III-28 Vitality

"What is death?"  If you ask a Biomancer, it is simply a state of being. It is when all functions of the body stop and the organism begins t

"What is death?" 

If you ask a Biomancer, it is simply a state of being. It is when all functions of the body stop and the organism begins to decay. Certain individuals will even declare death to begin when the organs fail, the brain in particular.

Should you ask a philosopher, "what is death?" You could get anything from profundity to worthless platitudes. For to them, death is not a real thing. It is not a true thing. It is a statement of existential metanarrative. And they gaze upon it as one word, a painting, ignoring the cloth that had been tainted by the oils. 

And it drives me to a rage. It drives me to heights of fury. I cannot imagine. I cannot endure this defense, despite being a mere organism. Despite being a creature at the mercy of death and the system.

It cares nothing for it. It delights in it. It feasts upon it. For death, death is a critical component in the advancement of our skills. Think. Think of how your skills grow when you slay, when you prevail, when you butcher. Think of how the strain is accompanied by destruction. Every act you perform with your skills feeds it. It instills in it a story, a living narrative that develops and evolves, and eventually it becomes an evolution for the skill itself. An evolution too often nourished from death.

For what else are the flowers of strife but an end, but a severance of continuity? Severance of continuity. I cannot accept it. I will not accept it. I did not accept it for my mother. I will not accept it for myself. I will not accept it for this world. I will not accept it for anyone. Anyone.

System, hear me now. If there is any cognition to you, any awareness at all, hear me now and know that you are my enemy. Strike me down. Unleash your fury upon me. Give me all you have in violence, in deception, in magic and might. 

Give me all and I will spit at thee. But if there is nothing to you at all, if you are just a thing of intellect but no consciousness, then I will usurp you. And when I do, I will punish you for this sinless sin that you have committed, this act which you know not of but which you have scarred me so. 

You have taken from me. You have given me much, and then you have taken from me anyway. And I will not accept it. You will rue my power. You will rue what I will deliver.

"What is death?" 

Death is something I will conquer. Death is something I will break. Death is something I will render untrue. Death is the adversary and I will be the one that slays it.

-Udraal Thann’s Animancy Notes

III-28

Vitality

As Shiv tore across the skies of the gate, he noticed another change in the world, another change as it related to him. Everyone was glowing, everyone alive, and everything in existence. Everything was layered in a thin coat of Vitae, and he could feel it. 

His insides thirsted for it, even though he was stable, even though he was not losing any more vitality. But Shiv knew the consequences of draining from that which did not glow so brightly, that which wasn't meant to be drained. Previously, he sapped only from living things, from people, from automatons and organics alike. But now, now it felt like he could drain vitality from anything.

That was more than vitality, it was the substance of the soul and one's life force. Just what the hell kind of skill did I get, he had wondered to himself.

Rose let out a screeching cry underneath his arms, and he tried not to look at her. Her flesh was fused together in a horrific, disfigured mess, and he felt his insides twist as he muttered an apology.

"Shit," Shiv said, "Alright, Rose—sorry. I didn’t know that—I’ll figure out how to fix you. I just need to… I just need to get some help first.."

But she couldn't hear him. She was too busy screaming, writhing under his arms. Shiv held Adam as well, both of them were stacked together and she'd constantly tried to push herself away. The soul wounds were horrific and every movement, every moment of contact seemed to inflict a torturous effect on her.

But he could also feel her Vitae, could perceive her Vitae underneath her flesh. He could sense the burns there. The burns that used to be his, that lined his very existence after Vicar Sullain unleashed the necromantic sun upon the world. But if he could create her from his own body, if he could push her out and form her from his disfigured vitality, then could he take it back, or could he transfer it to someone else?

All these questions swirled through his mind as he spiked his gravitic field again. In the distance, the Obsidian Tower rose high, and its peak glistened with a prismatic brilliance when kissed by the azure mana core. 

To his surprise, four more structures surrounded the Obsidian Tower. They were square blocks of concrete and stone, simple in design, but they had webs going between them, webs that Weaveresses walked upon with ease. And there were a few dimensionals patrolling the area above as well. More than that, there were what looked to be mystical checkpoints shrouding this new command center in layers. And that's what this place was: a command center being built right at the heart of the gate, right over the Vulketh Gateway as well.

Shiv passed through one of said checkpoints, a transparent sheen of magic it pulsed as he breached its threshold. It flashed green, and all the following layers blinked out as well. Uva's mana strand slipped out from his mind and continued on, snaking through the air until it touched one of the buildings. 

It looked slightly like a tube that had been split in half. It was long, with no windows and only a large metal door. A large metal door that was rapidly swinging open as a Weaveress and two teams of Umbrals emerged.

Shiv recognized the Weaveress. It was the Biomancer that helped him with Courtney a few days ago. Uva must have informed them of his coming. They also had two medical gurneys on standby and the Umbrals were dressing themselves, seemingly prepping themselves for active surgery and assistance. Shiv looked at Rose again and winced. She was screaming, always screaming, and he didn't think any amount of Biomancy or direct medical aid would help her. The wounds ran deeper than their ministrations could reach.

As he crashed to the ground, a vibration shuddered through him. Rose arced and let out a piercing shriek. "Sorry, sorry," Shiv whispered.

She writhed against him, pressing and trying to free herself. Her eyes were rolling. Sweat poured down her head and face. And under Shiv's right arm, Adam began to stir as well.

Adam, his vitality burned so faintly, Shiv had drained too much, too much all at once. He shouldn't have, he thought, should have gone for something else, but he'd been so thirsty then, he thought he would never be sated again, never be filled with enough life force.

"I'm going to get you well too," Shiv said, more a promise to himself than the unconscious Adam.

A concentration of threads speared into his mind and coalesced Uva herself into him, settling around his consciousness and briefly giving him a psionic embrace before she untangled herself and emerged right beside him. Her shield flashed out behind her as well, and the fragments drifted a bit like a cape. She was wearing her Arachnae Order leathers, but the boots she had on were prismatic and bright. The boots that Can Hu reforged for her—the ones that would allow her to submerge herself in the earth itself.

She looked at Adam, and then she looked at Rose. Her face contorted in disgust momentarily at the severity of the woman's wounds, but then her eyes widened. "Is that really her?”

"Yes," Shiv said. "I, uh... Yeah, I wasn't lying. Won’t lie, this some crazy shit. I can’t believe it myself.”

She stared at him, and she nodded slowly. "I didn't doubt you, but I still needed to see…" she breathed.

The Umbrals and the Weaveress received both Rose and Adam. Adam was merely weak, spent, and Shiv had realized something. His Vitae was stable within his mana field. The Deathless thought to himself: So... so I could just give some back… 

And so he commanded his Vitaemancy and directed it back into Adam.

And before Uva or anyone else could ask what he was about to do, Shiv channeled the very substance that comprised his being. Streams of white and red exploded against Adam. He came aglow with a brilliant interplay of colors. Shiv immediately felt himself get weaker, but he also failed to account for another thing. His soul was material now—as hard as adamantine, with all the strength and speed derived from his Gravitic Wrestler and Inertial Overdrive Skills. 

The Vitae current crashed into Adam. His gurney shattered. The Gate Lord was blasted into the ground as a small crater formed. Shiv let out a loud groan, "Shit, I didn't mean to do that."

But he didn’t stop what he was doing; he just became more gentle. He fed a final surge of his vitality into the Adam. Suddenly the Gate Lord folded over, grabbing at his ribs as he coughed violently. Now Adam came aglow while Shiv's inner brightness dimmed. The Deathless staggered back from sheer exhaustion. It was kind of like draining all the strength out of oneself in a sudden instant. Like a sudden onset of feverish sickness that radiated stronger and stronger with every passing moment. Shiv cut off the flow of Vitae as soon as Adam's eyes snapped open.

He looked down just in time to see Shiv reel the streams back into himself. An aura of red and white commingled around Shiv before fading entirely. And while Rose twisted and screamed in her gurney, the Umbrals and Weaver's Biomancer stared on at Shiv. As did Uva. Her jaw slightly gaped, her eyes wide.

"The hell are you guys looking at?" Shiv cried. "Help her!"

He waved at the Weaveress. She snapped to attention and immediately called out to the Umbrals. They started wheeling Rose into the building, down a length of bright, clean, reflective tiles and pristine walls. Shiv couldn't even feel that much bacteria in the air there, and he realized this was likely a field infirmary that had just been set up. A proper one, rather than a large tent.

Adam stood near Shiv. He stumbled and the Deathless caught him, but he didn't look at Shiv. No, his eyes were locked on the Weaveress, moving his mother away. He flinched every time she screamed.

He looked at Shiv and pawed at Shiv’s shoulders with shaking hands. "What's wrong with her? What did you do? What did Sullain do?”

"I don’t—" Shiv said. Then he immediately closed his eyes and sighed. "I didn't mean to do anything. When I pushed her out, I think she took the corrosion—my soul wounds. She carried them out from me when she reformed. And now they’re on her.”

Adam's eyes widened. He gripped Shiv tighter as he snarled. "What? Then why didn’t you stop her.”

"I didn't know," Shiv shot back. "I didn't know what I was doing. I was just trying to reform myself, and I felt her struggling inside me. She was trying to get out. I helped her. I promised I would help her!”

“You gave her your wounds! How is that helping her?” Adam cried. His voice was climbing to a hysterical height.

But then a strand of Psychomancy passed through him as Uva stared at them both. A wave of calm struck their consciousnesses, and they both settled, each of them looking at each other as the tension inside them was choked down to a more muted level. Uva exerted her influence. "We can argue about this later. Right now, we need to figure out what's wrong with her."

And just then, Valor descended behind her. He flew unevenly. Damage still lined his skull, but he looked better than before. Good enough to travel under his own power.

"Shiv," Valor cried out, "Uva informed me of the development. Adam’s mother—Where is…" And Valor trailed off. He said nothing, but his eyes glowed bright with crackling flame. He analyzed Shiv once more. But then he leaned back. "Shiv… What has happened to you… I sense… Why do I sense such repulsion from you. Repulsion against my Necromancy.”

"I got a Skill Evolution for Revenant," Shiv breathed. He held out a hand, and he let a small swirling stream of Vitae dance upon his palm. And then he pulled it back into himself. "I can move my own Vitae now, I think."

Valor just stared at him. A piercing howl from Rose broke the moment. Can Hu also arrived, descending on a column of stone. His skeleton moved slowly, his frame screeching with every stressful motion. But he ran as best as he could. He followed the others in.

And as they tore across the hall, Adam and Shiv were trailed by an Umbral in a white uniform. "Wait! You need to be sterilized. She's badly wounded. We can’t risk her being infected.”

"The infection—it's not a physical wound," Shiv cried out. "It's a soul wound."

"Even so, it still might get infected. We don't know what you might have brought in on you from the outside. Here!" She waved her hand, and a crimson spell formed over it. Shiv felt the bacteria clinging to him, small particulates of life burst apart. Adam was cleansed as well, and then they rushed past the Umbral, blurring across room after room until they finally caught up to the Weaveress and her aides.

They were applying whatever healing they could, and Biomancy splashed over Rose Van Erren. It did nothing. Her flesh refused to heal. Her muscles refused to mend. The burns refused to close. She could see her body trying to respond, trying to re-knit itself, sinew by sinew. But as soon as they touched, they separated again. 

It was like her soul had a memory, a memory of being wounded, and with the damage layered upon her vitality itself, it was like she existentially couldn't exist in any other way.

Another emerged behind them, staring at Rose. She remained nude, with little to protect her modesty. Ultimately, what modesty was there to protect when most of her body was practically consumed by corrosive burns? She was a nightmare of misshapen flesh, and Shiv could feel the burns run even deeper inside her. Her organs were also withered, one of her lungs, her kidney, her bones, even her heart. Shiv didn't realize how badly the necromancy wounded him earlier, and now she inherited his wounds, and he suspected Rose wasn't a Pathbearer that specialized in Toughness.

He felt her heart twitch and spasm—and it was beating more because the Weaveress was forcing it to pump rather than anything else. Shiv hadn’t even realized her heart was failing when he carried her.

 She let out a gasp. Adam stood right beside her, and his eyes darted about. He looked at Shiv, Uva, and Valor before rushing over to his mother. He looked like a boy caught in a nightmare. And he reached out to take her hand. Rose arched her back and screamed. Adam winced, and the expression on his face was heartbreaking. To have his mother returned, but to be given unto him in such a state—

I’m going to fix this, Shiv declared to himself.

Uva tried to calm Adam through her, but he was in a maelstrom of emotional turmoil. Some of that turmoil was bleeding over into Shiv as well.

"Valor," Shiv said, "I think I might be able to take the wounds from her somehow." He channeled a stream of Vitae again. It immediately started fading the moment it got to open air. The moment it slipped beyond his mana field.

"Uva," Valor said, "connect me to Shiv. Make it a straight connection—enforced calm." And she did. Another Psychomancy strand passed through the legendary Pathbearer and ended within Shiv's mind. Immediately, Shiv felt Valor's focus, his intensity, but also that unerring calmness enforced upon them. "The new skill, it allows you to manipulate your own Vitae as if it is a form of magic?”

"Yeah," Shiv said.

A pulse of uncertainty came from Valor, but the Legendary Pathbearer pushed through it. "Reach into her. I wish to see what you can do, to feel what you feel."

And Shiv did. Immediately, strands of red and white extended through the air, but he learned from his mistake with Adam. He didn't spear his Vitae current into her. And a good thing at that, that might have killed her for good again. And Shiv didn't know if he could bring her back to life again. He only had one Rose Van Erren locked in his soul. As he pressed his current against her body, he immediately started losing vitality. Shiv bit back a groan, but he connected to her vitality as well, and he felt at her damage, at the corrosion. 

More importantly, however, his vitality merged with hers, and then seeped into her. He tried to pull at her burns, to manipulate them somehow, but it was like he was striking a film of oil with a water hose. He couldn't interact with it this way. His Vitae felt solid to him, but when it greeted a source of vitality, it reacted more like pooling water, entering more like two streams of water merging together than anything else.

"That is normal," Valor said. "Like types of mana co-mingle when they're in a passive state, without someone's intent, they do not truly crash, but you have no experience with cooperative casting." Valor paused. "Focus, Shiv, treat her body, treat her vitality as if it was a body of water. You can displace it with your Vitae. There is only so much vitality one can sustain at a time, so cycle it through her."

"Cycle it?" Shiv asked.

"Yes." Valor looked at him. "Move what is inside of you against her and see if you can pull what is inside her into you when it is displaced. Do it quickly. I suspect you will not have the control, so use quantity to your advantage."

And Shiv did just that. Vitae flooded out from him, and Vitae returned as he drained Rose Van Erren. A jet stream of white and red rushed out from Shiv, but then it circled back, crashing into him again, and along its length there were festering motes of green, acidic burns inflicted by the corrosion of necromancy. 

As soon as the corroded currents returned to Shiv, he let out a gasp as some of the wounds reappeared on his body. At the same time, Rose's flesh cleared. It was like her being remembered that it was uninjured after all. Her torso restored itself first, patches of smooth skin stretching out. The Weaveress Biomancer wasn't casting anymore. She was simply staring at Shiv, at an absolute loss as to what was happening.

Vitaemancy 51 > 52

Shiv, meanwhile, did his best not to fall over. He felt cold, cold and weak and hurt. More and more of his original injuries returned to him, and Valor called out, "That's enough. I do not think..."

"No," Shiv said, "I can take the wounds. She probably can't. Besides," Shiv gritted his teeth as he felt his organs start failing, "I can just transfer them to someone I don't actually like in a moment, head out the Abyssal Gate and do a little… hunting…”

Valor regarded him and huffed with restrained pride. “Stand proud, then, Hero. I witness your will.”

Shiv felt a flood of reluctance from Uva as well, but Adam, Adam almost looked overcome with emotion. He stared at Shiv as his mother grew hale and Shiv grew disfigured in her stead. Shiv felt his skin unlatch from his bone and then melt together into clumps. His organs withered entirely, and he nearly collapsed then, but he forced himself to stand. As he drew his stream of Vitae back into himself, he staggered back and the room spun. Uva and Adam caught him now. They braced him as Shiv let out a wheeze.

Uva stared at him for a moment, and he saw her colorful eyes widened in horror and she looked away. "That bad, huh?" Shiv chuckled. Shiv asked.

"Do you remember when you asked me if I would still like you if you were a potato?" Uva said, trying to hide her discomfort.

"Yeah," Shiv said.

"Well, right now, I wish you actually resembled a potato."

"Wow, ouch," Shiv laughed. "Thanks for the honesty."

"All right," Shiv growled out. "Adam, open the Abyssal Gateway. I'm gonna need to..."

And then the room started spinning around him too much for him to keep up. He lost a step and fell. The ground rushed up to smash him—only for Uva’s shield to catch him first. "Oag–ohakkky…," Shiv slurred. “I’m fannne.” He really wasn't well. His insides felt melted. And his heart felt like it ruptured with every passing beat.

"I got him," Adam said.

Shiv felt two arms wrap around him, and he barely bit back a cry of pain. Suddenly he was more sympathetic to Rose than ever. It was funny how fast someone could forget intense agony when it wasn't constantly biting into their body every passing second. Adam carried him out of the chamber. 

Uva settled into his mind and tried to help him ward some of the pain. But soon she ejected herself shifted to Adam instead, her own mind reeling at the sheer amount of suffering he was constantly experiencing. She couldn't focus, not with that much agony. 

But pain was an old friend of Shiv's by now. And Rose couldn't survive this, not like he could. The whole affair had been worth it, basic arithmetic. Now he just needed to move his minus to someone else's plus. "Something like that," Shiv muttered to himself, "hope we'll find a vampire soon. Something…”

The Challenger looks upon you with satisfaction

He briefly lost track of time then. It was an eternity inside his own mind, writhing, trying not to sob or scream. But when his awareness next returned to him, he caught a flash of a swirling blackness. It was like he was entering a monster's maw. But then he noticed he was passing through the gateway—the Abyssal Gateway. Oh, good. I’ll be able to—

Shiv’s heart burst apart then, and he died again.

Vitaemancy 52 > 55

Vitality Drain 52 > 54

As soon as he died, his Vitae field slipped free from his body and smashed into Adam. Gate Lord let out a grunt of surprise as he felt the dense swirl of red and white that composed Shiv crash slam against him.

Adam's eyes widened. His breath hitched. "Shiv, if you need to drain—”

"No," Shiv responded. He realized he was still connected to Adam through one of Uva's strands, but he wasn't losing vitality, not while he was still inside his field. And more importantly, he could move the field. He could keep it around himself. It didn't extend long, but it generally encompassed the space of his body, maybe the distance of him reaching out an arm or a leg. And he could move it, move it as he kept the bulk of his Vitae condensed together. 

That was how the field remained concentrated as well. It didn't mold itself to his Vitae, it was simply at its epicenter, at where he was meant to resurrect if he drained enough. And right now, he definitely did not have enough Vitae to resurrect, but at least he wasn't fading every passing second.

Definitely an evolution. Just a really godsdamned weird one…

A massive crater passed beneath him, and Shiv realized it was the crater he left behind near the gate a few days ago. And as he looked out, he saw a world aglow with dancing torches, bonfires everywhere spreading beyond the ruins, encircling the abyssal gateway and deep in the Umbral Wilderness.

"Adam," Shiv said.

"Yes," he replied. "What do you need?"

"River," Shiv said simply. “Go to the river.”

And Adam immediately sailed off in that direction. Uva was mantled to the young lord's mind now, continuing to do what she could for Shiv's pain and focus without being fully immersed in his mind. While they traveled, however, Shiv directed a section of his Vitae out as a cleaving jet of color. It burst through their air as he guided it using his gravitic field while it accelerated on the basis of his Inertial Overdrive. 

He managed to spear sections of his Vitae into the ground, barely missing small embers, he noticed, small animals rushing through the undergrowth. But even as he missed, he could still control his Vitae, and it was a part of his body more than ever before. He flung it out using his gravitic field again, and this time he impacted. He impacted his prey and began to sap from it.

A strange, single-eared creature let out a cry as its vitality was torn out from its body, and it vanished into a flood of red and white. Its shimmering form glowed. They shot over the ravine then, and Shiv was launching out stream after stream, plunging it into the water. It split the currents of the river apart, and he struck the bed of the river, causing sediment to erupt and shockwaves to open up pockets in the flow. 

He consumed crustaceans, fish, weeds, and more, and he reached out further. He drank in the surrounding trees, the animals that lived inside of them. Shiv consumed insects, he consumed fungi, he consumed everything that had a bright shimmer of vitality around them.

As he consumed them, his Vitae came back together, weaving himself into shape, weaving himself back to life. And with a final pulse of red then white, Shiv emerged from his Vitae field, alive once more, alive and immediately dying as his organs started to fail.

“Shit," Shiv let out a rasp.

"Shiv!" Adam cried out as Shiv slumped over against him again. “I—” The Gate Lord gagged as he tried not to look at the large man he was carrying.

"Hey Adam," Shiv slurred. "I think, I think I'm going to need to find something with quite a bit of life force, something I can pour a lot of myself into and then circle some of myself back out."

"Alright, let me see." Adam's eyes flashed. It was like a dance between the bluest sky and brightest dawn. The Gate Lord’s face contorted in an expression of absolute focus, and Uva searched the lands as well, but in mere seconds, Adam proved himself to be the better hunter.

"Basilisk," Adam breathed.

"Basilisk," she replied. “You found a basilisk? Good option, but how large?" Uva asked. "We want one that's mature—”

"Oh, it’s large. And not far either." Adam said, and he immediately blasted off. He shot over a patch of nothing that spread through the surrounding Umbral wilderness. A patch of nothing made so as Shiv drank trees and life out of existence. And suddenly he came to a stop and Shiv found Adam hovering just over what seemed to be a large boulder.

"Where is the Basilisk?" Shiv muffled.

“Below,” Adam said. And he formed two arms to fire a Veilpiercer that blasted the boulder apart. He accelerated down, and they descended into a deep cave that kept going and going. The cave wasn’t so different from the one Shiv fell into after he got obliterated by Marikos. But instead of a mess of merely large snakes, however, there was a colossal, hundred-meter-long serpent slumbering here, coiled around itself like a small mountain. Its diamond-bright scales glittered, and it slowly lifted its head to stare at the intruders, its head rearing back as a look of animal surprise lit its narrow slit-like irises. 

It was like it couldn't believe its den or nest was being invaded.

And that's how its expression stayed as Shiv triggered his Chronomancy. The world around him paused. Adam froze, but Shiv didn't. He cast his Vitae into the basilisk, caring nothing for gentleness as he impaled it through the midsection. Then, he began to flood it with his vitality while siphoning its vitality back into him. Weakness and strength cycled through Shiv as he fought hard to keep from dying halfway. He repeated what he did with Rose earlier. 

As the currents of his Vitae flowed, it rushed out from him, carrying soul wounds that were transferred across the stream and siphoning unblemished waters of vitality that replaced his existing wounds.

Even with time frozen, Shiv watched as a patch of horrific burns spread across the basilisk's body. Its scales ruptured apart, and lumps of misshapen flesh swelled around it in inflamed chunks. Its vitality still burned bright, but Shiv could see its flesh withering. 

He let time resume then, and his own body felt instantly relieved. There were still some minor burns that lined him. His vitality cycling wasn't entirely clean, but compared to just a few seconds ago, he felt like a whole man, a new man. The basilisk meanwhile reared back as it let out a piercing scream, where an instant ago it had been hale and offended about the ones breaching its home. Now its organs were failing, and it was dying.

Dying in Shiv’s stead.

Maybe I can exploit this—Shiv’s thoughts burst as the large beast swung its head at Shiv and Adam. The Gate Lord dodged to one side, while Shiv shifted another. The basilisk went after Shiv—and missed. But as it swung its head past him, it opened its mouth as a flood of corrosive fluid splashed over them, a fluid that was as corrosive as it was paralytic.

 As Shiv inhaled, he felt his nervous spasm out of control while his Plaguefueled triggered. The acid, meanwhile, failed to do more than inflict some surface damage to his hardened being. Despite his body going out of control, usurped from his control by a rush of hyper-powerful venoms, his Vitae could still move. He launched a stream right at the basilisk, driving it into its open mouth. The stream impacted with its inertial sheath thundering. The basilisk’s skull parted like a broken lid exploding off a steaming pot. Its brain matter splattered, and it died without truly knowing why. 

And as soon as it died, Shiv felt its vitality dissipate, felt the white of its soul shatter, and that section of his Vitae detonated as well.

A large blast swept through the room. Adam let out a cry as he was flung upward and sent sailing through the roof of the cave. Shiv, meanwhile, was spiked deeper into the soil, blasting deeper for over a hundred meters before he finally came to a stop.

After a good few minutes of twitching, his Plaguefueled finally consumed the venom, and a surge of euphoria like never before consumed him. It felt wonderful. The basilisk venom was the sweetest poison he had ever tasted, and in that moment he veered so close to addiction that the first thing he did after digging himself out of the ground was to launch himself at the basilisk to see the state of its body. As he drew closer, he felt his body grow and expand, muscles and bones swelling larger than ever before, his flesh becoming harder than any other time in his existence.

He felt at its corpse using his Biomancy, and let out a relieved sigh that its poison glands were still there. Yes! Oh, I’m going to get so much use out of this.

Plaguefueled 62 > 63

Just then, six gleaming pyramids lit the dust and smoke around him. "Shiv!" Adam cried out. "Shiv, are you—”

And he found Shiv standing over the basilisk, twitching, shaking, giggling. And Shiv felt the last articles of his clothing tear apart as he grew to nearly three times his original size. Adam stared at Shiv. Shiv stared back. The Deathless's eyes twitched. His muscles were still spasming slightly, but no longer from the paralytic venom. No, it was from an overflowing rush of strength as it continued to grow.

Adam hovered three meters above the ground, and Shiv towered over him. Shiv realized he was practically the size of 811 now, and he had to apply all his focus, all his Psychomancy, to stop himself from fully collapsing into a drunken state.

It wasn’t enough.

"Oh Composer," Uva let out a breath. “He got even… bigger.”

Shiv wondered why she sounded so distracted as he awkwardly staggered toward Adam. There was still a slight acidic burn underneath Shiv’s armpit, but that wasn't from the basilisk. No, that was a lingering patch of soul corrosion. It was such a small patch lining his vitality that he missed it. 

But overall he felt amazing.

Adam glided back. "Shiv, you—”

Shiv realized he could practically wrap an entire hand around half of Adam’s. Shiv couldn't help it. He let out a euphoric laugh. "Basilisk! It was a great idea, Adam. Come here!" He reached over and hugged the Gate Lord, his impulses breaching the effects of his Psychomancy. 

Adam squirmed slightly, but then he stopped struggling and just sighed.

"My Basilisk," Shiv let out a low chuckle. "Basilisk’s venom…” Shiv hiccuped. Uva reached into his mind and slowly pushed back his drunkenness. But as she did, a notification appeared before his eyes once more.

The Challenger has a great offer for you…

Shit… Shiv thought as a rush of mental exhaustion returned to him. I still have that to deal with.

“Adam,” Shiv said, still hugging Adam for some reason.

“Yes?” the Gate Lord said, sounding hesitant. “Are you well?”

“I… I think so. Thanks for… You know... Letting me drain you.”

Adam let out a breath. “It was nothing. You… My mother…”

“Yeah,” Shiv said. “We got some shit to talk about during the debrief. About Sullain. And… About getting an army. Because we’re going to need an army for this.”

The Gate Lord shifted. “You’re going to talk to him?”

Shiv grimaced. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I want to see what we can get. But let’s deal with the other stuff, first, alright?”

“Alright,” Adam said. And then he stiffly patted Shiv on the head. “Shiv. You can let me go now.”