[System]
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## Premise
Path of the Deathless — a LitRPG progression fantasy. Path

Noun

A Path is a System-born metaphysical archetype that represents a fundamental truth of existence. Obtaining a Path unlocks an individual's ability to gain empowerment through Path Skills, wield true Magic, receive Blessings, and achieve recognized Feats of power or renown. Paths are not inherent; they must be either earned by performing a truly great deed or bestowed upon an individual by a powerful entity (such as a deity, an ancient spirit, or a comparable power). Without a Path, one is barred from ascension and apotheosis, and bound to the limits of mortality (See: Pathless). Once a Path is accepted, it cannot be surrendered or rejected.

## Main Character
Name: Shiv | Gender: male (he/him)
Key supporting characters: Georges, Adam, Arrow

## World & Power System
level-based progression; skills (e.g. Deathless, 1/1, The Pendulum of Burdens, Starhawk Arrow Cuirass, Restricted, Skill Merge Portal Break, 0/0, The Scorn of Umetia)
System notification style: "System-born metaphysical archetype that represents a fundamental t"

## Writing Style
third-person limited narration, past tense. Narration-focused (0% dialogue). Fast-paced, short punchy sentences.

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152 (II)

Undercover

Shiv complied. He spread his hands open, and he called back. "I'm Inquisitor Morgan Hyde!" he shouted, trying to inject as much anguish and desperation into his voice as possible. "We... we were attacked! We were with Master-Inquisitor Sijik’s Expeditionary Force to Gate Theborn. We were attacked and ambushed by Necrotechs! It was a slaughter! It was an absolute slaughter!" He drew in a long, shuddering breath. "Vicar Sullain! He has the Animancy Core! He used the Animancy Core on us! We barely managed to escape from one of their internments after! City Lord Havel needs to know! He needs to know! Please, before it's too late! Before he takes Blackedge from us, he needs to know!"

A moment of tense silence followed. A rustling breeze washed through the world, and a whistle rose through the air. Immediately, Shiv caught sight of movement passing in his periphery. Even invisible, Shiv could see the distortions clearly. His new ocular enchantments were excellent at separating moving objects from all that remained still.

In less than a second, ten invisible Pathbearers landed behind Shiv and the other Inquisitors without making any noise at all. But they still reeked with the scent of humanity. He watched as the seven other mind-broken Inquisitors were restrained from behind. Their arms were bound together by dense manacles of adamantine, and then they had hoods pulled over their heads.

A moment later, Shiv felt someone grabbing his arms as well. He almost resisted, but then went slack and let them cuff him. As a dark rag was pulled over his face, Shiv gagged at the acrid smell. At the same time, all sound was severed from him. He blinked. This wasn't just some dirty rag. It was some kind of sensory deprivation hood meant specifically for prisoners.

"Don't be too rough with them," Shiv called out, though he suspected it was in vain. "They've experienced vile torture at the hands of the Necrotechs. They need support. They need to see a Biomancer. But don't let the Psychomancers reach into them. The Necrotechs… They touched our minds. They planted something there. Something... I think it's a trap. I think..." And immediately, he felt something prod into his back, urging him to start moving.

Shiv let the inquisitorial scouts drag him along. He didn't know how long he walked. It felt like an hour. But on the way, he felt several clenches of spatial distortion. At some point, he'd been teleported. And not just once. Thanks to his armor's Mycelial Interface, he still had some available senses. He could feel the temperature outside, feel the wind rushing over him, the moisture dancing against his outer carapace. The ground was still soil as well. A bit of grass. Then, sand. Were they walking him closer to the water? He could hear waves crashing…

Awareness 40 > 41

They teleported again. A pressure squeezed down around Shiv. The wind faded entirely, and the world grew dry. Heat washed over him. Abruptly, he found himself stomping down on concrete flooring rather than dirt or soil.

Two inquisitors pulled him by his arms and dragged him down. As Shiv sat, he felt his rear land on a seat. It promptly broke beneath him. He crashed down onto the floor with a grunt of surprise. Right. Perfect Semblance hides my identity and skills. But it doesn't really do anything for my weight. And Shiv was considerably heavier than Inquisitor Morgan Hyde, especially with his layered armor on. He was pulled back to his feet and, a moment thereafter, made to sit down again. This time, he found a sturdier chair beneath him. I am not physically built for spy shit at all, Shiv thought with a wince.

His hood was wrenched off his face, and he found a familiar figure sitting across from him.

The man was tall and gaunt, and static imperceptibly danced along the edge of his meticulously trimmed black beard. His armor was characterized by slats with slight separations between them, copper wires coiling along the crenulations. Electricity surged through his armor, and slight forks of lightning leapt out from his body in a crackling aura.

Shiv had wondered what it would take for him to make contact with the City Lord. But here he was in the flesh. Havel Stormhalt. Looking just like he did in the Jealousy's memory back at Elaboration.

"Inquisitor Morgan Hyde," Stormhalt said. There was a faint rumble of thunder in the back of his throat, and his storm-gray eyes flashed with hints of distant lightning as he stared expressionlessly at Shiv. "The scouts have reported what you told them. And I find your claims to be disturbing." The City Lord leaned back and sneered down at the table between them. He made a gesture thereafter, and one of the nearby inquisitors placed a cup of water on the table. Shiv stared at the cup of water, and he reached out. He wasn't going to be able to drink it with his helmet on, but he could still pretend. He picked the glass up with shaking hands and messily poured it against his face. It splashed down as Shiv made lapping noises, making it seem as if he was dehydrated and nervous.

Stormhalt shot him a look of pity and sighed. "The scouts also said you claimed to have escaped from a Necrotech internment camp."

"Yes," Shiv rasped. He looked around the room. It was like a metallic box. No decorations. Just him. Stormhalt. Two automaton Pathbearers. A door. Shiv couldn’t tell much else about this place besides that, except that there was also some kind of sterile taste in the air. “Y-yes. They ambushed the expeditionary force. We were just past Margarita Point when they hit us in the air. They overwhelmed us immediately. They—"

Stormhalt held out a large hand and interrupted him. "You claim that Necrotechs did this. Was it only the Necrotechs?"

Shiv blinked and offered a frown. "I... I think so. The attack was sudden, overwhelming. We tried to hold against them, but we couldn't. They were just suddenly among us, ripping through us from the inside, even as our magi tried to set up defenses. When our inner shields collapsed, the rest of our forces followed. And then... and then..." Shiv shook. He tried not to overdo it, but he wanted to sell the look of a traumatized man. Someone who had faced and tasted too much death, and came out broken. Someone who was most assertively not Shiv. "And then I saw him, Vicar Sullain. He had the Animancy Core. He unleashed it upon us, and that baleful blue... it killed so many. We were betrayed by Oldsmith. The ambush was a set-up. So many died. So many…"

Stormhalt snarled slightly. His nostrils flared, and his eyes flashed with electrical power. "So the Abyssal Mongrel makes his move." The City Lord pressed his lips together as he mused, considering everything Shiv had said thus far. "And you are certain there were no orcs among the Vicar's forces."

That brought Shiv's mind to a complete halt. He remembered seeing a bolt of lightning leaving the Expeditionary Force. Adam managed to intercept it with his arrow. But maybe another had made it through. Maybe multiple bolts had escaped their notice, carrying multiple messages.

If that was the case, then perhaps they were trying to catch Shiv in a lie. Or they already knew he was lying, and this was a counterintelligence operation more than anything else.

Shiv found himself fighting the urge to cast himself back across time and return to Gate Piety. His last foray into spycraft had gone poorly, and this time, it wasn’t just him here. But just then, he noticed a dense pressure grinding against him. It was faint, heavy, and its weight carried multitudes. He felt it pushing against every single magical field he had, from Chronomancy to Biomancy to even his Hydromancy.

Shiv stared at the air, and he focused. He focused as he saw a thin glitter of mana there. It was kaleidoscopic mana, prismatic mana, mana of all colors and varieties, and it was suffusing the very atmosphere around him. He had a feeling that if he tried to jump right now, something terrible might happen. Might be some kind of really subtle mana warding. Or something else entirely. Don’t like how it's bunched around my fields. Still have no idea where they teleported me.

"Maybe," Shiv finally answered. He gave Stormhalt a shaken expression. "There was a great deal happening, and I—"

Stormhalt held up a hand. "That's enough, Inquisitor. At ease." Shiv nodded slowly. "I understand that you've experienced quite the ordeal. But even so, you managed to save seven of your fellow inquisitors. It is a commendable action; an honorable one. I salute you, Master Hyde. For caring about your fellows, even in these direst of circumstances."

"It was simply my duty, City Lord."

Stormhalt nodded along. "We've also gone through the minds of your fellow inquisitors."

Shiv pretended to be shocked. He drew in a sharp intake of breath. "The Necrotechs—They planted things in our minds. They reached into..."

"We are aware," Stormhalt interrupted him. "Be calm, Master Inquisitor. Our Heroic Psychomancers have delved into them. Their minds have indeed been altered to some extent. That is what they are certain about. Yours, however, we have not touched yet. For you seem more stable compared to the others."

And Shiv was glad Adam had him review what to say over and over again. "That's because the Necrotechs thought I was dead. They… they threw me in a pit along with so many corpses. They were preparing to resurrect me, to twist me into one of their undead abominations. I managed to get free because of that, escape and save the others."

Acting 12 > 14

"Remarkable," Stormhalt said. "But even so, we will need to review your mind to discover if you've been affected in any way." The way the City Lord said that implied a great many things.

Shiv simply nodded along. "Of course, City Lord Stormhalt. We cannot risk the Inquisition and the Ascendants’ glory. Not even for my own safety and comfort."

"Good man," Stormhalt said. "Good man." He patted Shiv on the arm twice, and he rose from his chair. A tremor of electricity danced down Shiv’s arm. "Do you know what happened to Master-Inquisitor Sijik, for that matter? I know that you must be overwhelmed, but any information pertaining to his status will be helpful.”

"I think he was taken. I think Sullain took Sijik… The Vicar said he wanted there to be an audience for when he conquers Blackedge. For when he destroys the town and the Perch."

Bolts of lightning blasted out from Stormhalt, grasping at the air around him but striking none of the people in the room. The man's expression was impassive, but Shiv could feel the anger radiating off of his body.

"I understand," Stormhalt said simply. "You will be teleported out of holdings and placed under watch. We will have a Biomancer and Psychomancer come look over you shortly. In the meantime, we have food prepared, along with a cot if you desire rest. But understand that we will be making full speed toward Blackedge. And we are moving spatially silent, so we cannot teleport you back to Fortress-City Diego for recovery." He reached down and grabbed Shiv by the shoulder before squeezing slightly. "Are you still in this fight with us, Inquisitor? For that is where we are heading, into a fight. We cannot let the Vicar destroy what is ours, unmake what is ours."

"I'm still with you, City Lord," Shiv forced out in a stammer. He rose, meeting the City-Lord's gaze as he tried to express his devotion.

"Good. Very good." Stormhalt nodded, and nodded, and nodded a bit too long. Shiv felt something terribly unpleasant turn inside his stomach. And when the City Lord finally stopped nodding, he gave Shiv a final look, then turned to one of the automaton Pathbearers standing guard.

“Move us to temporary quarters,” Stormhalt ordered.

Before Shiv could ask what that was, one of the machine Pathbearers channeled a burst of Dimensionality over the Deathless. Dark static swallowed Shiv, and a moment thereafter, he was pulled across a small gulf of space. Three seconds later, Shiv appeared in a new, wider chamber.

A cot on the ground awaited him, while a table was placed against the wall. Atop it, a steaming bowl of porridge called out to his senses, while a painted mural featuring thirteen enshrouded figures decorated the entirety of the left wall. There were no windows in his chamber. Only a small air vent lined the corner of his ceiling. But so far, his cover remained intact. Even with the awkwardness he'd experienced earlier, he hadn't been cut down. It seemed like Stormhalt just had him moved from an interrogation room to a detention chamber.

Shiv let out a quiet breath and struggled not to celebrate. Maybe I'm actually getting better at this spy stuff too. He looked around and waited another moment for the System to disappoint him. When it didn't, he walked over toward his cot to examine the amenities offered to him. But as he turned his head, something shimmered in the corner of his vision. Shiv paused, and he turned to stare at the mural of the Ascendants. He narrowed his eyes at the colors. He triggered his Compound Ocular Network. He zoomed in on one of the Ascendants, on one that resembled a winged figure that had two sets of arms and bore a bow.

Starhawk, Shiv thought. But there was something about the painting—about its shape—that drew his attention. As he took a few steps forward, he stared at the Starhawk intently, but he couldn't find anything wrong with it. He shifted again, performing the same action he did earlier when he was preparing to head to the cot. And just then, he saw something in the corner of his vision once more. Something was moving there, something minuscule. He immediately whipped his head back in place, and he tried to remember where the visual disturbance was. After a moment of looking, of zooming in further, he finally found it.

There was a small crack lining the painted body of the Starhawk. A crack that continued through the wall. And within that small crack, he saw a woman, a very short, very petite woman, biting into an apple and looking right back at him. Her short, strawberry blonde hair was somewhat messy, and her eyes were a piercing green. Most striking was her armor; it was made of tessellating plates, the same kind of vibrating material that made up Shiv's Magebreaker gauntlet. Hovering just behind her back was a sword. It was larger than the woman several times over, and patches of rust marred its form.

She took a final bite of her apple and tossed it aside. As soon as she threw the apple core out from the crack in the statue, it expanded, materializing into normal size and bouncing off of Shiv's foot. "Wow!" she exclaimed. Her voice rang clear and loud, and as she clapped her hands together, the air thundered. The room itself shook slightly, dust raining from the ceiling. Even though she was barely the size of a single hair, Shiv felt that she had enough strength to rip this room asunder. This room, and maybe even him.

Awareness 40 > 42

The woman ran a hand through her hair and sighed as she looked down. "Can't believe you noticed me with that Adept-Tier Awareness of yours, Master-Inquisitor." Then she giggled. "This is embarrassing. Puts me in a bit of a bind. Havel wanted me to watch you quietly in case you did anything weird."

She hopped out from the crack, and suddenly she grew far larger as well. Or at least to human size. Her natural height of just barely over one and a half meters reached up to around Shiv's waist. But her blade? That was even taller than he was. And Shiv was glad he didn't take his mask off, because that would have made things very, very ugly.

"Titansbane, I presume," Shiv said, keeping his voice even.

The Legendary Pathbearer burped into her hand and offered it to Shiv for a shake. "Don't call me that. I hate that fucking title. Call me Jessica. And you’re pretty sharp for a guy who supposedly got the life tortured out of him.”

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"Welcome, Legend Hawgrave. I bid you—”

“Cut the shit, Stormhalt. I'm here because Kathereine asked me to be, not because you summoned me. So, what do I need to break this time? Are the Jotun coming down from the north again? Do I need to kill another Chieftain? Or maybe the Feathered Serpent finally got his head out of his ass, and now he's making a run on our southern border. That’ll be a fun fight.”

"Not quite so. The crisis we face is both a complicated and delicate matter."

"I don't do complicated and delicate, Stormhalt. That's Washington's business. Or Carisi’s. You should probably ask them if you want a gentle touch."

"Oh, but it will be worth it. And I need you specifically. We have the go-ahead. It's finally time."

"Finally time for what?"

"We have confirmation that Roland Arrow seeks to invoke the ritual. I know that we have had a great many differences, Jessica. But on this, on this, we will both finally see a blood debt squared."

"Huh, that arrogant shit is finally going for it. Well, I didn't think I would see the day. I also didn't expect the Starhawk to let him. But wait, why hasn't he been declared a traitor by the Council? Why are we meeting so hush-hush? This seems to be a bigger deal than you're presenting it to be."

“Because the Ascendants are still divided! And because they are hesitant to stand against the Starhawk. They worry that a forceful approach will provoke him."

"But the Starhawk's already provoked. I'll tell you right now what I told Kathereine years ago. Either pull him back in the fold, redact him, or kill him. There's no other way about it. I know she still thinks he’s family, but there’s no chaining another god. Dammit. Family makes things fucking messy. Speaking of family… Blackedge, we're going to keep that town intact. Minimal casualties.”

“Of course. I only want to see Roland brought down and delivered to justice. And also the Perch secured. The Perch and all the other sacred relics he has been hoarding."

"Right, good. Because I think I got a grandniece there, last I checked. Descended from my late husband's brother. I don't much care for that piece of shit, but you know how it is. The girl should get to live. All for family and the ones we have left, right?"

"Yes. On that we are joined. All for family and the ones we have left. But some of us have very little left, Hawgrave. Very, very little left.”

-City Lord Havel Stormhalt and Legend Jessica Hawgrave

153 (I)

Unexpected

Shiv accepted Hawgrave's handshake, apprehension filling his chest. Alarm bells were going off in his mind. For the Legend to be here, hidden inside his holding cell, Stormhalt had to still suspect him.

But of all the people or ways he could have spied on me, I didn't expect her, Shiv thought to himself.

Hawgrave's grip was nothing special. She was strong, but aside from that, he couldn't glean anything else so far.

She stared up at him with a playful gleam in her eye. "That's a pretty strong shake you got there, Master-Inquisitor. What are you, a High Adept now in terms of Physicality?"

Shiv almost reactively softened his handshake, but that would have been even more suspicious. As if she isn't testing me right now. Shiv grimaced internally. What the hells does she know?

"Yeah, High Adept," he replied. Shiv let out a slight cough, framing embarrassment. "I leveled a few times, escaping from the Necrotechs. I didn't have any weapons, so I had to make do. I killed a few Deathstalkers using a makeshift club I made from a pipe and a piece of concrete. Got quite a few levels that way.”

"Oh, nice." Hawgrave giggled. "You know, I miss being encircled or captured and then needing to break out of places. It's one of my guilty pleasures. But once you get to Legend, not many people can capture you so easily anymore. Life gets a lot more boring.” She blew a stray strand of hair out of her eye and smiled slowly. “Or really, really exciting, when you actually find someone that can challenge you."

She licked her lips. Something was very, very wrong.

Shiv looked down at her hand and swallowed. "Can I… Is it appropriate for me to let go now, Legend Hawgrave?"

"Didn't I just tell you to call me Jessica?"

"Yes, of course, Jessica."

"Well, you can let go of my hand now, Morgan."

He did so and took a step back. He briefly glanced at her blade and noticed how it mirrored his movements. It was hovering just behind her, and Shiv's instincts told him that if he made any sudden movements, that rusted slab of metal would likely be greeting his neck.

"I—it honors me that you—I—" Shiv stammered and tried to make it seem as natural as possible. He didn't know Morgan Hyde's personality exactly, but when a Legend showed up in front of you, some nervousness was probably appropriate.

She waved him off. "Yeah, knock that shit off too. I'm just a Legend. Aside from that, I'm like every other girl in the world. Well, every other girl who's survived over a century of combat in this nightmarish hell we call Integration. Anyway, I'm really impressed you managed to see me. I know you had High Adept Awareness as well. But still, you wanna know how many Masters just let me slip by under their notice?"

She waited for Shiv to ask her, and finally he did. "How many?"

"Too many," she answered. "At least ten in the past few hours." She looked back at the crack she'd been hiding in and laughed. "It's a bit of a hobby of mine, you know? Shrinking down and running through Talsand's ventilation systems."

"Talsand?" Shiv asked.

And then he winced. And he realized, too late, that this was probably something Morgan Hyde would know. He tried to remedy that failure by sputtering, "I…Talsand… I’m having a hard time remembering some things because..." He gestured at his head. “They hurt me pretty bad.”

Acting 14 > 15

Titansbane pressed her lips together and tutted in pity. "Ah, Psychomancers. The felling bastards. You know, of all the enemies I've run into, of all the enemies I've killed, I hate Psychomancers the worst. One thing to get stabbed to death. Another thing to be trapped inside your own body because your mind collapsed, right? Like someone forcing you to go demented.”

"Right," Shiv said, letting out a relieved sigh. "The felling bastards.”

“Still, it's kind of insulting that you forgot Talsand, of all people. I mean, especially since he's been carrying you out for the past week or so. Isn’t that right, Talsand?”

A low rumble sounded from all around them. “It happens sometimes. No hard feelings,” a droning voice spoke.

And slowly Shiv began putting details together. Apparently, Talsand was a person. No, not a person, Shiv thought. The way she was describing them, Talsand was likely an automaton. Shiv's eyes widened. Am I inside an automaton right now? Wait, how big can an automaton get? Because this feels larger than a building.

He directed a mana field against a wall and felt it bounce off. This place was warded. Shiv struggled not to clench his fists. Something was very wrong. Instinct told him he was compromised, but he didn’t know how, and Hawgrave’s behaviour confused him even more if it was actually the case.

The woman in question nodded slightly. "Anyhow, now that you've spotted me, I can't really do the job I was originally supposed to. It's hard to be a creepy stalker when your stalkee has noticed you.”

Shiv stared at her awkwardly, and she just laughed.

"Oh, relax, Hyde, I'm not here to perv on you or anything, you're far too young for my tastes. I'm just here to see if you've been compromised in any way. In any non-obvious way."

"I don't understand what you mean, ma'am."

"Oh, the Necrotects have a lot of dirty tricks up their sleeves. And you won't believe the things I've run into before. Shapeshifters. Skinwalkers. You know, I even accidentally killed an invisible New Albion spy once. Totally by accident. Wasn't trying at all." She turned around and pointed at her sword. "Swung old Rusty here without looking and cut him in half. Tell him, Rusty.”

“I still remember the blood, gristle, and bone parting," the sword said. Its voice was deep, but it had a refined quality to it. Shiv thought it was the way a scholar might sound. If the scholar was a two and a half meter long greatsword. OK. Sentient weapon. Another potential problem.

Hawgrave giggled. "I totally messed up that time because I didn't see him there, but you know, things have a tendency to work out in life, wouldn't you agree?"

Shiv wasn't sure what she was implying, but he nodded slowly. "I hope so."

"You hope so…" Hawgrave sighed. "Well, fine, since I can't just stare at you from the crack anymore, I'm going to try a more direct method. Are you actually Morgan Hyde? Last chance to come clean if you're not.”

Shiv’s stomach turned to lead. “What? Of course I am.”

He did his best to keep his hammering heart in check as Hawgrave looked him up and down. "Well, you do look like him." Her eyes flashed with mana. "And you do have his Path. All the right skills too. But why do I still have that funny feeling, old Rusty?"

"Because of the orc," Rusty intoned.

"Right, the orc. The orc that curiously surrendered himself to us. The orc that told us all about someone interesting. His Nemesis-Beloved."

Shiv's blood turned to ice.

No. No, this is not fucking happening.

Hawgrave licked her lips. "Most people don't much like the orcs. Their response to the grayskins is usually just to kill them. I'm normally one of those people. But it's also not every day that an orc sneaks into your Fortress-City and actively surrenders himself to the Inquisition with special information on a certain Pathbearer in Gate Theborn. A Pathbearer with a mask that lets him pretend to be other people."

It took all of Shiv's willpower to stay still.

“Actually, let’s consult him right now,” Hawgrave said. Her blade moved a meter to her right, and its flat side flashed with the black static mana of Dimensionality. As the darkness cleared, the greatsword became a window into another place, and on the other side was a dark room, with an orc bolted to its far wall. Only his head was exposed, but Shiv would recognize those piss yellow eyes and that sadistic—yet pure—smile anywhere.

812 lifted his head, and his expression grew ever more joyful. “Ah. Deathless. We meet once again. I knew slipping out across Lone Star and getting myself interned by the Republic would raise our odds of a timely reunion. I just did not expect how soon it would be.”

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153 (II)

Unexpected

Shiv’s mind reeled as he considered his response. “I… I don’t know you,” Shiv breathed, still trying to fake it.

The orc sighed. “You are still not very good at this. They have delved into a few of my memories. Well. I let them. And they know I am not lying. Just as they know I can sense you because of the Curse.” 812 scoffed. “Alas, the City Lord has a loathsome personality, and he refuses to allow me to be of service. But dear Legend Hawgrave was more than accommodating. She even allowed me to stay as a guest within her sword.”

Godsdammit. Challenger, you’re just letting this shit happen?

The Challenger wants to see what happens next.

Shiv sighed. “Fuck me, this was bullshit.”

“Oh,” Hawgrave said, frowning. “Not really fair, was it?”

“Yeah.”

Shiv manifested—

Hawgrave flicked a finger against his head. Her inertium-forged armor cracked against his outer helmet and split it down the middle. Shiv let out a grunt as the tip of her middle finger cracked his Mask of False Paths right down the middle as well.

Mask of False Paths

Condition: Severely Damaged

Husk of the Adamantine Voidmantid

Condition: Wounded

"Shit!" Shiv growled as his head snapped backward. Hawgrave’s flick hit as hard as some of Bonk’s heavier swings.

He tried to stop time once more, but she vanished from sight—only to reappear and drive a sloppy jab into his solar plexus. Her form was horrible, but the blow came so fast Shiv didn't even perceive it, and he felt his bones turn to powder and flesh to paste as his armor shattered.

Adamantine Adaption 171 > 172

Shiv impacted the far wall. It rang around him, and then the room shuddered like the insides of a gong. A shockwave smashed into him a second thereafter. Then came more billowing waves of force and heat, crashing over him like ocean waves upon an ant.

Despite all that, the room took no damage. Only the cot and table dissolved into motes of dust. Shiv swallowed back a mouthful of blood and snarled. Legend or not, he was going to hurt her for that.

Shiv pulled himself off the wall using his gravitic field—only for Hawgrave to slam into him, pinning him in place with an outstretched hand. He thrust out his Skysplitter, but she grabbed his thumb and twisted backward before he could get anywhere near her neck.

"I—" Hawgrave started.

Shiv headbutted her. He felt part of his helmet cave in. Her expression didn't even change. She pressed him harder against the wall and threw another light jab into his sternum.

Adamantine Adaption 172 > 174

His ribs shattered like glass. His sternum dissolved. Sections of his spine snapped apart. An ocean of blood spilled down from his nostrils and mouth. It pooled inside his cracked mask, spurting free from the opening in his helmet. He ignored it. He grabbed her arm and smashed his mana hydras into her.

For the first time, she gave a response. She moved slightly backward as columns of crimson mana exploded around her. He drove his Biomancy field against her flesh. Her body came alight in outline of spell patterns, but her Inertium armor made his magic bounce off in an instant.

It did give him a moment to recover. Shiv finally activated his Strider of the Unbending Path. His temporal shell ignited. The world around him stopped.

Then a spike of gold smashed into him. That faint mana concentrated in the atmosphere he'd seen in the cell earlier suddenly collapsed around his body, hardening into a solid structure. It ground against his temporal armor, breaking it, costing him precious seconds.

But he still had enough to—

Hawgrave's eyes narrowed. A smirk slowly spread across her face. Her body came aglow with vaporous, bright-white mana.

Shiv looked on in utter disbelief. He was accelerating his own progression of time so fast that anyone without Chronomancy of their own should be utterly still. She had none, so how was she—

Shiv's mind ground to a halt. Holy fucking shit. She might just be that godsdamned fast. How high are her Reflexes? Is that even possible?

Her radiant mana detonated outward. It impacted each of Shiv's magical fields and tore through them like a blade would split through Pathless flesh.

A cry of pain forced itself out from Shiv's lungs. His temporal shell shattered into grains of golden dust. Shiv fought through the pain as he attacked her. He threw a knee at her chest, using his badly ruptured mana hydras in tandem with his gravitic field to control his broken body and give force to his blow.

Hawgrave vanished again as she dodged. She appeared to his right, and she lightly flicked him again.

His helmet burst apart completely. Shiv felt his right ear cave in as well. The world spun, and the ground came up to hit him. As he crashed down, he clawed at the floor, fighting against how the room around him spun over and over. He managed to grab Hawgrave by her leg, and he used his gravitic field to twist against her knee. He tried to dislocate the limb, but found himself pressing against an unmoving pillar. He tried to lift her up, to throw her aside after that, but though she briefly left the ground, she slammed down a second later as she got heavier and heavier, exceeding his strength in an instant.

"Ascendants, you just do not give up," she commented with naked glee. “You’re a real brawler, aren’t you?” He spat blood at her face through his cracked helmet and mask. She let the gore splash over her and even ran her tongue over her blood-coated lips. “Fine. Fuck it. Show me what you got, kid.”

His right ear wasn't working, his soul was lined with searing agony, but the battle lust was on, and he wasn't going to let a few things like shredded mana fields or a crippling wound stop him from putting up a good fight. He jabbed his Skysplitter against her several times. The blade bounced off, but he knew Deepest Edge would send his cuts through her armor.

Even so, the Legendary Pathbearer didn't react.

"Deepest Edge," she said, recognizing the skill. "Not a bad skill to have at all, but that other stuff, what was that? Gravitic Wrestler? Strider of the Unbending Path, Aegis of Assimilation… Now that's in a pretty eclectic collection, if I do say so myself. What do you think, Rusty?"

"I think this one isn't human. Or his true nature has been altered.”

Shiv fought through a haze of agony as he directed a surge of basilisk venom into his flesh using his Biomancy. Plaguefueled activated. His body swelled larger. He fed his injuries to his Biomancy mana and swung his hydras against Hawgrave.

A crimson blast of mana consumed the room. Before he could jump to his feet, she reached through the explosion and pulled him up. Shiv borrowed her momentum and threw a rising elbow. She dropped her own elbow in response. Her blow cleaved through his. His limb came apart in a welter of gore. Shiv stared at what remained of the limb for a moment and then hit her in the face with it anyway, ignoring the intense pain.

Hawgrave blinked at him, her mouth dropping open slightly. "How are you not in shock right now?"

"I've had worse," Shiv growled.

He hit her three times more with his ruined limb before she finally broke from her stupor. She grabbed his arm by the shoulder and simply ripped it off at the base. A sounding snap shook through his body, and as soon as the arm detached from his shoulder, he rammed his jagged shoulder bone into her face. It didn't do much, but it did make her cough as she accidentally ingested some of his blood.

Her coughing turned into surprise laughter as he slammed into her repeatedly, his Inertial Overdrive building—

She flicked him just under the chin. Shiv’s jaw exploded. His skull fractured. His sheath discharged. Hawgrave walked through the cataclysmic blast like it was a light breeze and flicked him across the forehead.

A flash of white exploded behind Shiv's eyes. The world was drowned away by a warbling siren and dappled colors. He tried to get his bearings, but his body was spinning. He couldn't tell where he was. Shiv pulled on himself using his field and found himself bouncing off a wall immediately after nausea swept through him.

As Shiv coated himself using a mana hydra, he realized that part of his chin was sticking out from the back of his neck. A spreading numbness washed through his body. Shiv didn't even feel much pain anymore. Still, as far as injuries went, that one was pretty unique.

Adamantine Adaption 174 > 176

Good godsdamn shit, Shiv thought to himself. She's barely jabbing me. She makes the Recollector feel like a pushover with these hits. Bonk doesn’t have shit on her either.

Suddenly, he felt a heavy weight slam down on his chest. Shiv let out a groan, and he tried to exhale. A wet cough left him instead, along with a splurge of blood. As the bright colors faded out of his eyes and sound returned to his only working ear, he found Hawgrave standing over him, looking down with a thin eyebrow raised.

"Hells, I might have hit you a little too hard. You still alive?"

Shiv wanted to say, just about, but what came out was a messy slur of gurgled blood and mucus. His mask also parted around his face in halves.

Mask of False Paths

Condition: Destroyed

Shit. Need to get that reforged.

She winced. "Yeah, sorry about that. I held back as much as I could. I was trying to knock you out. Since you survived my first few hits, I assumed you were Heroic-Tier in terms of Toughness, but I guess you might just be a really High Master instead." She narrowed her eyes at him. "I also think I know what you got. That's Adamantine Adaption, isn't it? You felt harder the second time around. Your body was trying to get used to me. Just what exactly are you?" She let out a surprise giggle. "Shit, Rusty, the orc was right. There might actually be a crazy human kid getting monster skills."

Shiv rolled onto his side with a sudden burst of his gravitic field. He launched off the weight pressing down on him for a moment, but then it crashed back down, and he felt part of his torso cave in entirely. It was only then that he noticed that her huge sword was leaning against him. Shiv's senses began to drift as his mind went cold.

Death was soon approaching. He tried to trigger his Chronomancy again, but the field hadn't recovered enough yet.

Shit…

“No, no, I know that look. I know when someone's on the way out. Don't die on me yet, Deathless."

She reached down and pulled the broken Mask of False Paths off his face. And at the same time, a swirl of Dimensionality concentrated around her hand, and from a black static sphere emerged a large, bulbous elixir. Its underside was transparent, and Shiv saw what seemed to be bottled fire swirling within. She popped its cork off, and began pouring it down over his face and into his wounds.

The flames shot through Shiv, consuming him from within. He felt himself combust, but rather than burning alive, the fire began to reconstruct him, rebuild every part of his body and armor that she'd just broken. She plugged the elixir a moment after, and she dismissed it with another casual spell of Dimensionality. The fire worked through Shiv, and as soon as it extinguished itself, he felt his right arm again, and his chin was back in the right place. More importantly, however, his Perfect Semblance was lost. His true form was exposed for the first time, and Hawgrave held the two pieces of his broken mask in her hand.

"Mask of False Paths." She chuckled to herself. "Heroic-Tier. That's a pretty nifty thing to have, but you're no spy. No, definitely not. Well, even if you were, we already knew you were coming, especially with our special informant."

Shiv stared at Hawgrave for a few moments, annoyed that she didn't let him die, but also thinking of how he could exploit her curiosity. This infiltration thing had gone to shit in record time as per usual, but she was trying to keep him alive, and more importantly, she didn't know about his Outside Context Problem Skill. His mistake earlier was not using the skill first, before he triggered his Chronomancy.

When his field recovered, he would use Outside Context Problem to shroud himself from Hawgrave's Awareness and whatever that atmospheric counter-mana was, so that he could escape. But before then, he might still be able to confuse them—perhaps even accomplish the goal of his mission all the same.

Shiv held up his two hands and sighed. "Alright, you got me. Really not that good at this whole spying thing."

She nodded at him in sympathy. "Yeah, judging from your skills, I think you're probably a bit more like me. You like that bone-on-bone fighting, don't you?"

Shiv met her gaze and simply let out a quiet laugh. "Suppose you could say that. About as much as I like cooking."

She nodded and extended a hand, "Legend Jessica Hawgrave, Titansbane. And you are? Your real name."

Should have considered withholding that information, but there was no point. If 812 had really let them sift through his mind, then they were probably aware of who he was. Or at least suspicious.

"Hero Shiv. And I don't really have a nickname I prefer to use right now."

He reached up and accepted her hand, though. She pulled him back up with a casual tug, even lifting him off his feet for a moment. And once more, he was surprised by her strength. Surprised and fascinated. There was nothing about her Physicality that told him how she was hitting that hard. She was overwhelmingly powerful. But the nuances of her strength and speed were also staggeringly subtle.

"So, just Shiv, huh?" she said, craning her neck to look up at him. With Plaguefueled active, one could have stacked two Jessica Hawgraves on top of one another and still barely reached his shoulders. He guessed her entire body had about as much mass as one of his arms at the moment, which made her strength even more terrifying.

"Yeah," he replied, leaning over slightly to meet her eyes, "just Shiv."

She regarded him for a moment longer and turned away. "You know, I'm surprised that Roland let you live. Especially considering what your mommy and daddy did to his wife."

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Write 153 (III) Unexpected
Target length: ~2400 words
Key events: combat-heavy

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153 (III)

Unexpected

And immediately, Hawgrave made her own mistake. She showed the extent of her knowledge. She didn't know Rose was back, and that Rose was right here. She also told Shiv indirectly that she knew his parents.

"Well, if you know anything about Roland Arrow, it's that he's too kind to be a bastard, but too hurt to let shit go."

His comment made Hawgrave guffaw loudly. She threw her head back and cackled girlishly. "Oh, oh, that's good. Yeah." She pointed a finger at him. "That is a great description of Roland Arrow. That arrogant, self-deluding piece of shit. I’m gonna look forward to splitting him down the middle.”

Shiv noticed how her words ended as a vicious growl, and he suspected that there might be a personal matter between her and Roland as well. Just how many people did you piss off, Town Lord?

A sudden pressure clenched the right side of Shiv's body, and just then, City Lord Stormhalt appeared in the room. He arrived with his helmet on and flanked by seven other Pathbearers. All of them were at least High-Master magi, and they bore weaponry that gleamed bright with Chronomancy mana.

Shiv had a feeling they were specifically here to deal with him if Hawgrave needed support.

Stormhalt did a double-take at Shiv, and he let out a frustrated snarl. "Ascendant, the damned orc wasn't lying.”

"I know, right?" Hawgrave said, a wide grin on her face that showed her pearly-white teeth. "I can't believe it myself. But here he is in the flesh, a monster skill-having human."

"Hero Shiv, officially listed as Tanner Lowe in the Republic Census. The Omenborn," Stormhalt muttered.

"Yeah, not really that anymore," Shiv replied, trying to clamp down on the annoyance he felt when Stormhalt used that slur.

“But how?” Stormhalt asked. “How did you hide from me?”

Hawgrave gestured at his broken mask. “He had this. I think that’s an Aviary item, isn’t it? Pretty neat. I might have some use for it when I get it fixed.”

“Nah,” Shiv said. “I intend to keep it.”

Things were dramatically off course, and Shiv considered at that moment to activate Outside Context Problem and cast himself away to his temporal anchor. But he hesitated. If he left now, Stormhalt and the Inquisition might avoid Blackedge altogether or make a direct run for Gate Piety instead. No, Shiv thought, I need to make sure that they go for Blackedge immediately. Doesn't matter how I do it. Doesn't matter that my cover's blown. He eyed the pieces of his broken mask left on the ground as well. Also need to get that back before I cut and run.

"So, your ruse has failed," Stormhalt said, marching up to Shiv. The City Lord was tall, but he was still only human-sized. Plaguefueled-boosted, Shiv stood at almost three and a half meters. He looked down at Stormhalt. "The inquisitors you brought with you, their broken minds and wounds, were they your handiwork?"

"Not mine alone," Shiv replied casually. "I had some friends help me." And then a devious idea came together in his mind. "Frankly, I don't know what to do with a human mind. I don't know what to do with any minds. I'm barely much of a Psychomancer. So I left that to the other Necrotechs."

Stormhalt glared at him, and the lightning arcing around his person intensified. "You betrayed the Republic?"

"I betrayed the Republic?" Shiv spat, snorting in faux disbelief. "Listen, Havel. I don’t give a shit about the Republic—”

Stormhalt threw a heavy hook into Shiv's ribs. A loud thud thundered through the room. A blast of lightning and force swept over everyone. Shiv didn't budge. He just stared down at Stormhalt. Slowly, he turned away from the City Lord and looked toward Hawgrave instead.

"Maybe you should stick to doing the physical violence. This one tickles.”

Hawgrave covered her mouth and failed to hide her amusement. Stormhalt slowly pulled his fist back, and Shiv squinted his eyes, noting his bruised knuckles.

"Listen, my Biomancy field might be a little bit jacked up right now, but do you want me to fix it up?"

The City Lord launched a bolt of lightning at Shiv's face in response. That hit considerably harder. Shiv staggered back a step, taking a moment to shake off the light concussion Stormhalt had given him.

"Yeah, you should have started with that, asshole. Don't have much of a talent for punching,” Shiv sneered, rubbing his head.

Hawgrave couldn't take it anymore. Laughter escaped her like chiming bells. Stormhalt turned his glare on her for a moment as Shiv reached down to take his broken mask back. Just then, a blade was pressed against his throat.

"Touch it and we behead you." A towering, elven Pathbearer held a Chronomancy-lined saber against his throat. She pressed it a little bit harder, and it slipped through his armor with some effort. He noted the frown on her face.

Shiv just sneered. "Yeah, I hope your friends can hold me still. Frankly, I don't give a shit about the rest of you." He looked at Hawgrave. "This one here is my only problem. For now."

"For now," Hawgrave said, shaking her head. "God, you are an absolute peach. I think I'm gonna have to keep this one. Stormhalt. It's been a while since I had an apprentice. I’m putting him in Rusty after.”

"Absolutely not!" Stormhalt shouted at her. "He's betrayed the Republic."

"She's teasing you, dipshit," Shiv muttered.

“No, I’m serious,” Hawgrave said. “I want you in my sword. Rusty could use someone like you juicing him up.”

“What?” Shiv asked.

“Enough!” Lightning exploded out from Stormhalt's body. A raging storm built around his person, consuming the small room in tides of turbulent wind. Gales strong enough to uproot great trees ground against Shiv's armor. And to his surprise, he was taking damage. Stormhalt was a mage, a High Master Aeromancer, if Shiv were to guess. Stormhalt took a single step through the denseness of the storm. His body was cast alight by flashing forks of electricity. He came for Shiv like a harbinger of destruction.

But suddenly, Hawgrave casually strode through the wall of wind as well. She placed a hand up on his shoulder and held him still. Suddenly, the thunderstorm died, and Hawgrave simply shook her head. "If you kill him, we don't get to interrogate anyone. And I don’t get a new mana battery for my sword.”

Stormhalt's body shook slightly, but he glared at Shiv a final time. "Seize him. Take his equipment."

"There's no need for that," Shiv said, holding his hands up. "I'm willing to cooperate right now. I want to live. Besides, it's probably too late for you guys to do anything anyway."

Suddenly, any trace of amusement was gone from Hawgrave's face. "All right, start talking. Why is it too late?"

"Because Sullain’s finished his weapon. He's going to use it on Blackedge as soon as he possibly can. He also knows about you guys, thanks to Master-Advisor Oldsmith and the recently captured Master-Inquisitor Sijik. I don't think you guys have the manpower to stop him either."

Deception 22 > 23

Hawgrave and Stormhalt shared a look.

"Has he used the weapon yet?" Stormhalt snarled. "Speak."

"Not yet," Shiv said, "but soon. He finished it just as I left. My job was to keep you assholes delayed and confused."

"Uh-huh," Hawgrave responded. "But then why'd you tell us that he had the Animancy Core to begin with? Seems like a stupid thing to do, giving that a way.”

"Because we can't hide that," Shiv said, adapting on the fly. The real reason was that he was pulling things out of his ass right now, and couldn’t keep his story straight. "Pretty soon, the entire world's gonna know about the Animancy Core. He's built quite the weapon with it. And he intends to turn Starhawk's Perch into nothing but a puddle of slag with it. So if you're trying to save that, well, I hope you have a replacement sacred relic somewhere, because the Perch might be lost. However," Shiv let the word hang, "I might be agreeable to a deal. I can help you save the Perch.”

"A deal?" Stormhalt spat incredulously. "You're talking about a deal with us. You're bargaining. You, a traitor to the Republic, a murderer of inquisitors. You are bargaining for—"

"I'm bargaining for my life," Shiv said gaudily. "I don't have any love for the Republic. You can thank Roland Arrow for that. In fact, I think there's not a single person in this room that likes Roland Arrow. That being said, I don't much care for the Necrotechs either. The bastards want to have a war with the surface. And me, I just want to be left alone after I settle a score."

Hesitation gripped Stormhalt. Shiv's play at manipulating his emotions was working. The Deathless still wasn't a very good spy, but with all the time he spent around the orcs, trying to decipher their intentions, learning their habits, and analyzing their behaviors, he was getting good at judging people's psychologies. And fast. Maybe I don't need to be a spy, Shiv thought to himself. Maybe there is another way I could be socially effective. I don't think I've ever considered giving politics a go. Might put more thought into that.

"Roland," Stormhalt rasped. "You're here for Roland as well."

"As I said before, aren't we all? Anyway, the hells is your problem with Roland? And yours?" He looked at Hawgrave too. "Did he keep you borderline illiterate and stop you from having Paths too?"

The Legendary Pathbearer ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, and Shiv got the feeling she was restraining quite a bit of anger. "He put a hole through my eldest daughter's head. Killed her dead.”

"Oh," Shiv replied, slightly stumped. "Yeah, uh, that'll do it."

"My grievance is not your concern," Stormhalt said. "But tell me, what could you possibly be of use to us right now? What can you offer us that we cannot take with our Psychomancers? With our—”

"Do you want the Animancy core back or not?" Shiv asked. "Because I can get back there. And since Sullain still trusts me…" Shiv paused. "...somewhat, I might be able to delay. I might be able to damage his weapon. Give you bastards an edge in the coming fight. And before you lose your shit and do a bunch of other stuff, I can potentially smuggle some of your inquisitors behind enemy lines as well."

Shiv was pulling things out of his ass by the arm length by now. But it was working better than the actual plan. He could see Stormhalt considering Shiv's offer. Hawgrave as well.

"And if I bring your inquisitors with me, they can make sure I don't betray you. Besides, I don't want to deal with the Necrotechs alone anyway. Creepy felling fucks.”

A moment of silence passed. Stormhalt stared at Shiv and let out a breath. "The same thing can be done once our Psychomancers are done with your mind. This changes nothing.” He gestured at his soldiers. "Seize him. Have him prepared for psychosurger—”

Shiv triggered Outside Context Problem. He sank into his Vitae, and suddenly the City-Lord did a double-take. Hawgrave looked confused as well. She broke from her casual stance and came alert. Her blade swept through the space Shiv once occupied and cleaved nothing. In the same moment, the Deathless picked up both halves of his broken mask, and he cast a final glance at Hawgrave.

"I'll get you in the rematch," he muttered.

He froze time, but before he cast himself back to his temporal anchor, he walked up to Stormhalt and channeled a spray of basilisk venom into his face.

"Have fun with the nerve-agent, City Lord.” That should distract them for a bit, he thought.

With that done, Shiv cast himself across time. He jolted out of place, surging across reality before he snapped back before the Surface Gateway where he'd placed the anchor almost an hour ago. Two Weaveresses on guard within the teleportation anchor jumped away from him, and between them, a dimensional pathway stood open, leading back to the bunker.

Shiv let out a long breath as he processed what had just happened to him. He shifted the contents of his cape and brought the Forest of Alloy in position as well.

“You guys all right?” Shiv asked. "Uva?”

"I'm fine, I think." The Umbral let out a pained rasp. "Just suffering incredible mana strain. What was that? Something tore through me.”

"I don't know. It's like Hawgrave projected her Magical Resistance out of herself. But did you guys get the rest of that?"

"Yeah," Rose answered. "Godsdammit. Fuck! I mean, what the fuck is Jesse doing? Why is she with Havel of all people? And what he hells does she mean Roland killed her eldest daughter? We—She was our friend! What even is this?”

Shiv sighed. "Lots has changed since you've been gone, Rose. That’s my guess.”

"You guess," Rose hissed. "Also, what the hells was all that?"

"What was what?" Shiv asked.

"You were a spy for around 20 minutes. That's some of the worst Tradecraft I've ever seen."

"Yeah, well, it's pretty normal with me," Shiv replied. "Still got it done though in the end. They're going after Sullain. I think. Just didn't get a chance to do anything else."

“What a pity,” Whisper replied. “But 812’s appearance was a surprise. Though an amusing one.”

“Not for me, asshole. I’m gonna kill that fucking bastard for good when I get my hands on him.” Shiv prepared himself to pass through the dimensional pathway. But suddenly, the Surface Gateway behind him shuddered.

A fraction of a second later, Adam exploded out from it, covered in blood and ash. He nearly slammed into Shiv but went still thereafter.

“Shiv?” he rasped. "You're—We need to go! We have a big felling problem."

"Adam," Shiv grunted, frowning at his friend's state. "I made contact with Stormhalt and Titansbane. The spying went to shit, but they're still—"

"Sullain finished his weapon!" Adam shouted, interrupting Shiv. “I need you and the orcs out on the surface NOW!”

The Deathless was speechless for a beat. "Wow. Looks like I wasn't a liar after all. I told the Inquisition he was done with the weapon too.”

[User]
Write 154 (I) Weapon
Target length: ~2800 words

[Assistant]
It is highly inappropriate to think of an Animancy Core as a weapon. It is not a weapon. It does not destroy.

Quite Contrarily, it forces you to be remembered. It splays your narrative upon the System, fusing you with Integration itself. Perhaps the best way to understand it is as a poorly told story, in which the first person bleeds into the third. With you being the first person and the System being the third. This is why most who are caught in the detonation of an Animancy Core are actually immortal. Immortal in the worst possible sense. They cannot die. They will always remain, but pulled apart at their foundations.

Some report faint traces of blue staining reality afterward. It is less a form of mana and more a bruise, painting a new, partially fused entity under the skin of existence.

And so, we use Animancy as a weapon. A feared weapon. These cores that my father has created are regarded as instruments of unparalleled destruction. There are treaties binding them from use, and the Faiths refuse to develop them further. But destruction was not what they were made for. They were made to change the System itself, to deliver a universal narrative—to bring an end to strife.

For if we are capable of deciding a narrative, of leaving wounds upon the System itself, if it is possible to mix third with first, then why can we not use first to usurp the third?

It is too late to turn away now. We have already stolen fire from the System. All that remains is choosing how we wish to burn.

-Udraal Thann’s Animancy Notes

154 (I)

Weapon

Shiv let everyone out of his cape, and Adam caught them up on what was going on.

Whisper responded in an instant. He ordered one of his fellow orcs to head across the dimensional pathway and make for the Tutorial. There, he was to inform their army about what was happening on the surface, and that they were to scramble and push for Blackedge immediately.

Uva projected one of her strands and cast a thought into Shiv's mind. "Shiv, I need to borrow your dragon."

"Choki?" Shiv asked. "Sure, but why? What are you planning?"

"The sun is coming up. I also have yet to accommodate myself to surface sickness. The dragon suffers no such issues, and if I keep my mana strands tight within the confines of its mind, I should be able to avoid the Light Curse."

The idea of Uva entering the battle during day time made Shiv’s gut clench with instinctive dread, but a time dragon was a better vessel than most. “Alright, take the dragon, but make sure the Curse doesn't affect you. If it shows any effect, head right back into the gate immediately. Don’t burn for nothing.”

He wanted to say something more, but she sent a pulse of affection through his mind, and he fell silent.

“Just be careful," Shiv said.

"As careful as I can be," Uva replied. She let out a quiet chuckle. "If you didn't want me to be in such grave danger all the time, then you shouldn't have made yourself so favored and contaminated me as well.”

"Yeah, the System and I are gonna have a word about that sometime."

Without saying anything further, Uva promptly departed as well, leaving only Whisper, a few of his fellow orcs, Valor, Rose, Can Hu, and Adam nearby.

"Mother," Adam said to Rose, "I need you to stay here.”

"No. I need to be at Blackedge," she said. She cupped his cheek and stared into his eyes. "You are not telling me to stay here while everything is going to hell. I won’t listen. And you won’t tell me no.”

Adam swallowed. Shiv knew that the wisest thing to do would be to confine her to Gate Piety, but before an onslaught of overwhelming emotions, wisdom had little hope to prevail.

"If you're going into this, you're sticking with me," Shiv said. "You're going to be with Valor inside my cape. That's about the safest place around."

Adam winced at Shiv's statement, but he didn’t dispute it. Shiv was at once the most likely to die in the coming fight, but considering that he wasn’t going to stay dead, her odds of survival were considerably higher with him than without. "Are you sure about this?"

"Fuck no, I'm not sure about this," Shiv shot back. He looked at Rose and shook his head, "You're not even an Initiate right now. If things go wrong—”

“I die," Rose cut him off with a scornful scoff. "I've been a Pathbearer longer than you've been alive. I've been a Pathbearer since I was barely a girl. I know the consequences of defeat. I have lived the consequences." Her expression turned sour. “And I would do it again. I will not abandon my love or my people to fate while my child suffers in my place. If there is anything I can do, or any difference I can make, I won't leave. I won't turn away."

Her eyes came aglow with a faint, violet energy. Within her expression, Shiv saw the Diviner she used to be, and he knew there was no swaying her. That, and he didn't think it was in his right to force a mother to abandon her son as he went to war.

He drew in a deep breath. "Fine. But do not do anything stupid. I didn't shit you out of my soul just so that you could end up dying a pointless death."

"Don't be so cynical, boy." She chuckled humorlessly. "Dying pointless deaths is kind of what we Pathbearers do." She cracked her neck and looked him up and down, "But you know that better than most of us, Shiv. Or at least you should."

"Valor. Can Hu," Shiv called out, turning away from Rose.

"I will make sure Lady Van Erren remains unharmed," Valor said. "Additionally, I would request that you project your Psychomancy down into the Forest of Alloy. That way, I and Can Hu might be able to provide you with active assistance from the inside as well.”

“Sure,” Shiv said. “But things are probably going to turn into a real shitshow pretty quick, so—”

“I just need a bit of context and an opening,” Valor said. “I intend to keep you spared from Necromancy if I can.”

As Rose, Can Hu, and Valor entered Shiv’s cape again, the Deathless regarded Whisper.

"Think you can keep us from being noticed by the Vicar once we get up close?" Shiv asked. “Because I didn’t do so well myself last time.”

"I dare not promise the sky nor the heavens, but let's see how this goes," the orc replied with an excited twinkle in his eyes. If there was one good thing about the orcs, it was the fact that the bastards were unshakable. A sphere of Dimensionality expanded out from Whisper, and it formed a protective veil shielding them from notice. Anyone staring in from the outside wouldn't see Whisper or anyone beside him. “Even so, I would assume that my Dimensionality will buy us at least a few moments against the Legend.”

The orc drew his Stealth Skill back into his body.

“Alright. Very simple briefing,” Adam said, trying to keep his breath under control. "The Necrotechs unleashed a massive attack on Blackedge earlier, and while my father was occupied, something shrouded in Dimensionality emerged from the Abyss. Now it’s hovering over Blackedge like a blade set to fall. The Necrotechs are charging it with Necromantic mana, and it's building up fast. We need to get into position. We need to, we need to—"

Shiv grabbed the Gate Lord by the shoulder and squeezed him gently. "We'll figure this shit out. Like before. Like always.” When Adam's expression was still stiff, the Deathless shrugged. "Maybe our tentative plan can be you firing an arrow at one of my Vitae Golems if everything goes to shit. That should obliterate all the Necros at least.”

“And us,” Adam replied, rolling his eyes. "And have you forgotten how Sullain managed to secure your Vitae last time?"

"Yeah, but that's just the thing, right? He had to secure it. It might be able to distract him for a few seconds, during which we launch a bunch more golems at him. Maybe we can overwhelm him that way."

Adam arched an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that kill all of us and set fire to a good portion of the continent? And the Pacific?"

"Yeah, but it might kill Sullain too," Shiv said. "Which is one of our objectives. And I would come back to life afterward and receive a juicy Legendary Skill, which is the most important thing.”

Against all odds, Adam laughed. He slammed a fist against Shiv's chest. "You're an impossible bastard, you know that?"

"Yeah, but who else is going to go on these suicide missions with you?"

"No one," Adam said. Then he paused for a beat. "I would have no one else, either."

Shiv's mouth opened slightly. He cleared his throat as the sentimentality caught him off guard. It didn’t even matter that the orcs were looking at him.

The two Pathbearers stared at each other, prodigal sons of Blackedge, forced from one bad situation to another. And here they were, faced with another calamity, another mess, another moment of desperate gambles and apocalyptic stakes. Despite everything riding on the line, Shiv felt happier than he ever did before.

Because this was what it meant to be a Pathbearer. This was what it meant to walk against the world, to fight the storm—and prevail.

As soon as they departed the gate, colors of faint blue pierced the periphery of Shiv's vision. Everything in the direction of the Lost Angeles ruins was enshrouded by the light of Animancy. Shiv could see pitch-black war clouds drifting above the ruins, their forms composed by smoke and ash. The sky beyond was no longer a canvas of black; rather, a softer light was seeping into the firmament. Even so, falling arrows twinkled constantly in the backdrop, spearing down as an unceasing meteor shower.

As Roland's latest barrage landed, pillars of flame speared up into the air, painting the world in additional columns of radiance. The ground shook, explosions rumbled in the distance, and the faint glare of Animancy was growing ever brighter.

Adam took aim in the direction of Lost Angeles as he prepared to release a Veilpiercer.

Shiv looked at him. "Aren't you afraid they'll spot us immediately? I thought we were moving under the cover of Whisper’s Dimensionality."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Adam replied, his eyes shifting between a brilliant dawn and the blue of a midday sky. He was searching for a place to plant his arrows. "Besides, they're all focused on Blackedge now. Every single Necrotech is surging toward the town. We should have an opening. I hope.”

“Then their backs are exposed," Whisper hummed. The other orcs unsheathed their daggers and shortswords excitedly. "Now is the time to slit and gouge."

Adam fired his shot. A dimensional rift opened before them, and the Gate Lord sped across immediately. Shiv accelerated behind him, and finally, Whisper and the other orcs followed along. There was a wild urgency to Adam's movements. All caution was thrown to the wind. As Shiv stared through their dimensional exit, he saw billowing waves of smoke and ash spilling into the pathway.

The air stank of sulfur, and Shiv’s Vibrosense enchantment shuddered all across his body. He could feel just how much force was being outputted on the other side, just how many explosions were hammering Lost Angeles into dust.

No matter what else Shiv had to say about Roland Arrow, the man was a true Pathbearer. Weeks upon weeks of nigh-constant combat, and he was still a godsdamned monster—still smashing the Necrotechs and the city they emerged from flat.

Master my ass, Shiv thought to himself. The Town Lord’s been a Legend in hiding this entire time.

Adam crossed through the gate first, and immediately, he grew six sets of Hydrokinetic arms out from his body. He fired a barrage of arrows all around him, forming a wall of rifts to shroud everyone from harm. At the same time, he swung his rapier. It flashed time and again, and a small army of clones joined the group in record speed, and they began firing their arrows too. As they did, Adam pulled out his Hydromantic wand and used it for the first time.

A massive sphere of water exploded out from him. It splashed through Shiv and the orcs without imparting any force on them. As the water folded over them harmlessly, they exploded through each of the dimensional pathways, like the bottom of an ocean channeled across a dozen narrow tunnels. Before Shiv could understand what Adam was doing, the Gate Lord fired another dimensional pathway right at his feet, and a new exit revealed itself.

"Across, now," Adam said. "Shiv, you're on point. We keep moving. We never stay in one place.”

Shiv didn't ask questions. He'd fought with Adam long enough to trust the Gate Lord's instincts. He accelerated across as his inertial sheath thundered. Adam tipped pace behind him. He had six Veilpiercers nocked already. And with the final water-forged hand, he summoned more and more clones, filling the space behind him.

"When we get across to the other side," Adam called out, "we need to destroy the Necrotech projectors powering the weapon. You can’t miss it once you’re high enough in the air. Just follow the beams of corrosive mana back to the launch sites. Ignore the artillery. There are already orcs fighting here. They've been silencing outposts and assassinating enemy elites, but we’re going to need more of them to do any actual damage to the Vicar’s army."

The exit was fast approaching, and Adam grimaced. "And then we need to figure out how to deal with Sullain himself.”

"Well, if we distract him long enough, maybe the Inquisition will handle him for us,” Shiv replied.

Adam shot a look at Shiv. "And how long will it take for them to arrive?”

“Not too long. I think.” Shiv was pretty sure they were coming—that they didn’t want to see Blackedge and especially Starhawk’s Perch destroyed or taken.

“You think,” Adam muttered. “Gods help us.”

“Afraid they’re actually the enemy, Adam. We’re on our own.”

Then, they were through the exit, and Shiv found himself blasting up into the air.

As he climbed high, he took in the ruins of the surrounding megacity. Kilometers of urban architecture were missing on all sides. Sections of Lost Angeles were pockmarked in deep trenches of glass, wounds scarred deep into the land by Roland's arrows.

Shiv looked around, trying to find Blackedge, and a flash of searing green led him to what he sought. High up in the air, something immense hung in the sky above Blackedge. It was practically twice the size of the entire town, and Shiv suspected that if it fell when the town’s wards were down, it might just smash Blackedge out of the sky, whatever it was.

As the first rays of sunlight began spilling over the curve of the horizon, the weapon’s shadow spilled down upon the ruined megacity. It was shaped like an inverted anvil, and beams of Necromancy were being channeled into it from across the city. Eerie, green circles were filling along the construct’s spine. There were ten of these concentric windows in total, and right now, the first window was glowing with a radiant orb of Animancy, while the six after it were already infused with Necromancy. Shiv assumed once the remaining three windows were filled, the weapon would unleash its power on Blackedge, and all would be for naught.

But that wasn’t the only issue. From all across the city, the Necrotechs were firing beams of corrosive mana up into the air. It wasn’t just to charge their weapon, but also to box Blackedge in. A Necromantic barrier walled the city off from the rest of the world, like a cage holding prisoners. A similar cage was fused over the weapon, and even as Roland’s arrows splashed against it, the explosions were blunted by the withering effect of Necromancy—and what little got through was consumed by the faint blue of Animancy.

“Quite a strange way to use a corrosion screen,” Valor said, studying the scene through Shiv’s eyes. “The amount of mana it must cost to shroud both the town and the weapon is astronomical. It would just be better if they formed a curved dome in the sky for the arrows. Ah. Sullain was never a good strategist.”

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154 (II)

Weapon

“Yeah, well, thank the System for small mercies, because he has a big felling weapon on his side,” Shiv replied. Still. Something about Valor’s apprehension had Shiv feeling a little paranoid as well. Shiv followed one of the beams back to its firing position nearby.

Less than 500 meters away, Shiv caught sight of a still-standing section of a wide road on top of concrete pillars. On top of it was a Necrotech artillery unit. There were sixty figures standing atop the bridge, and most of them were magi—Necromancers, specifically. They channeled their corrosive mana together, forming massive spikes of Necromancy that they loaded into strange, ringed launchers.

Their artillery platforms resembled four-legged insects with a series of U-shaped arches traveling along their bodies, rather than an actual carapace. Pulsing tunnels of Dimensionality were channeled out from the corrosion screen, and the Necromantic spikes were loaded in. The arches tugged on the corrosive constructs and shaped them into long, narrow beams that surged forward.

Just as Shiv prepared to launch himself at the enemy, something moved in the corner of his eye. His head snapped down at an angle, and he discovered what Adam had been doing earlier with his Hydromancy wand. A few hundred Veilpiercers punctured the flesh of existence and returned to reality from all directions. From the dimensional pathways they left open, followed jets of hyper-pressurized water. They cleaved out as slashing geysers, moving so fast that they split through the bases of already compromised structures. The Necromancer artillerists on the bridge that Shiv was looking at fell along with their crumbling edifice, and all across the city, more jets of water speared out. Buildings were hewed and toppled like a forest of trees greeted with a tide of axes. Fountains of water exploded up into the air, unmaking several buildings from the inside. It was like an ocean was trying to erupt from just beneath Lost Angeles.

And then, the signs of return fire greeted Shiv. A fist of flame exploded a hundred meters away from him. He punched through its unfurling blast and spared himself from the swelling heat. Nearby, Adam's clones bust into existence, firing their Veilpiercers before vanishing again. More of Roland’s arrows kissed the ground and shattered the earth. Blinding blasts cleaved the land asunder, but Shiv spiked down to avoid a salvo of corrosive missiles that came seeking his death.

Chaos erupted all around him. Shiv tried to find a trace of the original Adam or one of the orcs—

Inertial Overdrive 118 > 119

Through a dense wall of haze came a flicker of light, and pure instinct spared Shiv from harm. He swung his mage breaker right as a beam crashed toward him. A forking bolt of electricity infused with the foul miasma of Necromancy struck his hand, but his Magebreaker rejected it, and his Frictionless Vector sent it spearing into the earth instead.

Frictionless Vector 69 > 70

He activated Outside Context Problem, froze time, and threw his dagger in the direction of his enemy. He teleported to his blade and tried to track where the attacker was, but he found himself drenched in a veil of smoke. And it was magical smoke at that. It was unnaturally thick and dense, and Shiv couldn’t see shit.

Yet, he still felt a feeling of static in the air. More importantly, he had a sense of improved smell. He let his Pheromonic Cipher guide him where his sight failed.

Awareness 42 > 43

He spiked himself 40 times in quick succession, drawing closer and closer to his target. Holes disintegrated before him. He hammered through magical wards as well. Finally, when he could practically taste the Necrotech upon his tongue, he discharged all the inertia he had been building up, and an explosion ripped out from his body. His Voidmantid armor suffered some damage, but then he reverted time back two seconds. Shiv’s armor returned to a relatively healthy state.

As Shiv prepared to reorient himself and find Adam or a corrosion screen to attack, a series of clenching pressures gripped his body and stole away his attention. Someone was teleporting near him. Three massive cylinders burst out from billowing clouds of Dimensionality nearby. They rippled with oscillations of golden mana, and their shapes began to fissure apart as the magic contained within began to spear out in curving streams of light.

Shiv's eyes widened as he guessed what they were. Are those Chronomancy bombs?

He got his confirmation when they went off. Three waves of gold came at him. Shiv parried one of the explosions, but his Magebreaker rattled violently from the effort, and there was so much force behind the bomb that Shiv was launched back. The other two blasts ended up smashing into him while he was reeling. The first left a deep slash along his temporal shell. The second broke it open.

Gravitic Wrestler 148 > 149

Strider of the Unbending Path 139 > 140

But even so, his Chronomancy field didn't fully break.

Not until someone struck him in the back of the head.

Shiv's golden mana burst apart across his body, and when coherence returned to him, he realized he was dead.

Strider of the Unbending Path 140 > 144

Gravitic Wrestler 149 > 152

Inertial Overdrive 119 > 121

Frictionless Vector 70 > 76

The Deathless materialized over his body as a shroud of shifting Vitae. He watched as his corpse dangled in the air, impaled through the back of the head by a crystalline greatsword. Behind him, a Pathbearer clad in golden skeletal armor and sporting twelve mechanical wings from their spine bore the weight of Shiv’s body with one hand. The enemy thrust harder, driving their thin greatsword deeper through Shiv’s left eye. Coldness washed through Shiv as he sobered.

It had been a while since he experienced such a sudden death.

Just because he was a Hero didn’t mean he was invincible. Not even close. A single moment of distraction cost him everything. Can’t hesitate anymore. All they need is a single mistake to end me.

And where his failure was being stunned by their fast response, the enemy betrayed themselves with their inattentiveness, failing to notice the sprawling mass of Vitae hovering in the air nearby. Shiv acted, wrapping his Vitae around the enemy, sapping their vitality from them as he used one of his strands to plunge his still-bound Skysplitter into the base against their neck.

The enemy cried out, but their voice wasn't human at all. Rather, it came with the crackle of mechanical distortion, and sparks filled the air rather than blood. Shiv wasn't just fighting a Necrotech; he was fighting a Necrotech bot. Their armor exploded with golden mana, and suddenly, Shiv lost track of them again. The feeling of losing an entire section of his own history was uncanny and terrifying. He remembered the first time he faced the Recollector. A coldness swelled through Shiv’s soul as he realized something had cleaved through half of his Vitae retroactively. Broken parts of his red and white mana were bleeding off into the air, evaporating as they had been severed from his body.

Another hit slammed down upon him. Shiv plunged through the air—barely a sinew left of his sprawling mass of Vitae, and he felt the chill of true death lick at his core. Anger detonated inside him. He tried activating his Strider of the Unbending Path again, but his temporal shell was still broken. There was less than a sliver of his being left. He fed his anger into his Inertial Overdrive.

And it was barely enough to spare his life.

The thin greatsword slashed down a centimeter next to the last string of Shiv’s existence. The enemy Pathbearer hadn’t realized they missed, and they were unprepared when Shiv speared himself right into their neck. A scream of compromised metal filled the air, and the Deathless began to wriggle his way into the automaton’s sparking wound, draining vitality while ripping through wires and critical mechanisms within the bot’s neck.

Once more, a golden aura surged out from the enemy’s body, and Shiv pushed himself deeper into the enemy in desperation. But suddenly, they were interrupted as Shiv heard a pitched frequency squeal out from somewhere. He remembered hearing that frequency someplace before, and he followed the frequency back to its point of origin. There was a cape attached to the final string of his existence—a cape, a blade, a gauntlet, and the faint shape of his Voidmantid armor. They were all being dragged along by his Vitae, and from within the cape, Can Hu was unleashing its Binaric Sovereign skill against the enemy automaton.

Gods, I love you, Penitent, Shiv thought.

The enemy Chronomancer shrieked as they tried to regain control over themselves, but their body went haywire; they were lost to themselves. Shiv's Vitae swelled as he suckled life force out of the bot like a leech. He felt his enemy writhe, blindly slashing at him with their blade. A few times, they chipped off parts of his reforming personhood. But whatever Can Hu was doing, it was badly affecting their coherence.

Then, both Shiv and the Necrotech automaton crashed down against the ground. The bot went stiff. Shiv shot forward, tearing clean through his enemy’s neck. The automaton stilled as its head rolled off to the side. Shiv rose from their corpse, half-filled with Vitae but nowhere near a true resurrection yet. He was a half-formed mess of red and white, shaped only to resemble his original self in terms of outline. Just then, his old corpse struck the ground nearby, and Shiv seized his body before chucking it elsewhere, hoping to confuse his foes.

This proved to be a wise maneuver, as a barrage of corrosive spells turned his corpse into a smoldering patch of nothing a half-second later.

Deception 23 > 24

The dense veil of smoke was only growing thicker. Shiv could hear fighting everywhere, could see faint shapes moving beyond the shroud. He needed to figure out where to go and finish his resurrection.

Good thing I don't constantly lose vitality every passing second anymore, Shiv thought to himself. And then, as he searched for new prey, he noticed that faint sheen of red lining everything. That faint sheen of vitality stabilizing existence as well. He recalled how draining that caused parts of the world to rupture, creating mana instability.

And suddenly Shiv had a plan. Well, something that was like the concept of a plan. It was more of a vague idea, frankly. But if he could drain enough, if he could cause a mana storm to take shape, could he use that against the Vicar and the Inquisition when they arrived?

Regardless of that, I can do one thing with it: cause some chaos. And Shiv immediately began sapping from the world itself.

Everything went to hell in an instant. The parts he drained were ripped open, like skin licked away to reveal flesh and bone. Chaotic expressions of mana spilled over into the world. A storm splashed across the ground, contained within an oozing membrane and rimmed with clouds. Fire billowed out from other ruptures, and a rain of heavy crystalline stalagmites descended upon the land like falling hail. Screams and cries of terror sounded all around as the ruptures connected to each other and a chaotic vortex poured through, ripping its way across the world.

Shit, I hope this doesn’t bite me in the ass in a minute.

Vitaemancy 70 > 71

As soon as he finished that thought, he resurrected and immediately suffered the consequences of his own action. An explosion of Dynamacy ballooned out from behind him. It smashed him through building after building before it dragged him along the ground. His armor screamed in protest. He could feel parts of it breaking, and he bit back a growl of misery as pain filled his body. One downside of being sensory-bonded to your armor through a network of mycelia: everything that broke in it hurt you.

But Shiv was fine with pain. Pain was just a feeling.

He pulled on his gravitic field and shot up into the air once more. He slammed his fist together and discharged his sheath. The fog didn’t clear, but he did catch sight of a corrosion screen nearby. It pulsated with an unceasing glow of green, and Shiv activated his Chameleon, Creeping Void, and Minor Illusion abilities in tandem and as he cast himself at the enemy.

They weren’t prepared for him. He sent his twelve mana hydras spearing ahead as he tore into the enemy with steel and spell. His Aegis of Assimilation shattered resistances and supped the flesh out of armor. The ones that survived Shiv’s Biomancy were then greeted by a magnified Skysplitter. His blade turned the Necrotechs into puffs of red and spraying pieces of sparking metal. He dragged his dagger across the ground and detonated his sheath as he passed over the corrosion screen artillery platform. It broke apart into pieces as Shiv lobbed himself higher into the air.

One down. A shit-ton to go.

He followed his sense of smell again. Spells tore through the air—but they came nowhere near hitting him. His Creeping Void and other stealth supplements were serving their purpose.

The Creeping Void 113 > 114

Just then, he passed through the dense haze of magical smoke and found himself just a kilometer or so away from Blackedge. He realized he could easily reach the town with his Biomancy field now if he so desired. And that made things simple when he saw twenty or so beams of Necromancy shooting up into the air around the town. They were all spread apart, but Shiv didn’t need to attack them in person. Instead, he struck out with his biokinetic hydras. He attacked with one hydra after another as they all shared the same field, but it extended from his person with ease.

Blasts of red blossomed across the ruins of Lost Angeles. Shiv assimilated every piece of organic architecture he could. What he couldn’t break, he struck and smashed using a newly forged chain of cancer flails. A nightmarish cord of tissue curved and then ripped through buildings and people alike. Entire blocks collapsed as Shiv swung his kilometer long flail left and right, scything across Lost Angeles and silencing Necrotech projection sites one after another.

He spiked the heavy end of his flail down on the ground over and over as it traveled. Shockwaves spread in increments as blocks crumbled into the soil. A beam of Necromancy tore through the air, trying to sever the leash connecting him to his cancer flail. Shiv simply assimilated the biomass in an instant, converting the flail into a spell rendering. The beam missed. He threw his blade and teleported.

After he repositioned himself, he resumed his reign of terror, swinging his flail across the land.

Well, this is pretty fun.

His magic only got stronger when chains of fear speared through his person from all across the world. They knew he was here now, and the survivors were terrified. Good. It was only going to get worse.

Aegis of Assimilation 105 > 106

Shape of Monstrosity 107 > 108

A team of Necrotech Pathbearers dove into Shiv’s Creeping Void. They launched a barrage of explosive spells that shook the world, and he passed through the attack with a pulse of Outside Context Problem.

Outside Context Problem 64 > 65

Shiv rematerialized as he swung an extended cord of cancerous flesh against their bodies. Arms and legs snapped. Magical Resistances shattered, exposing vulnerable flesh. And the cancer flail only grew.

Whip Proficiency 10 > 12

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154 (III)

Weapon

As the Deathless searched the land for more launch sites, another flash made him look to his left. A single corrosion screen projector remained there. Shiv detonated his sheathe and spiked himself in a new direction. But before he got there, a tide of arrows tore back into reality and utterly annihilated the launch site.

“And I believe we have found Adam again,” Valor commented. “Nicely done so far, Shiv. You have a knack for chaos and creativity.”

“Thanks. Got put down once. Any suggestions?”

“Stay on the offensive. Always. Keep moving. Never stick to the same pattern.”

“Be more chaotic. Got it. Just need to find Adam first and—”

A dimensional rift opened beside Shiv, and Adam blasted out into the Creeping Void, firing arrow after arrow. A small army of clones followed thereafter, unleashing their own barrages. The Gate Lord’s arrows impacted threats Shiv could see, and even more that he couldn't. And when his arrows hit, they became two, before multiplying further as they sought out new targets. Soon, a swarm of arrows was pouring all across the city.

Adam was turning into a downright menace for enemy armies, Shiv realized.

He cast his Psychomancy into Adam’s mind and called out to him. “Fancy running into you here.”

“Not really,” Adam said. His eyes were aglow with Divination mana, and he continued firing even through Shiv’s dense mess of miasmic darkness. “I waited for you to inflict mass destruction on the city and found you by sound thereafter. Your Gravitic Wrestler thunders through the air every time you use it. Makes your Creeping Void ineffective against Pathbearers who possess echo location or similar abilities.”

“Huh. Good to know. I was hunting some Necrotechs earlier by smell. I think I got all the launch sites nearby here.”

“Good. Because they only need to fill two more circles before the weapon fires.”

Shiv’s stomach plunged. “Alright. Let’s go find some more projectors, then.”

Then, Shiv’s Chronomancy shuddered, and he triggered his temporal shell on instinct. It manifested over his body, and just then, a wing of time dragons plunged down from high above. They were already firing their Necromantic projectors into the Creeping Void. With time frozen, none of Adam's clones had faded yet, and several of the beams were on track to hit some of them.

Shiv's mind went blank. Killing a single time dragon in around ten seconds was a considerable feat, and there was no way he could cut down an entire wing while trying to keep Adam alive—Wait, I don't need to kill the dragons, I just needed to move Adam and the clones out of—

And then all of Adam’s clones fired at the dragons before fading. Shiv's eyes widened, and he noticed how each of the clones vibrated with faint traces of gold in the air. Right, they have Chronomancy too. The rapier had my kukri integrated.

That made things simpler for Shiv. He grabbed the original Adam and spiked both of them through the nearest dimensional pathway he could get to. At the same time, he swung a mana hydra high up into the air and materialized his cancer flail once again. A mana explosion ballooned out as the head dragon was struck twice. Shiv felt its Magical Resistance crack—along with a section of its ribs—as he whipped the end of his flail into the monster even harder.

Before the other dragons could respond, Shiv assimilated his flail again and pulled his Biomancy back around himself. Twelve hydras coiled around him and Adam as they shot through a dimensional pathway.

He had been too passive with his Biomancy before. He treated spellcasting as if it were separate from his physical attacks—but his Aegis of Assimilation was capable of more than just a few tricks. Like letting me aim and strike with my flail kilometers away. “Knife-fighting range” for me isn’t quite the same anymore.

Shiv dismissed his Chronomancy to preserve his temporal armor, and he heard Adam gasp and turn. “What just—where are we going?”

"The way you came. We got jumped by some time dragons. Decided not to stay in place and fight with the projectors gone in the area anyway.”

"What?" Adam choked out. "No, no, go back the other way!"

"Other way is time dragons, Adam."

"Well, the way I came from has a group of Invisible Vanguards I can't seem to damage at all."

A feral grin spread across Shiv’s face. “Invisible Vanguards, huh? Yeah, sounds fun.”

“You’re stark-raving mad, you bastard,” Adam breathed.

Shiv used his Biomancy to channel a dose of basilisk venom into his flesh. His body expanded. His bones grew longer, his muscles became denser. Shiv’s Voidmantid armor grew along with him—a benefit of being an actual piece of bonded equipment rather than just mundane armor, he suspected.

As they traveled across the pathway, Shiv began shaping a Vitae Golem. He wasn't going to have enough time to give it four Animated Skill Infusions, so it was going to have to do without Vitality Drain.

"Shiv, listen," Valor said. "The sun will be up soon. You can move in the open. The Necrotechs can't, at least not for long. Destroy the architecture. You do not need to kill every last Necromancer or artillerist. Let the light work for you.”

“Got it, Valor,” Shiv replied. He cast the same details at Adam as he equipped his golem with the infusions.

Multi-Tasking 19 > 20

“Destroy all the architecture,” Adam muttered. “That’s not bad. It makes things easier. I’ll focus on that.” The exit drew closer. The Gate Lord started summoning more clones and lifted his wand high. A thick wall of ocean-blue condensed from the air before them.

Shiv’s golem hovered by his side, and they both stared at Adam. "The hells are you doing now?"

"Just watch," Adam said. And then, just as they exited the pathway, he unleashed the water building up around them. It exploded outward like a tsunami packed in too tight, and, a moment later, it impacted ten invisible Pathbearers surrounding them.

As he found himself once again glad to have Adam's ridiculous Awareness on his side, Shiv commanded his golem to accelerate, spike itself, discharge, then revert time and repeat until it had no vitality left.

It immediately shot past him, following the sphere of crushing water expanding out from them. And it was a good thing too, as the tidal wave Adam cast out was suddenly stopped dead by a titanic field of Hydromancy.

Through the water, a new Pathbearer emerged. They wore an armored dress that obscured their face and had tentacles in place of arms and legs. In each of their limbs was a whip, and the sheer amount of Hydromancy mana radiating out of them was staggering, rippling out like the waves of a crushing tsunami. Shiv was facing a Heroic-Tier Hydromancer.

Unfortunately for the Heroic-Tier Hydromancer, they were about to be intercepted by a golem. The construct impacted and detonated itself several times in quick succession. The Hydromancer was blasted back—and they tried to stop themselves from being launched back some more by shaping walls of water to slow their movements. That was interrupted as a few hundred Veilpiercers crashed into them right after.

The Vitae Golem tackled the Hydromancer again, and it drove the enemy through Adam’s oceanic barricade. Once more, the stilled tidal wave started moving, and it cast their other attackers far away.

Suddenly, the way was open. Shiv shot forward first, and Adam followed right after, with his clones trailing just behind. The world was alight with fire, and the scent of burning flesh and melting concrete made Shiv gag. More of Roland’s arrows descended. They impacted places kilometers away, but towers of fire rose high into the air—towers that unleashed shockwaves that battered Shiv and Adam, even from so far away.

Yet the flames spilling out of the infernal towers did not spread naturally. The expanding blasts curved unnaturally to avoid Adam and Shiv. The Deathless scoffed in abject disbelief; the sheer amount of control Roland Arrow had was as staggering as his power.

Adam began firing his arrows again, and his clones followed suit. Shiv didn't know what he was shooting at, but a second later, two figures appeared right next to them in a shower of sparks. Adam’s Veilpiercers bounced off their adamantine armor, and they came for the Gate Lord. One bore a gravity-infused axe, while the other had a hammer shaped from crackling lightning.

Shiv intercepted the axe-bearer with a dozen spikes of his gravitic field. He seized them by the throat and thrust his blade into their gut. A shockwave burst between them, but aside from making his enemy grunt once, Shiv inflicted little harm, even with Deepest Edge. At the same time, he directed his Biomancy to strike at the hammer-user. His mana hydra coiled through the air, and Shiv’s cancer flail manifested once more.

The enemy wasn’t prepared for the Aegis of Assimilation. They were even less ready for the massive ball of teratoma and festering flesh that impacted them in mid-air as they got within two meters of Adam. The hammer-user’s Magical Resistance cracked slightly under the first blow, and then it shattered entirely as Adam channeled a stream of crushing Hydromancy from the tip of his wand into their skull.

Shiv didn't even give them a chance to fight back. They died with a fading scream on their lips as they were assimilated into his aegis, melting into his flail.

Their armor fell a moment after, hollow within.

Aegis of Assimilation 106 > 107

The axe-bearer headbutted Shiv. His helmet cracked. The Deathless headbutted them back. Their helmet cracked. Shiv tried to stab them with his Skysplitter again, but the enemy dropped their axe to seize Shiv by the wrist.

They were equal in terms of Toughness, but Shiv gritted his teeth as he realized his adversary had the edge in Physicality—even with Plagueled boosting him. The axe-bearing Necrotech twisted Shiv's right arm back slightly. This annoyed Shiv enough that he immediately started fighting dirty. He wrapped his Biomancy around the Pathbearer he was wrestling and tightened his flail around their body. He felt his Biomancy bounce off their Magical Resistance, but that didn’t stop him from coating them in a thick ball of cancerous tissue—tissue harvested in part from their friend.

The axe-bearer cried out in alarm as fetid bursts of flesh were ejected from Shiv’s flail. It coated their body, and they tried to shrug it off. This stunned them long enough for Shiv to knee them in the groin.

The axe-bearer gagged. Shiv gripped their waist and spiked them downward with a pile-driver. They blasted through the air for a good hundred meters as Shiv discharged against them over and over. At the same time, he battered them with his flail and Biomancy. They were coated in a thick layer of flesh—and partially fused with his flail at that. Shiv shot back up into the air and started swinging his enemy about. He used the axe-bearer as a club to smash through the tops of buildings, extending them further using his Biomancy as he ripped the roofs off of skyscrapers and toppled bridges. They wouldn't be able to put up with this for—

Sunlight spilled over the horizon.

Sullain’s weapon cast an ominous shadow across the land. Acting quickly, Shiv cast out tendrils of Vitae to drain from the axe-bearer as he continued using them as a club to remodel his surroundings.

Whip Proficiency 12 > 13

Multi-Tasking 20 > 21

Just then, Shiv noticed someone coming up from behind Adam. He cheated the inertia of his flail by assimilating it as he cast his Biomancy in a new direction. The mana hydra impacted the bastard trying to slit Adam’s throat—and Shiv materialized his flail once more. A mana explosion sent the Gate Lord stumbling forward—but he blinked away in a flash of gold, jumping briefly to where one of his clones was.

A second later, the Pathbearer caked against Shiv’s flail was degloved from behind by a rain of dimensional arrows.

Skill Gained: Physics 1 (Common)

Adam blinked back in place—and something hit him in the shoulder. The Gate Lord roared in pain as his left arm was dislocated. Shiv directed his hydra through Adam and consumed his wound. A crystallized injury filled Shiv’s Biomancy field as he swung his flail in the direction of the projectile that had just hit Adam. A group of unseen foes was clipped along the way, ripped out from seeming non-existence, clothlined by Shiv’s extended Biomancy.

Adam gestured with his wand again, and a spell exploded out from its tip. It parted around Shiv and pushed a small army of enemy Pathbearers and projectiles away. However, after it expanded to two hundred meters, it stopped and continued no further. Spells, arrows, and more plunged in from all sides, but most were held at bay by the dense wall of water, protecting Shiv and Adam. At the core, Shiv found himself with a moment to breathe.

"These assholes are coming from godsdamn everywhere,” Shiv said, assimilating his flail.

“I told you I didn't want to go this way," Adam snapped. He fired two more arrows, but then tackled Shiv out of the way as unseen enemies immediately began firing back through his rift.

Whips of Necromancy missed them by the barest of inches.

Inertial Overdrive 121 > 122

Adam responded by activating his Vambrace. A ball of swirling Dimensionality danced atop his hand, and it was immediately consumed by corrosion thereafter. He projected the Necromancy into his dimensional pathways, and they lit up with that eerie green glow. From within the pathways came a series of ear-piercing screams.

The Necrotechs on the other side were receiving a taste of their own preferred magic, but Shiv and Adam were still getting boxed in.

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154 (IV)

Weapon

"Got any ideas?" Shiv asked. "Because I think we can't stay here much longer."

And as soon as he said that, he felt a wave of Hydromancy spear through Adam’s watery barrier. Through the cleft came the Hydromancer that Shiv's golem had tackled earlier. They lashed out with their whips, and Shiv swung out with his flail, smashing into the blows before they could strike Adam—only to find the tendrils sharp enough to cut clean through the tissues sustaining his flail.

He assimilated his flail and adapted, shaping it into a dense, cancerous shield before him. This time, the whips were slowed.

But not stopped.

Holes emerged from the cancer shield. But Shiv parried each of the whips with a swipe of his Skysplitter. They were deflected downward—but new breaches shot out from them, striking him in his throat and left eye respectively. Shiv felt his eyeball burst inside his socket. He snarled with annoyance more than pain—but that turned to a gurgle as the enemy managed to slit his throat open as well. Then, a dryness spread through his body. The enemy Hydromancer was ripping the moisture out of his flesh.

Shiv pitted his feeble Hydromancy against his foe, but it wasn’t enough. His field tore in half immediately—but it still gave him just a second to recover. Shiv smashed through the whips with his Magebreaker. His gauntlet sang with a screaming pitch. Shiv fed his new wounds into his aegis and started his Song of the Vigilant.

Aegis of Assimilation 107 > 109

Adam responded thereafter. The Gate Lord fired an arrow. It emerged from a rift and crashed against the Hydromancer's head just as they rose above Shiv’s cancer-shield. The Deathless lashed out at them with Vitae, Biomancy, and a growing Skysplitter. The enemy Pathbearer turned into a spray of water and avoided each of his strikes.

Their presence grew so faint that Shiv lost track of them.

But Adam didn’t. The Gate Lord drew back on his Spellstring, and a surge of Hydromancy infused his newest Veilpiercer as he let it fly. He struck the Hydromancer again, and they went tumbling back into existence.

Shiv activated Outside Context Problem and accelerated forward. They didn't see him coming—they had no chance to see him. Not until he drove both his thumbs through the gaps in their visor where he assumed their eyes to be. The Hydromancer screamed, and Shiv twisted their neck back, ending his enemy's bellow with a sickening snap. Just to be sure, he swung his Skysplitter across their neck, beheading them. He then assimilated the body with his Biomancy.

The cancer flail must be fed, Shiv joked with himself.

Outside Context Problem 65 > 66

The victory was short-lived, as he felt his Chronomancy shudder once more.

"I can't shake these bastard dragons," Shiv snarled. “Adam. Chronomancers. Get in my cape.”

The Gate Lord said nothing as he waved his wand, and he, too, turned into water. He splashed down into Shiv's cape, and the Deathless blinked. Huh. Effective.

Shiv manifested his temporal shell. Time stopped. And he felt the turbulence pressing against his Chronomancy field grow stronger. He followed that sensation and looked upward—where he saw six time dragons coming right at him, bathed by the light of the rising dawn.

He felt another pulse of resonance pass over his field. And then there was a seventh dragon coming in at a higher angle.

Great. The more the merrier. Shiv triggered Outside Context Problem immediately, and he felt the coldness lick his core again. Not going to be able to sustain this for long. He accelerated through Adam’s fading oceanic barrier and climbed higher. He faced the dragons with Skysplitter in hand and Biomancy lashing out.

Shiv eyed his adversaries, trying to come up with a strategy to eliminate them in one fell swoop. Whatever he did, he needed to disable their Necromancy projectors on their backs. He couldn’t risk getting hit by that.

Just then, he saw the seventh dragon dip low. Shiv frowned and used his Compound Ocular Network to zoom in on the stray monster. He saw that it didn’t have a rider, nor any weapons on its back. And then, he noticed how it was looking directly at where he used to be.

Wait? Uva? His frown turned to a wide smile. Oh, these poor bastards aren’t going to know what hit them.

Uva plunged, aiming at the rear of the time dragon attack wing. Shiv timed his own attack in accordance. He cast his mana hydra out and made a question mark around the dragons. He manifested his flail once more and swept it over the wing. Bursts of crimson mana spilled through the air, enveloping everything. Shiv’s cancer flail tangled wings and caused the time dragons to tumble through the air. As chaos swept through their ranks, Shiv spiked himself blade-first into the head of the first dragon. He stabbed the monster in the eye, but the dragon let out a roar, and his blow bounced off.

Adamantine Adaption, Shiv snarled internally. Son of a bitch.

He was beginning to realize how annoying it was to fight someone like him.

As he exploded out from his Outside Context state, the other dragons were too disoriented to respond immediately. Their disorientation only grew when Uva slammed into one of them from the back. She bit down on another dragon's throat and began to tear. At the same time, Shiv extended tendrils of Vitae while swinging his Skysplitter with his other hand. He drained vitality and hammered the dragon from the sky. He continued spearing his Biomancy—and flail—into the other dragons as well.

Several were launched out of place, while one took a swipe at him as it passed by. His temporal shell cracked. So did the golden mana lining the dragon. He cast himself back in time and slammed elbow-first against its head. The dragon’s head snapped back. But it was disoriented, not dead. Then came his flail. It struck the back dragon’s back and crushed its rider’s cockpit. Shiv spiraled in the air, turning himself as he held on to its neck. The dragon didn’t respond in time—its rider was slain; the telepathic connection was broken. And soon, so was its neck as Shiv caught it in a death roll.

He cast the dragon’s limp body aside after a few moments, its neck knotted in tangled cords. He swept through its body as it fell with a mana hydra, and grunted as he felt a magical strain build within himself. His Aegis of Assimilation was potent, but it increased how much weight was levied upon his spirit as well.

I need to keep my mana load light.

As he prepared to face the other dragons, he found that they all had golden arrows lodged in their skulls and were dropping limply from the sky. An entire wing had been butchered in an instant. Shiv blinked. Fuck me, Roland. And then he looked up to see another arrow coming straight down.

At Uva.

No! Shit!

He spiked himself up into the air to intercept the blow. But it proved unnecessary—the arrow halted before it hit him, and he cast a thought into it. “FRIENDLY! THAT DRAGON’S FRIENDLY!”

In an instant, the arrow tore off into another direction. Shiv let out a sigh. As he followed its path, he watched it pierce clean through an unseen enemy along the way, and past that point, he saw a few hundred golden threads punching through the weapon hanging over Blackedge. The massive inverted anvil shuddered in the sky, spewing Necromancy and Animacy into the air. Its Necromantic veil had faded. And the cage surrounding Blackedge was gone.

The Town Lord was free.

All around Lost Angeles, massive, illusory towers of brightness stood tall, and from them soared an endless stream of burning hawks that bombarded the land even when time was frozen.

Roland Arrow… this is absolute bullshit, Shiv growled internally. All the Town Lord needed to turn things around was an opening. It was impressive, but the prospects of Shiv punching him in the face were moving further and further away in his mind.

Uva shot up into the air, and she made eye contact with him as she let out a pitched roar. Choki pumped a fist, and Shiv responded in turn. Both of their temporal shells were cracked, and they were going to return to baseline time at any second. “Nice flying—”

A crushing force slammed into his back. The world blurred past him as he was carried up into the air. Shiv’s Adamantine Adaption struggled against the impact as something twisted against him, drilling through his armor, biting into flesh, and kissing his backbone.

Adamantine Adaption 174 > 175

Shiv wrapped a mana hydra around himself and pulled, tearing himself off the projectile, and he saw a strange geometric shape blast past him. It resembled a spike with a series of hooks at the end. Its tip was infused with both Dynamancy and Dimensionality, and Shiv noticed a chunk of his flesh still floating within the projectile.

Another thing he noticed was just how far he had been displaced across the world in mere moments. He was hovering high up in the air now, so far above the world that he could barely make out even the damaged weapon floating above Blackedge. But he didn't get to fall for long. A concentration of shadowy energy collapsed around him. Shiv grunted as he felt a shapeless but impossibly strong grip collapse around his body. Shiv’s temporal shell shattered first, then his armor began to crack as well.

Husk of the Adamantine Voidmantid

Condition: Wounded

Before Shiv even had a chance to think, the vast, skeletal visage of Vicar Sullain emerged before his eyes, like an oasis born from a shifting desert mirage.

A blinding downpour of Roland’s arrows instantly shot down from the edge of the atmosphere to strike the Legendary Mage, but Sullain formed a veil of Animancy around himself and Shiv.

"And so you return to me, Undying One," the Vicar said, sounding absolutely jubilant. Despite this, his voice was softer—weaker. His long, serpentine body chittered, and the many hands along its length clasped together. "Just as I hoped you would when I began this attack."

Shiv spiked his gravitic field and discharged his inertial sheath. The gravity field holding him at bay parted slightly, but Sullain crushed his efforts with a wave of telekinesis. He brought a skeletal hand up and down like a parent smacking a misbehaving child. Shiv snarled and hissed as Sullain broke his body. His ribs shattered. His kidneys were punctured. One of his lungs collapsed. His skull caved in quickly, and his stomach was ruptured.

When Sullain was finished, Shiv vomited another mouthful of blood out through the broken visor of his helmet. He was getting used to coughing up blood; it was practically becoming a daily occurrence. And worse yet, he was starting to get a liking for the coppery taste.

Adamantine Adaption 175 > 176

"Will you listen now, child, or do I still need to hurt you unnecessarily?" Sullain asked.

Shiv snorted. “I could do with a little more Toughness. Give him a harder—”

Sullain made a flicking gesture with one of his many hands. Shiv felt all his limbs snap backward. His feet ended up pressed against the front of his hips, and his arms were folded over his elbows. Pain washed through him, but Shiv just let out a slight growl. "Oh, you absolute piece of shit."

"You requested, so I obliged," Sullain said. “Here. Some more.”

Shiv tried to trigger Outside Context Problem—only to howl with agony as Sullain started ripping the vitality out of his person, shattering his focus. “You are not very versed in the art of draining vitality. It is a far more potent power than you realize. A shame. But one that will be corrected soon. I will teach you.”

The Deathless shook as he felt himself on the precipice of oblivion. “F-fuck—” He couldn’t finish the words. It hurt too much to exist right then. Still, he gritted his teeth in defiance. “The Inquisition is coming for you! This isn't gonna work anymore. They got a Legend with them. You—you’re done here. You’re finished!”

“Oh, do they?” Sullain muttered. He sounded… tired. “Now, that is truly dreadful. I do not think I will be facing them.”

Shiv narrowed his eyes. “So, what? You’re leaving? Gonna fuck off now?”

“Leaving? Yes. After my task is done.”

"Task done, how?" Shiv asked. "Your weapon's broken. The sun is up. You're out of time.” Shiv looked down, but he couldn’t see through the veil of Animancy caging him and Sullain.

“Shiv,” Valor said suddenly—that was when Shiv realized he was still connected to the others. “Do not agitate him further.”

“I have a plan,” Adam added. “It might work. You remember my special arrow earlier? Just stall. Try to make an opening somehow. Don’t—don’t let him kill you either.”

"Oh, that was not the weapon," Sullain said dismissively. And there was a smile hidden in his words. "That was simply the receptacle I used to incubate it."

"Incubate it," Shiv whispered. "What do you mean?"

“Ah, it is fitting for you to be the first to bear witness. After all, it is your essence that powers it. That essence which fuels your soul, Undying One. And thanks to you,” Sullain paused, “thanks to you, my retribution is assured. But words are cheap and weak. I think I will show you instead.”

Sullain held up a single finger with his uppermost hand, and a portal flashed open above him. It was wider than the Vicar was tall, and a sickly, murky miasma spilled out from within.

On the other side of the portal, in an alien place choked with ash and desolation, a dark shape loomed.

Shiv thought it was a mountain that had crumbled in on itself for a moment, but before his eyes could make sense of what they were seeing, Sullain cast him up and through the portal with a gesture. Shiv tumbled across the ground, kicking up shattered bones and debris as he went, before coming to a rest atop a mass grave. Skeletal remains littered the ground upon which he lay, stretching beyond sight.

Shiv barely managed to sweep his Biomancy through himself and consume his wounds. Even so, he was drained. Barely any vitality left. Holding himself up was a feat beyond feats, and as he lifted his head, his heart stopped.

Barely visible through the unceasing curtain of ash falling from the sky, a dark, mountainous shadow loomed over him. Then, two orbs of light made themselves known as the creature cracked open its eyes. One was a pure, pale white, and the other blood-red. Both were fixed on Shiv.

His Vitae pulsed out instinctively in recognition of its kin, and it traced out a jagged, alien form some five kilometers wide and twice again as long.

“No…” Valor whispered in Shiv’s mind. Cold, heart-clenching dread spilled over from the Legendary Pathbearer.

“I was originally saving this one for Marikos. I intended for it to safeguard the original weapon. But I know now that Valor’s work, the Animancy Core, was a crude thing. And your Vitae is life. I thank Udraal for bequeathing me his notes—and giving me insight into what to do with you.” As the Vicar finished his words, he laughed softly. “But this act of creation has left me spent. And so I retreat to enact my work through another. Struggle vainly, Undying One. Struggle, Deathless, and feed my Beast of the Undying Apocalypse…”

The titanic monster took a step forward. The world trembled. And as its body emerged from the ashes, Valor's terror only grew. “That… How did he…”

“...Feed my Deathless Tarrasque.”

And before Shiv could respond, the monster moved, faster than he could perceive, and he was torn out from the portal along with it, carried away from the realm of ash, and down…

Down from the boundary of the world.

Down toward Blackedge.