing your exoskeleton while speeding up your natural regeneration about ten times its normal speed. You'll need a day and a half or rest before we set out, so that your body can rebuild all of the dead cells," Katalina explained to Horsin.

"Thank you for your help, Katalina," Celita said with a bow.

"It's fine, just make sure this idiot doesn't get ċȯċky because he got a leg up on Horsin," she replied.

"I'll be happy to beat that lesson into him," Celita laughed.

With the spell complete, Diego shifted back into control of his body and sighed, "I haven't even done anything to warrant that statement."

Horsin gave Celita a puzzled look to which she laughed again and explained simply, "There is an expert in the next plane waiting for him."

"Fine, I guess that makes more sense why he could hurt me. I apologize for my pervious words, you are strong enough to travel along side," Horsin said, with a bow of his head to Diego.

"Thanks," Diego replied with a wry smile.

"Since I need to rest for a time, please enjoy the hospitality of my people," he said, motioning to the giant hermit crab behind him.