Book 2 | 4 Gaining Tools

My status responded as if to deride me. 

Ajax Volan, the Void Eater| Lvl 4,289 - A follower of Yawm, he is Yawm's strongest and most loyal ally. During the war with the Bracken, Ajax acted as a vanguard with Yawm. They have torn apart entire armies on their own. Despite refusing Yawm's gift of flesh, they remain on excellent terms due to their history before Yawm's resurgence as a celestial threat.

Not much else is known about Ajax. With its enormous pool of experience, gigantic level, and untold power, Ajax Volan is devastating. Hide or run, but do not fight him. To fight him is to die.

The man and I shook, each of us overtaken by a quiet frenzy. The man twitched now, his face turning pale. He would reveal me in seconds if Ajax hadn't sensed my mana already. At the peak of my panic, Ajax spoke into the air.

"What are we even doing anymore?"

Chapter Begin

My heart raced in my chest, my thoughts racing even faster. I wanted to shout back that Yawm and his minions were killing everyone they could find, that they were going out of their way to deform as many humans as they could infect. It felt like they'd stop at nothing until every person became some deformed corpse.

This monster asked that question aloud as if the answer wasn't obvious, and that surged in my chest like a volcano swelling before an eruption. No matter my feelings of defiance or anger, I stood no chance against any of Yawm's followers, let alone the strongest among them. So I crushed the wrath under my will and wielded it.

My frenzy bent under my heel like Atlas crushing under the sky. In my palms, two different manas filled my runes and fought for supremacy. As they gnarled at one another, I commanded the insanity to obey. Instead, the manas continued their onslaught, the discordance threatening to expose me.

If I could've kept my manas in control, this wouldn't have happened. Instead, I allowed my mental state to jump back and forth like some undisciplined child. I clenched my jaw, the muscles on the side of my face rippling from the absurd tension. In a way, it seemed inevitable.

As always, I would mess this up when it mattered most. I always had. I failed classes in high school, courses so simplistic and easy that some people coasted by without studying at all. I managed to have few friends and live a lonely life before the system, one where I latched onto people who used me. People like Micheal and Kelsey.

A part of me hated myself for needing them at the time.

I had excuses for my failings, of course. Everyone did. For me, the easiest figure to blame was my father. I recalled how he wept on the couch when he thought I was asleep. How he forgot to get food or take me to school, yet he always remembered his booze and anger. The man always floundered under any pressure.

Job after job, relationship after relationship, he devolved from a man demanding respect to failure begging for redemption. It was soaked into him, a part of his culture. His body. His blood. The same blood that ran through my veins. It pumped through my temples and ears, a deafening pulse that left me burning.

I was the same. I couldn't change my friends, my schooling, or my trajectory in life. When it mattered most, I had failed just as my father had, a father born in the sins and shadows of his father. As that sense of shame washed over me, something else clawed at the edges of my mind.

A dark, desperate anger roared in my head. It raged. It gnashed and hated.

I wouldn't be like him. I promised myself that in BloodHollow and a thousand times over the years. I had lived in his shadow, and I would walk out of it because I was a different man. I wasn't who he thought I was. I wasn't who my friends thought I was either. No, not even myself.

Taking a deep breath, I inhaled in slow silence. Channeling a hunger to be different, to be more, to be someone who broke away from the chains of a failed family, I honed my gaze and sharpened my mind. Willing the competing energies in my palms, the orange and black began fusing into one another, the discordant energies melting into one.

Willing them, a dark anger surged as my desire manifested into reality. It molded the energies, bleeding them into a singular, crimson color. Still contained, the mana's low rumble bled into the constant cries from afar. After a moment, the mana stabilized, and a jolt of starving fury erupted over me.

Unique skill unlocked! Requirements: High affinity in both augmentation and dominion magic | Augmentation, Augmentation Manipulation, Dominion, Dominion Manipulation, and Primal Frenzy fuse into one unique skill! | Ascendant Mana | Half of points below one hundred in each skill are rewarded from skill fusion.

Ascendant Mana | Level 1 - You rise by crushing aspirants under your heels, a man driven by hunger to embody a monster. Wield this strength and power to lift yourself as others falter under your gaze. Such is the fate of those that ascend: they stand above the rabble, their dominion absolute and unfaltering.

Augmentation and dominion magic fuse into ascendant energy. Ascendant energy is a higher form of mana, one that contains the properties of both augmentation and dominion styles of magic, as well as the capacity for growth. It allows the user to bend reality and mana to empower the user while draining enemies or foes. It often manifests as siphoning attacks, manipulation of natural laws to one's benefit, or the destruction of other entities' minds.

To channel this mana, one must demonstrate hunger and a desire to improve oneself at the expense of everything around you. It is a selfish impulse, and yet, it calls on those who wield it.

For that is to ascend.

The mana sank into the palms of my armor, melting into the dominion inscriptions I placed there. With the mana came the same rush as augmentation magic, along with a frenzy from rage and a feeling of famine. Unlike the augmentation runes that hummed when charged, these runes sounded like silence. It was like they drowned out any white noise around me.

I was lucky, and I counted my blessings. With the mana charging my palm, I reached out my hand, willing the man to be quiet. I focused, bending the mana as Torix and the books I'd read taught me. Grabbing the fabric of reality, I funneled the mana outside of myself, and I asked it to close this man's mouth before he screamed.

The energy fought me the entire time I tried using it, but it remained pliable and potent as well. In fact, a part of me wanted to dive into the mana and let it take over my body. It whispered the potential to grow indefinitely, to seize and conquer all obstacles. I ignored that impulse as a shiver ran up my spine.

I willed the energy to do as I commanded, and it did. It funneled into my palm, snapping outward in a subtle manipulation of the physical laws around me. A part of the man's collar wiggled, and his eyes met mine. He breathed, his gasping matching the time of a cry from a monster upstairs. I blinked, dread pooling into my stomach before I tried once more.

Again, the mana fought me like a bucking bull, but I held it down and wrestled it into something usable. Once more, the man's collar tugged, but it carried more force. He began taking shallow breaths, a panic coming forth from within. I put my finger up to my lips, and the man ignored me. He would kill us both.

He began biting each breath, his eyes twitching and his body jerking. He hit a bottle, and it spun around, wheeling across the floor. It was as innocuous as a floating table, and Ajax turned to us. The porytian murmured, its voice an axe over our heads.

"Did a defilor find its way down here? If so, come out from your hiding place. There is much work to be done."

The man took a deep breath before I held out my hand and raged. The mana responded in a fluid rush, and for the first time, I covered the man's mouth. The force and shock stopped the man's panic. I put my hand over my lips, and for the first time, the man met my eye. He gave me a slight nod, and I released my magic.

New skill unlocked! Telekinesis | lvl 1 - There are those who defy the world with the might of their bodies. They devote every waking hour to turning their physical form into a weapon that may siege fortresses or rip monsters limb from limb. You've chosen to take a different path, and so, you mold your world with the might of your mind.

And it bends before you, your desires made manifest.

+1% towards strength and ease of telekinesis.

Ajax sighed before stepping over.

"Do you think I am so foolish as to let you skirt your duties? Though I admire your boldness, there is a difference between courage and audacity. Let me show you."

As he stepped closer, I brainstormed some kind of solution. My thoughts weren't fast enough. One step. Two steps. Peering at a cracked barrel above us, an idea popped into my head. The burning sensation of using mana flowed up my limbs as I poured all my strength into my magic. A moment later, the plug on the barrel burst forth, wine spilling over us like mahogany blood.

The smell intermingled into the decay around us, a welcome reprieve from the ammonia and waste. The man shivered under the outpour, his body shaking. A slight tug of mana stopped him from kicking any nearby bottles.

As the mana channeled, the man quit jittering in place aside from his whirling eyes.

They glanced around the room before glancing at me. As frantic as a rabid dog, they darted in his skull like a hornet caught in a jar. More and more of my mana poured into keeping him quiet as Ajax's voice carried a sardonic tone, one like sweet poison.

"A faulty storage container? Blegh. This planet reeks of primitive, makeshift solutions to bygone problems."

He turned, heading back up the stairs. His voice echoed into the cellar.

"But...This place deserves better than what will come."

I let my telekinesis go while allowing my head to roll backward onto the bartop's wall. I gave the man a thumbs-up before he met my eye. We had made it. Right as my adrenaline dumped, the man let out a bloodcurdling scream. It echoed through the room, a call that beckoned death from all angles.

My body numbed, and my hands trembled as Ajax took a step back into the cellar. The follower of Yawm shook his head.

"Silence."

He released some kind of slicing magic, and it cleaved the entire bar, wall, and man apart. It slammed into my back while I kept my gaze facing forward. The man in front of me fell apart, his body cleaved in two. His arms flopped down before his torso slid sideways from his hips and gut. The acrid stench of raw entrails joined the wine and ammonia, becoming a smell that haunts my memories.

I gazed down, expecting the same fate, but my body wasn't split asunder. I waited as the countertop slid sideways. The barrels in front of me collapsed, wine smothering the entirety of the cellar. Stone ground against stone as a piece of the unsliced rock in front of me snapped. The building fell ajar, my surroundings creaking out in pain. I peered down, the wine covering every part of me, and I closed my eyes, tears pouring down my face.

I was terrified, and that fear found a way out of me through tears. As I trembled, my body never slid sideways. I never fell in two, and Ajax's steps creaked the wood of the stairs above me. They continued, and he left through the front door. Broken glass crunched under his feet, and I waited a few more seconds before gazing at the man.

Like a ragdoll, the guy flopped downwards. He didn't make any attempts to stay up. He was a puppet with his strings cut, and his blood leaked out. I blinked before feeling my torso where I should've been killed. A slice had carved several inches into my back, but the thin attack hadn't peeled me apart.

Instead, it left the thinnest cut imaginable, and my healing sutered the wound before I could fall apart. After verifying I wasn't dead, I crawled over to the broken man. I grabbed his shoulder and whispered,

"Are...Are you ok?"

Dead, glassy eyes met my gaze. I trembled before grabbing my wrist. I stared at him, his body a mix of wine and blood. His skin already paled. His slackened jaw opened as his tongue hung limply, and wine crawled into his eyes through water tension as if it were blood trying to find its way back into his body.

For some reason, I rejected the obvious. I kept thinking he would breathe or his body would heal. Instead, he lay there. Time moved in a slow drip as if turned into syrup. It settled onto me, my breathing a slow, shallow reminder that I was alive. I sat there behind the bar until someone else walked down the steps.

Kessiah grabbed my shoulder.

"What in the hell happened here?"

I stayed frozen in place, my body not listening to my commands. I was fine, physically speaking. I should have been mentally as well, yet seeing him slaughtered left me stunned. Sure, I killed the turned zombies. Some of them had even recently converted. However, in my head, there was a clear line I hadn't crossed.

Nothing I did led to their deaths. Even with Michael and Kelsey being trapped in their pods, a part of me rationalized that entire series of events. They had chosen to ward me off. I had tried to find them and save them before the worst happened, and they had refused my help. At that moment, I tried to rationalize this situation the same way.

I told myself this man was dead anyway. He would never have made it out of here, and the scream had sealed his fate. It was a moronic impulse. He nearly killed me as well, and if anything, I gave him a chance that he snuffed out. Despite that logical understanding, my emotions told me a different story.

They told me that I let that man die. My feelings told me that I walked away even when I hadn't. Even after all these minutes, he stared at me from where I sat, his eyes unblinking and cold like ice, yet drinking the wine. The eye halfway in the wine turned a violet-red, and I wanted him to look away.

He never did, and I was trapped there by his gaze. If I looked away, the entire experience would be made real. Before I could get a grip on my situation, Kessiah grabbed my hand and pulled me up.

"Daniel, I know some bad shit happened, but we don't have time for you to mope right now. This is a war zone, so get your ass moving."

I kept blinking, but my feet wouldn't work under me. She grabbed my hand and jerked me up. Midway up the stairs, I came to my senses. I shook the shock out before stammering my words.

"Uhm, I'm sorry. I can go. I...I was just stunned for a second."

Kessiah's eyes carried a look of pity as if she wanted to offer comfort. That softness hardened, and she murmured,

"Well, get un-stunned. We gotta get out of here, little man."

We raced up and out of the restaurant before heading back down into a sewer pipe. We met Althea, who waited for us in the flowers of the tunnel. The sickening sweetness intermingled into the wine, soaking me. I wanted nothing more than to bathe and wash this all away, even the memory. After sprinting for a few minutes, Kessiah opened her obelisk.

"Excuse me, you two. I've got a skeleton to verbally abuse."

The shield of the obelisk left only Althea and I standing there. At some point, Althea had walked up beside me. I hadn't noticed her presence. I glanced at my palm, wondering what I'd done. Althea walked up.

"So...You look pretty down."

I smiled without mirth.

"Heh, so my outside match my insides then."

The words sounded awkward even to me, but Althea didn't call me out. She frowned.

"What, uhm, happened?"

I raised my hand, peering at it like it was someone else's.

"I killed someone, I guess."

Althea furrowed her brow.

"We've been killing people all this time. What makes this so different?"

I gulped.

"He...He wasn't turned."

Althea blinked.

"Oh...That's...It's your first time, I guess."

I let out a fragile laugh.

"I don't know. It doesn't make much sense to me either. I shouldn't be reacting like this. It's ridiculous, honestly."

After another quiet silence, Althea pulled her long hair behind herself.

"You...You learn to live with it. I did. Kessiah did. I think everyone does. It's a part of fighting in a systemized world. People get caught up in any conflict, like...Like collateral damage."

I walked over to the side of the tunnel, leaning onto it.

"Yeah, but I could've saved this guy."

She shook her head.

"I have to remind myself about this too...But not saving isn't the same as killing. I know time has helped me heal. I think."

I peered at the beautiful flowers, my body reeking of the blood and wine from the cellar.

"I watched him die."

Althea put a hand on my shoulder.

"What happened?"

I took a breath before explaining the situation the best I could. After hearing my story, Althea grabbed my shoulder, the force of her grasp causing pain.

"You didn't kill anyone."

I gnarled my hands.

"It feels like I did."

Althea leaned to me, her eyes fierce.

"Please listen to me. I...You can't save everyone. You can't even save most people. Really, you're lucky when you get to save anyone. I still remember the faces of the other experimental subjects that Yawm had placed under his care. Somedays, I wish I could go back and help them. Somedays, I blame myself for leaving them behind."

Althea gulped.

"It's hard, but I think...I think that's just me wanting more agency than I have. I didn't save myself. I was saved, both by you and Torix. Even if I knew that, I still wish I could've helped more of those children. They were like me, you know? Trying to find a way out of that place. I have dreams where I try to get them out, but then, I wake up from my dream on this foreign planet."

She peered away.

"And I hate myself just a little bit more each time I do. So yeah, please, try not to blame yourself. It doesn't get you anywhere. I'm a good example of that."

I frowned, grabbing her hand.

"It's not your fault. You did the best you could."

She blinked.

"I know, but I...I feel like I failed them."

We both stood for a moment. I gave her hand a squeeze before we lowered our arms. I raised a fist.

"How about this. Every time you think it's your fault, I want you to imagine that I'm yelling at you that it wasn't and isn't."

A small smile grew on her lips.

"Only if you promise you'll do the same?"

She raised her hand and grabbed mine. I grinned.

"Of course."

She turned my wrist as if winning an arm wrestle. Before I could react, she turned and raised her arms.

"Woo. The winner is Althea Tolstoy."

I leaned back.

"What? You didn't give me any time to react."

She put her hands on her hips and smiled my way.

"Are those, uhm, excuses? I think so."

I walked over.

"Best two out of three."

She raised her arm.

"Ok, sure."

I went to grab her hand before she jerked it back.

"On second thought, I like leaving it on a win."

I narrowed my eyes before swinging my arm to grab hers. She leapt away. She rested on the side of the wall.

"Hah. Not fast enough."

I bent my knees, augmentation surging into my runes.

"We'll see about that."

We bounced off the circular tunnel, each of us leaping about like crickets in a jar. After a minute of chasing, Kessiah's obelisk closed again. She put her hands on her hips,

"I just gave Torix a piece of my mind. He apologized and said...What in Baldowah's name are you both doing?"

I had Althea's hand in a losing position while she latched herself into the ceiling using heel spikes. We pulled away from each other before Kessiah tussled her hair.

"What am I going to do with you two?"

Althea stood upright while still upside down. Her long hair reached the ground, and she flushed red. I scratched the back of my head.

"Heh. Sorry."

Kessiah walked over, and Althea released her grip from the roof. She flipped and landed as silent as the night. Kessiah turned a hand to each of us. The remnant's words sombered us in an instant.

"Torix told me that one of Yawm's followers broke off from the world tree and warped right over here. Torix thought Daniel was dead, but I told him that wasn't the case. We argued back and forth, but neither of us knows what's going on."

I sighed, my mind in a far better state than mere minutes ago.

"Well, Ajax made a lot of noise in the bar I was in. After that, he walked downstairs and leaned on a wall. It looked more like he was frustrated about something in Yawm's camp rather than us destroying this city district."

Althea crossed her arms.

"You think he just showed up there at random?"

I shrugged.

"I...I think we were just unlucky, but what do I know?"

Kessiah glanced down at her obelisk. She waved us over, so we walked beside her before she opened it up. The white glow surrounded us, and it surrounded us in sheets of metal and windows that viewed into space. Nebulas floated in the distance like splashes of paint suspended in ink, each of them a vibrant, eternal fixture. Galaxies spun in the distance, each of them like a different glowing saucer.

The furthest of them turned into blips of light, and the closer stars of the Milky Way immersed un in their glory. Surrounding the view, the sheet metal carried dozens of rust marks, several spots worn into it from people sitting there. The floors had walking trails of rust etched into the metal, and the rumble of ventilation shafts kept a low rumble around us.

Speaking to us in the obelisk's interface, Torix sighed.

"I heard your ideas, and I'm leaning towards what you claimed, Daniel. Ajax wasn't searching for anyone in particular. I think he was trying to find somewhere quiet to think."

Althea gazed out the window.

"So...Who's Ajax?"

I hadn't mentioned his name when I told the story. Torix's voice arose from all angles.

"He is Yawm's first and most loyal follower, and I know little of his history outside of his exploits with Yawm. To my knowledge, Ajax assisted Yawm in destroying the Bracken, the race that attempted to invade their porytian homeworld. They both shared a similar goal after that."

Kessiah nodded.

"Yeah, I've heard stories about Ajax as well. He wasn't far behind Yawm when it came to the crazy bullshit he pulled off. There were even rumors he blew up a moon when he got pissed one time. I don't really believe that myth, but no one really knows if it's true or not."

I cupped my chin.

"Do you guys think there could be some infighting in Yawm's camp now?"

Torix's rich voice held thought and poise as he spoke.

"Hmmm. If that were the case, then this presents itself as an excellent opportunity. We'll need to know more before we act, however."

Althea frowned. She pushed through a desire to shrink herself as she said,

"Uhm...What if this happens again?"

With annoyance leaking into his voice, Torix said,

"And what do you mean by that?"

Althea took a quick breath before squeezing her hands.

"Us...Almost dying."

A silence passed over the room. Torix said in a solemn voice.

"There's something you must understand. This is a risky mission, regardless of how many safety nets I try to put around you both. Simply put, there are variables under our control and others that are not. Know that I'm aligning all that I may to our favor, but there exists a high likelihood that my safeguards may fail regardless of my personal inputs."

Althea stared down.

"If...If you say so."

A tense quiet passed over us. The obelisk's interface pulled inwards, revealing the embellished sewers once more. My mini-map changed in the corner of my eye, and it showed a route towards my old high school. Kessiah put a hand on Althea's shoulder. The remnant smirked.

"Don't worry about him. He's just being an ass since he's stressed. It happens to everyone."

Althea frowned but didn't reply. Like most shy people, she balled up when she was hurt. If I were in her shoes, I would think I should just grow a thicker skin. I didn't expect people to carefully word things for me. I did expect to handle my own reaction to what they said, and a part of me wanted to push that expectation onto Althea.

But I remembered our talk. She got me out of whatever mind state I was in after meeting Ajax. Sometimes, whether I liked it or not, a few words of support could make a world of difference. I gave her a nod.

"We'll be fine. There's bound to be a few rough edges at the start of any plan."

Althea smiled my way.

"Thanks. Let's...Let's hope so."

I gave myself an internal fist bump, thinking about how I managed to say something to actually help the situation. Probably. Either way, if it really bothered her, she could talk to me or Kessiah about it later. This wasn't the time or situation for being hurt by words. We needed to get a move on, so we shot toward the next area with Kessiah leading the charge. She grinned and laughed.

"What a time to be alive. I haven't been this close to death so many times since Torix and I waged war on Leo. Eldritch and war machines and chaos. It was so much fun."

Althea grimaced at the thought of a persistent war, and I carried mixed emotions. A part of me liked the thrill of battle, and another part hated the aftermath. Our following location reflected those feelings: Springfield's old high school. The place had been my school back before Schema, and it carried the scars from our changed world.

With shattered windows, overgrown walls, and cracked parking lots, it was a beaten and broken place. Streaks of old gore traced the outskirts of the building, and some monster had flipped or smashed a few cars. The crushed glass from those windows glistened in the light like shining snow. Outside the actual building, the forest encroached onto the inner bastion, though nothing pierced within.

It was an odd scene. As I mentioned, I held mixed emotions for this place. A part of me despised it here. It reminded me of failed classes, the glares of classmates, and the thinly veiled fear from teachers. I never hit any actual adult at school, but I had plenty of times outside of it. Of course, I hadn't done so without intense provocation, but rumors weren't as kind as the truth.

That's why watching this place fall apart gave me more joy than I'd like to admit. The corpses on the outskirts arrested that joy, turning it into guilt. It was as if the forests shot up where people had been, using their corpses and souls for the growth of yellow mold and dank spores. We killed a few spawns here or there, but they infested this place without the same frequency that we'd seen everywhere else in the city.

When we reached the school's interior, an explanation surfaced - the school was a dungeon. Considering the high school's size, it was a big one. After a second of thought, I facepalmed. Of course, the eldritch were still in Springfield. Just because Yawm invaded doesn't mean the dungeons weren't expanding, digging their claws deeper into the landscape like the roots of some ancient tree.

Passing into the actual building, we found the beginnings of the dungeon and the bloodier the situation became. Monster corpses sprawled out in every direction. The rot left a stench from a battle, one waged by the fungal monstrosities and the dungeon's denizens. Closer to the building, the entire space calmed despite how central the school was in the city. If anything, everything looked clean by comparison, like walking into a memory.

We reached into a hallway lined with lockers. In our standard formation, we explored the area. Our caution levels were sky-high after meeting Ajax, and out of nowhere, a door shot off the hinges of a room in front of me. Out of the doorway, a serrated scythe chopped into the ground. It glowed green, trails of mana ebbing off it.

A bipedal, gray monster lumbered out, holding the scythe in its large hands. Parts of its body decayed, the muscles rippling underneath the matte skin. A dark robe covered most of its androgynous body, and it had no cheeks, its teeth sharpened to points. The top half of its skull flattened out like a paper hand fan, spines rising from the thin membrane of its head. It lifted one of its hands toward us, the three fingers black and grimy.

At the center of his palm was a closed eyelid. The eye opened, searching the room for intruders. It stepped forward, dragging its scythe that shot sparks throughout the air. I cracked my neck as I readied myself for what was to follow.

Soulkeeper | Level 442 - As dungeons develop, certain subspecies of creatures will harness the planet's populace for power. This is one such entity. This particular species will absorb the radiant energy of human minds to strengthen itself. It casts illusions that will draw in weaker psyches, and then it will slay them with its enchanted scythe.

This is a stronger member of the species, having had plenty of time to absorb souls due to the inherent chaos nearby. It has fed on the corpses of its brethren and the unnamed of Yawm, and unlike most SoulKeepers, this particular member is holding far fewer souls than would generally be required for such a high level.

This is indicative of it following a soulswallower, who will be far more powerful than a mere keeper of souls. The danger levels reflecting the overall prowess of these enemies are due to the disastrous consequences should an adventurer fall to one of them. In your case, however, this specimen will struggle just to harm you.

Crush it before it becomes more than you can handle.

I charged at the soulkeeper, ready to meet it head-on. The monster waved its scythe, a green semicircle of energy following the strike. I slid on the ground, ducking below it. The mana wave crashed into the wall without damaging it whatsoever. Another slice of the scythe and another wave carved toward me.

I pressed a heel into the tile ground, the momentum of my slide slinging me upright. I leaped up, the energy slice clapping against the ground where I was. The tile ripped off the ground, revealing the concrete underneath as I flew up and over the destruction. With my enhanced weight carrying me, I shot up through the false ceiling roof.

The flimsy material relented as I passed through it, and I found the wires, duct work, and layers of dust from our old building. Several energy slices shot up around me, and the monster howled. Its unearthly wails were a living nightmare. I passed by several strings that kept the cheap ceiling tiles up before passing through them again. I landed on top of the soulkeeper, pushing it to the ground. Two spears were lodged in each of its palms, and the scythe lay beside him, no longer in his hands.

I reared a fist upwards before slamming it down. My fist hit a barrier made of mana. A battle fervor came over me, and I smiled. My armor followed suit. Swing after swing, I rained down a series of blows. Green, oozing cracks formed on its transparent shield just above the creature's face. The mana shield groaned out under the weight of each blow, and the cracks spread until I leaned atop a smoking, green orb.

A cold, lightning sensation shot through my back, and a burst of fear exploded through me. I wanted to run and hide, but I pushed through the sudden discomfort. The cracks became a latticework of glowing, green lines before my armor chomped forward. The jagged teeth screeched against the invisible shield before it shattered. I cracked my fist against its forehead, its body caving under pressure. It withstood the blow before turning the spines of its head my way.

As if teleporting in place, two spears lobbed through its eyes, stopping its attack. After a few more swings, the monster died, surrounded by darkness and pain. I stood up and swung my hands, the gore falling from me. Kessiah snapped into existence beside me, and she tapped my shoulder.

She pulled the cold sensation from my back. I turned around, and a scythe was in her hand. I put my hands on my hips.

"How in the hell did that stab me?"

Kessiah glanced at the scythe and kept herself away from it as if touching something foul.

"The SoulKeeper used telekinesis and stabbed you with it. I'm surprised you didn't keel over. The scythe attacks your mind instead of that burly body of yours. It means you didn't have any resistance to it."

I shrugged, "My armor affects that kind of resistance as well."

Kessiah frowned.

"Why would armor affect that kind of resistance?"

Althea walked up.

"So, I think it could be blood magic or maybe something related to that."

Kessiah rolled her eyes.

"blood magic relates to mana. This is about the mind, something that neither of you has actually trained. It's a different axis of attack, kind of like grappling instead of striking in combat."

I glanced at the corpse of the soulkeeper. A spike of armor expanded from my palm and pierced it before draining the corpse to nothing. I turned back to them.

"Eh, maybe it means I have an expanded mind, so there's more to damage or something like that. I used to think the armor was something else, something trying to control me. Now, I just think it's a different side of myself that I suppress. Of course, I could totally be full of it. Who knows."

Althea smiled.

"I get that. I feel like that sometimes, but it's from the modifications Yawm left on me instead. It helps pull me together if I happen to fall apart."

Kessiah grabbed both our shoulders.

"It's good to talk about builds and skills, but not right now. So enough contemplating." She pointed her finger forward, "Onward into adventure, kiddies."

Althea and I rolled our eyes before continuing through the building. After passing through another hallway, we met two soulkeepers standing guard in front of the lunch room. I dashed at them as two bolts from Althea stabbed through their scythe arms. They both lost control of their scythes as I reached them.

The one standing on the left side of the door reached out its right hand, the eye facing me. Another wave of ice infested my head, and it came alongside wrath. I wanted to tear everyone apart, to let go of all reason and rage. I held the sensation down and stomped my heel, stopping myself just short of the palm. Floor tiles sliced up into the eye, and it howled.

I jerked my left hand, grabbing the monster's wrist. With my right hand, I turned his arm so that his elbow faced the ground. With a quick turn and heave, I torqued the monster's limb over my shoulder. The joint gave way, and the beast howled. It slammed its other spined hand at me, and I blocked it using its broken limb.

It cut through a muscle in its arm. I lifted my leg and planted my heel in its armpit. In tandem, I kicked out and pulled back. Its arm wrenched off before I swung the amputated arm at the other soulkeeper. Several spears already landed in its joints, crippling the beast. It still reached its left palm at me, and its eye glowed green.

Another wave of ice filled my mind, and I felt tired. Exhaustion spread into my bones before I stabbed the amputated arm's bone into the open eye of the soulkeeper. Blood burst from the monster's hand, gushing like thickened Kool-Aid out of a broken pipe. Pulling back toward the disarmed soulkeeper, I jabbed its torn arm through the face of the creature.

It ducked under and hit my stomach. I gasped, saliva splattering out of my mouth. It snarled before I grabbed the monster's neck. It bit me; its teeth cracked against my skin. Still, parts got through, and blood oozed from my forearm. I growled before jamming my sharpened fingertips at its eyes. My fingers pierced in, and it bellowed in anguish.

I lifted its head up and pulled my bitten arm down. Its jaw was dislocated. I grabbed the slackened jaw and ripped at it. It held as several sickening pops ushered out. The other soulkeeper hit my back, and ice spread through my veins once more. Anger washed over me, and I let it spread this time.

I finished tearing the jaw off before jamming the lower part into the neck of the debilitated beast. A sawed at it before reaching my hands into the sinews of its neck. A quick yank rived its skull from its neck, killing the beast. Blood splattered, raining down before another wave of ice spread through me.

It smothered me in exhaustion. I stumbled forward before grabbing the detached head like a club. I turned and smashed the other creature's face. Both heads popped as bones broke under their skin. It fell before I lifted the head and swung over and over. With its brethren's skull, I smashed its face to bits of bone.

They both splintered and caved. With unnecessary violence, I kept crushing until nothing was left. The body wilted before losing the animation of life. It collapsed into the wall before I stepped one foot backward, pulling my weight with me. I spun around, letting my arm drag behind me. Like throwing a baseball, I smashed my hand into the monster. The force of my blow smashed the last soulkeeper's body through the wall they guarded.

A detonation of sound resonated in the hallway, as loud as a gunshot. After waiting for the dust to clear, I absorbed the bodies with my armor while heaving for breath. The anger and coldness faded after a while, and I recovered from whatever magic they used. Once back to normal, I peered at the remaining scythes. It still glowed despite its wielder's death.

I picked one of them up.

Soulslayer | Level Requirement: 400 - This is a scythe that attacks the will and mind instead of a physical body. As a side effect, willpower and mana act as the health of the enemy. Arcane blood users are unaffected by this, instead taking damage to their health like normal.

This weapon can also carry the souls of slain creatures. This weapon steals the mana of the user, turning it into ambient mana instead. Skill level with normal scythes will carry over to this weapon's effectiveness.

Current containment: 440,425 Ambient mana stored.

I grabbed a hold of the blade and drained the mana stored within. The sheen of the weapon died down, dulling it to gray metal after a few minutes. I tossed it onto the ground and picked up the other one, draining it like the first. I turned back to the others, and Kessiah held the scythe of the first soulkeeper.

I raised a hand, and she tossed it my way. A few seconds later, I drained all the mana, my armor gobbling the energy like a ravenous sponge. These enemies served my progression well, the whole escapade providing much more energy than Yawm's spawn. A part of me wondered if the mana was from people, but it hadn't felt sentient, more like the processed aftermath of a broken-down mind.

Existential rants aside, I crouched low as I walked through the hole in the wall I made. Stepping out of the other side, a behemoth awaited me.

It carried a form similar to the soulkeepers but held far more muscle writhing under its skin. It stood twenty feet tall, the lunchroom having been spatially expanded to accommodate its massive form.

Scythe blades jutted out from its elbows, and they replaced its fingers. Its ragged mane of raven hair reached halfway down its chest. The gray skin of the other SoulKeepers was the same on this creature, though darker in shade. At the center of its chest was an eye with a contracted pupil, as if it was staring at the sun. The eye teared up, causing a sort of irritation in my own eyes. 

The monster turned towards me with an eerie smile, and it spread open its hands, revealing eyes at the center of its palms. A set of black raven wings spread wide behind it. The beast loomed like some sort of fallen angel. The shackles on its hands and legs clattered against the ground as it moved. With movements faster than its large frame should allow, it whirled the chains around its hands.

Gorged soulswallower, chained Level 600 - A powerful soulswallower, this monster has feasted on thousands of souls from its soulkeeper minions. This has allowed it to gorge on the souls, making it stronger.

The blades on its fingers and elbows can consume mana. The chains around its wrists and ankles suppress its power.

Once the SoulSwallower has consumed a certain number of souls, these chains will shatter, revealing its full power. Even in a weakened state, this foe will be incredibly difficult to kill, regardless if it is unchained or not. Be wary. 

With a flick of its wrist, one of the chains hanging from its shackles snapped into one of the tables of the large lunchroom. The table cracked, splintering in half as a crater formed on the white tiles. The grin on its face lengthened until it was too wide for its eyeless face.

Its words smoldered like hot coals.

"You have...A mighty soul...I will enjoy eating your soul."

The runes on my arms and legs charged, crimson mana replacing the orange surge of augmentation. A surge of power and fury filled my limbs, and I glared at the monster. My armor smiled, the grin malevolent and menacing.

"You're not the first to try."