II-23 Recounting

Subterfuge, speed, chaos. These are the essentials for piercing into and controlling the insides of a dimension. These are essential to taking a gate, for to breach a gate, to push into a dimension, or a world between worlds of any kind requires such an overwhelming concentration of force when you are pitted against not only the might of the defenders, but the sheer amount of mana being outputted by a gate’s core.

Direct confrontation usually results in ten-to-one losses favoring the defenders—ten-to-one losses that spike exponentially when the gate core gains more power.

As such, having a group of infiltrators or spies already inside the gate and holding specific gateways is critical. Failing this, a sudden attack supported by a powerful Master- to-Heroic-Tier vanguard to brush aside the defenders protecting the gateway before assigning an entire unit of Dimensionalists to crack open the portal is also an option, but extremely risky.

If this is not done quickly, the forward unit can be absolutely devastated by a swift counter-attack. And finally: surprise. It is always best to strike a gate from multiple gateways. It is even preferable to flank them dimensionally, to have it attacked across multiple worlds at the same time—forcing them to split their focus and defenses.

Ultimately, seizing a gate is a battle of logistics. No one Pathbearer can take a gate, not unless they are a true legend—and even then, the odds are stacked against them. We are composed of our own stories, our own deeds, achievements, our own successes and defeats. And the gate? The gate is a composition of everyone’s story, everyone’s wounds, everyone’s power. One man cannot wrestle a world. One man is only part of a world. But still, a world can still be betrayed from within.

-108 Ways to Breach and Take a Gate: Dimensional Invasion Essentials

II-23

Recounting

“How?” Uva kept repeating that word. “How?” She stared at Shiv, resting the palm of her hand against his face. He smiled at the warm, but her expression was one of continual confusion, disbelief, and exasperation.

“How?” She clutched his head with both of her hands and shook him slightly; affectionately. “How is your mind healing? And so fast?”

“I told you,” he said. “I ate a jealousy and, well, it gave me cognitive regeneration.”

She shook her head. “You seriously ate the Greater Demon’s flesh?”

“Yes.”

“And it gave you cognitive regeneration? But how did your mind come back together after the Greater Demon broke you? After you somehow mind-bonded with it?” Her voice grew very dangerously low. “Mind-bonded with it through means that weren’t meant for that kind of mind-bonding?”

Shiv chuckled nervously. “I… don’t know?”

Uva continued. “And then, after it went insane, and after you spent a while comatose, having your ego ripped in half, and barely knowing who you were, you decided—the first thing you would do after you came back to coherence—was to cook the Greater Demon, eat it along with the slaves, and somehow… somehow, you gain cognitive regeneration.”

He stared at her. “Well, I think it might have to do with my Cooking being Master-Tier now, too.”

“What?” Adam said, spraying the water he was drinking all over his lap. “What did you just say?” The Young Lord roared with displeasure, “Another one, another one!” as he flung the water canteen against the cave. 

It bounced off a jutting crop of copper, and Ikki watched the canteen roll away. She glared at Adam. “Hey, uh, Hero Adam, go pick that up. That’s mine.”

Adam paused, shoulders slumped. He turned to Ikki. “I’m very sorry. I just hate… hate him so much right now.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a Hero. He’s a Master. You have the bigger penis, technically. Humans care about these things, right? The larger penis size?” Ikki wiggled her nose. “It’s a strange thing to care about. Penises are ugly anyway.”

Adam just stared at her. “Yes, I do… I mean, I care about being a greater Pathbearer, not the penis thing! But being a Heroic-Tier Pathbearer means having some dignity.” The Young Lord was struggling to put together his thoughts, and Shiv grinned at him.

“Yeah, but like, how many Master-Tier skills do you have?” Shiv asked, needling Adam. “You got one Heroic-Tier Skill, you must have at least two Master-Tiers to go with it. right?”

The Young Lord punched the wall, a crack forming where his fist landed. He walked after the water canteen, not bothering to even look at Shiv.

After briefly tending to themselves—administering what first aid they required and recovering their strength—Adam led them off to a nearby cavern. The Young Lord was surprisingly good at finding hiding spots with that Heroic-Tier Awareness Skill of his. Shiv learned that was how Adam kept track of him and the others as well.

In a matter of moments, Shiv went from trying to pilot the Jealousy’s entire body across the silt plains to dragging it into a particularly large cavern Adam discovered. Judging by the accommodations—a large campfire and heaps of human bones—Uva theorized that a group of cave biter marauders used to live here: Mature, intelligent, adult cave biters who would ambush and consume people. They were, once again, in cave-biter territory, but Shiv wasn’t too worried about that—not after the fight he’d had with the Jealousy.

The Jealousy was packed tight in the cave, and the group froze the entrance with Cryomancy. Thinking it would look unnatural, Shiv piled a small mound of stones there as well, sealing off the entrance in two layers. Afterward, Adam remained on watch, peering out through the cracks with his Seer of Horizons Skill. Occasionally a patrol would pass by—mostly vampire patrols—trying to track where the missing Greater Demon went.

Shiv had to admit that Adam’s Hero-Tier Skill was terrific, to be honest. The Young Lord could practically hear a mouse’s heartbeat from ten kilometers away in a thunderstorm. And if he could hear something, he could cast his senses there, extending his already ridiculous hearing, seeing, and even smelling further outward. It was practically like precognition, except it worked in a chain for his senses. Without proper wards, the entire world was practically Adam’s oyster. He could just jump towards the horizon over and over again, like his Skill entailed.

As they waited for surveillance to die down and for an opportunity to continue their escape, Shiv’s mind slowly healed, and he took it upon himself to finish the cooking he’d started earlier. There was still plenty of Greater Demon left, so he cracked part of the Jealousy open and began making jealousy-meat for everyone. 

The Umbrals looked at him uncertainly—even Uva did—but the slaves reassured them that it tasted good, especially the girl who now represented the slaves. The Slayers were also dazed with Siggy sitting between them on a carapaced bench. The merc had thrown up the entire time during the initial flight, leaving quite a mess inside the Jealousy. 

Shiv made sure not to pull any meat from that section.

After indulging in a relaxing bout of cooking, Shiv handed out plates made from the Greater Demon’s broken carapace to everyone and started filling them with soup and perfectly-cooked meat. As they dug in, he enjoyed their expressions as each staggered, shivered, moaned, or nearly collapsed in delight.

“How?” Uva said again. “How did you get even better at cooking? How did you get better so fast?”

Shiv sat down, letting out a long, exhausted sigh as he thought about the past few days. “I’ve got a lot to tell you guys. A lot of stuff. Some of it you’re gonna like, and practically all of it Adam’s going to hate.”

The Young Lord returned with the canteen. “What do you mean, ‘all of it I’m going to hate’?” Adam narrowed his eyes. “What did you do? Did you find the Animancy Core?”

Shiv grunted vaguely and looked at Tran. “Hey, Tran, take off your helmet. Say hi to Adam.”

Adam paused and blinked. “Tran?”

Tran took off his helmet, causing the Young Lord to step back in surprise. “How? You?” Heather took off her helmet afterward, and Adam didn’t quite recognize her, but he knew Tran—his father’s personal Slayers, the people he employed to keep watch over Shiv, just in case he developed a Path.

“Young Lord Adam,” Tran said, bowing. Heather bowed thereafter. Siggy just watched. She briefly looked at Shiv.

He handed her a bowl. “Just eat up,” Shiv said. “I’m not gonna kill you. Not right now, anyway. I’m too tired. And frankly, you look like shit.”

“Yeah, well,” Siggy said, swallowing, “you look like shit too, I guess.” She was too tired to be scared anymore. There was a point where someone was too exhausted for their courage to break, or their courage was too broken for it to crack any further.

Shiv understood. He simply nodded. “Just take a bite. Just try not to…” He sagged. He was pretty spent too. “Gods, I’m tired.”

“Why is this so good?” Ikki said, ripping out chunks of Jealousy-meat. “It’s supposed to be a Greater Demon! It’s supposed to be something that kills people! Why does it taste so good? What did you do to this thing?” she cried at Shiv.

He just shook his head. Once more, Uva was staring at him. She mouthed the word, “How?”

“Tell you later. I’ll let you all know later. Right now… I think I need to…” Shiv groaned and laid down on the spot. He needed this too. For a while, he took an actual nap.

***

Shiv experienced the best sleep of his life—sleep that lasted approximately twenty minutes at most. 

When he woke, he felt almost entirely refreshed, and he was surprised. But then again, having Master-Tier Physicality meant more than just being strong, or being capable of wrestling with mountains. It meant that you were robust, that your lifespan was leagues beyond a natural human’s. At this point, he didn’t know how long he would probably live naturally, even if he could die from age. He just knew that it’d be a long, long while.

There was a saying among the Slayers in their Guild: Masters don’t die in bed. And Shiv could see why. Masters were called to fight other Masters, and the system demanded strife. It didn’t matter if you could live forever. It mattered to that system that your life was going to be spent at some point in battle or struggle.

The others were still eating. Several wanted more, so he kept making additional portions of jealousy meat. They all experienced his benefit as well, each of them gaining cognitive regeneration. 

Uva was surprised, but more than surprised—Shiv noticed her Psychomancy field was growing, swelling, even refining. It was rippling, as if she was casting out strange frequencies or some kind of broadcast from her being. She didn’t fully understand what was happening either, but her thoughts felt clearer—clearer than even before, more controlled. On top of getting cognitive regeneration, it seemed she in particular also gained a boost to her Psychomancy Skill.

Apparently, the Jealousy meat gave someone at Adept here additional benefits, and he found himself wondering just what other boons, benefits, and advantages he could bestow upon himself and his allies, considering his ingredients. This was from a Jealousy. Now, with other exotic meats, flavors, and rare dishes, what could he do? What were the limits of The Chef Unwavering?

After everyone indulged in a bit of food and respite, they started a series of campfires within the cave, and Shiv recounted everything that he’d gone through ever since he went into the gate. 

“It was a shitshow from the start,” Shiv summarized. He could barely meet the gazes of the others as he tried to recount his very unsuccessful spying. He was, self-admittedly, probably the worst spy in the world. He told them how he and 811 spent hours dealing with bureaucratic nonsense, how smart the damned orc was, how he didn’t think he was going to get anything past the beast, how he encountered Oldsmith beating a slave child, how he tried to save that slave child, and the brawl that ensued between him and 811.

As he elaborated, Adam’s head quickly met with both of his hands as the Young Lord began to moan in misery. Uva’s sighs became more and more frequent, until she was also pinching the bridge of her nose. It was then that Shiv asked where Valor was, and Adam replied that the Legendary Pathbearer was working on something to “convert an Animancy Core towards a better cause. 

Then, Shiv got to his encounter against Gate Lord Confriga, about what the Necromancy did to him. He showed them his arm. It was still slightly scarred, but the wound was fading. “It remains this way between every death,” Shiv said. “It’s getting better, but it still hurts a bit.”

Uva brushed her fingers over the scar and frowned. “Are those faces?”

“Yeah,” Shiv said, a shiver running through him. “Those were the faces of the three children he had impaled on his armor.”

“Children?” she reared back, sounding horrified. “He used children to power his spells?”

“Yeah, that’s what he called it. An effigy to cast Necromancy.”

Several of the Umbrals looked at each other. “This is something that Valor must know about as well,” Uva breathed. “His mastery of Necromancy is Legendary.”

“Literally, I guess?” Shiv joked. After that, he told them about his misadventures hiding and sneaking through the city, how he captured Siggy, how he managed to intercept and uncover an entire conspiracy at the heart of the Republic. 

And that was the point where Adam nearly had a heart attack. 

The Young Lord was actively livid, sputtering at every word. He nearly lost control of himself and punched the wall again as Shiv elaborated on what Oldsmith was planning, on what the Inquisitors had been doing to Heather and Tran. Then Shiv pulled out a notebook—the sync letter that Oldsmith gave him—and handed it to the Young Lord.

“It’s supposed to be a set of correspondences between Oldsmith and some guy called Inquisitor Sijjig or something. They’re all working for Stormhalt. I think he’s the dad of your fiancée. They might be on the outs with each other, though. That’s what Oldsmith said to me. She might not be involved. But, uh… I did notice how the ravens and crows avoided her during the fight at Blackedge.”

Adam was trying to control his breathing now. His jaw was clenched. His eyes were a roiling blaze of fury of sky blue bright, the writhing dawn in his irises even brighter. “Thank you,” Adam said, but there was no warmth in his voice. He opened the sync letter, flipped through the pages, and grimaced. “There are multiple inquiries at the end, asking Master-Advisor Oldsmith to respond, asking if there’s been a problem. The Inquisitor sounds agitated.”

Shiv winced. He’d forgotten about writing in the book. Oldsmith and the Inquisitor were both supposed to be updating each other every day at night. “Yeah, so I think you can tell him that the gate’s been under lockdown and that there’s an Aviary spy roaming everywhere, tearing people apart.”

Adam narrowed his eyes at Shiv as he produced a quill from somewhere and started writing on an empty page. “And were you that Aviary spy roaming around everywhere, tearing people apart?”

“That’s the story I got up to,” Shiv said. “A story that, uh, someone else helped me create.” He elaborated on a few other things before Leu: how he got his Master-Tier cooking skill when he was infected by an Orcish skill, how the Challenger—the orc god— had cursed him; how an orc was now in love with him.”

Adam let out a breath. “Y-you got an orc to fall in love with you.”

“It is not love,” Uva said, sounding slightly defensive. “Orcs cannot love. They are wretched creatures of war and violence.”

Shiv snorted as he remembered his fight with 811. “Yeah, well, their god is leering at me. That’s what the system says, And now, 811’s reincarnation, 812, is probably going to be coming for me at some point. I don’t think anytime soon—maybe in ten years, maybe in a hundred—but he’s coming for me.” Shiv didn’t look forward to fighting that creature again, not with all the casualties the first time. “I’m gonna need to get a lot stronger and make sure he’s not a threat at all. And avoid killing so many innocents in the crossfire.”

An awkward silence followed that.

“And what about this Guardshead Leu?” Adam asked. “She helped you escape—what’s her agenda?”

“Oh, she just wants to kill Confriga. He, uh, kind of murdered her brother. That’s what Foreshadowing showed me.”

Adam considered that for a moment, then nodded. “Useful, very useful. Finally. A good turn. So, you, despite being quite possibly the worst spy in the world—”

“Adam,” Uva chided, “he is the most unsupported spy in the world because someone sent him alone into a gate without proper training in haste.”

Adam closed his eyes and hissed. “I know, I’m sorry, but I was desperate. Now, back to Shiv being the worst spy in every world in existence,” he reiterated, emphasizing the title.

Shiv just glared at him, staring at the food he’d made for Adam. “The worst spy in the world somehow, somehow, despite getting discovered by everyone—from an orc, to the Gate Lord, even the Greater bloody Demon they were supposed to fight.” Adam stared at the Jealousy and shuddered. “How are you still alive? How is your mind not broken?”

Shiv held up his left arm, and to his delight, the Magebreaker was mostly back together and vibrating. Still pretty damaged, though. “Leu lent me something. It’s been pretty useful. It, uh, nullifies magic.”

Uva blinked. “Is that… is that Inertium?”

“Yep,” Shiv nodded. “How did… how did you know.”

Uva reached out and caressed the gauntlet.  “Everyone knows about Inert—well, almost everyone. We would like to examine this back at Weave. We have been trying to find a piece of Inertium for years.”

“Sure,” Shiv said. “Maybe you can add to its enchantments as well.”

He pulled out his mask. It was slightly mended, but deep cracks ran through surface. “This helped too. Without this, the Jealousy probably would have torn my mind in half immediately.”

“Still, how did you let that bloody thing discover you?” Adam asked.

“Hey, they were hitting a slave in front of me. What do you want me to do—just let him get beat to death? What would you have done?”

Adam stared at Shiv and pouted. “I would have found a way.”

“You would have found a way,” Shiv said, leaning closer, glaring at Adam. “You would have somehow found a way to deal with a slaver who was beating a slave to death.” He looked at the slaves and said, “Do you believe this? Do you believe this guy?”

The courageous slave girl looked between him and Adam, then winced. She didn’t want to take a side. The others muttered morosely. Adam noticed how haggard most of the slaves were, and how much blood they still had on them. Adam swallowed. “Shiv, how many of them died during your brawls?”

Shiv winced. “Uh…” Shiv groaned. “A lot. Is there a class on avoiding collateral damage in the academy?”

“Yes,” Tran, Heather, and Adam said at the same time.

“Several,” the Young Lord emphasized.

Shiv hid a wince and looked down. “Yeah, well, I think we might want to focus on that class first when we start our training again.” 

Adam nodded and said nothing more. 

To Shiv’s surprise, the Young Lord didn’t tear into him. “What, you’re not going to mock me?” 

Adam shook his head. “It’s my fault as much as yours. You are raw and untrained. I said you were my monster, my hawk. You don’t send monsters or beasts to do delicate work.”

“Monster is right,” Heather added. She looked at Shiv and swallowed before she spoke her next words. “The way your skills work, the way he’s built right now… he’s a fucking freak show.”

“Hey,” Ikki directed a glare at the Jump Mage. “I don’t care if he’s built like a monster—I’m happy that he’s built like a monster. I’m glad about it. I’m happy that Shiv is a monster. I’m happy that he’s our monster. We wouldn’t be alive if he wasn’t a monster. You wouldn’t be here if he wasn’t a monster.”

There was a shift in the air, an atmosphere of slight offense that was brewing between the Umbrals and those of the Republic. The Slayers were regarded faintly with suspicion, but now, after Heather’s statement about Shiv, the Sisters of the Arachnae Order veered closer to scorn than suspicion.

“I didn’t mean it derogatorily,” Heather said, holding up her hands in submission. She eyed the six Umbrals, and Uva especially. Uva was practically glaring a hole in the Jump Mage’s skull. Heather wilted. She shifted her seat and coughed. “Sorry,” she managed.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think it’s too bad being a monster.” Shiv stared at the Jealousy. “I think it takes a monster to kill another one sometimes. The fight could have gone either way. But I managed, and for whatever reason, my mind didn’t stay broken. So, here we are. That’s everything I can remember. After my mind completely heals, I think, I think I’ll try to make sure I didn’t leave anything out. But… yeah, this is what we know.”

Adam nodded, but he didn’t look at all happy. “Well, if there was one benefit, it’s you putting the gate on lockdown. That’s a small fortune for us. Animancy Core is still there. We vaguely know where it is, but we need to deal with the Gate Lord and capture the gate because we can’t cross anyway if it’s on lockdown.” He looked at Shiv. “What’s your assessment?”

The Deathless was surprised the Young Lord wanted to know what he thought. “Yeah, that. And I need to kill the bastard. I need to kill all the bastards.” The Deathless briefly glanced at the slaves. “What they’re doing to people isn’t right, and I’m going to teach them how wrong it is. And by teach, I mean kill violently.”

Adam nodded. “Of this we’re in agreement, but we will do it carefully. We will do it with caution and focus. Next time, we all enter the gate. And we will do it with a proper strategy, a plan. Intelligence.” The Young Lord hummed thoughtfully. “We already have someone on the inside, a potential base of subversive operations between you, me, Uva, Valor, and whoever else we might be able to recruit from the Composer. Potentially, we just might be able to bring this operation down from within. But still, I don’t think the Composer can give us too much help with her trying to avoid a war, but it will be a small group against an army.”

Adam shrugged. “It’s not impossible, but… it would be a feat of legend to pul this off.”

“That’s what being a Pathbearer is all about, right?” Shiv said. “Being a legend.”

“Agreed.” Adam nodded again. “But still. A Heroic-Tier Gate Lord that can leave lasting wounds on you, his army, a gate to a demonic dimension, and the Animancy core. We got a real fight ahead of us.”

“Yeah. Good. I’m looking forward to it.” Shiv chuckled. “Well, how about you guys? What happened after I went in?”

Uva stared at Adam. “Well, before you got your mind broken by the Jealousy, this one got his. It tore him in half nearly the moment it touched him with its field. It took the Psychomancers at Weave a better part of half a day to assemble him, even after I shrouded his mind and kept him intact.” Uva paused, and she stared at the Jealousy, her eyes fixed on it with curiosity and challenge. “It nearly broke me, too. But thankfully, well-timed distraction kept us from certain doom.” 

She passed some of her memories over to Shiv, and he suddenly had context to go with her words. He blinked. “Oh, yeah, right. Well, congratulations on becoming a hero, Adam. Of course, you couldn’t have done it without me. You bastard.”

Adam laughed. “I nearly died distracting it.”

Shiv rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t have died. I actually beat the Greater Demon. So who’s the better Pathbearer now?”

Adam gritted his teeth. “How many times did you die fighting it?”

“Once,” Shiv lied. “One that counted. Most of the others were cheap shots.”

“Oh, really?” Adam said, sneering.

“Yeah. I’m not a soft, vulnerable, sensitive Young Lord, so I had a Toughness advantage going into the fight.”

“And I’m not a blind oaf who gets discovered by a bloody demon because he’s so bad at pretending to be someone else. Even with a Perfect Semblance! And who made sure you didn’t die buried under a mountain just now? Or guided you through that mess of an escape? Or kept picking problems off of your back every time they got close? Do you know how many times someone was going to ram a mana-powered blade into the back of your head before I shot them?”

Shiv rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, thanks.”

“I’m serious,” Adam said.

“I’m serious, too,” Shiv said. “Thanks for not letting me get killed.”

The Young Lord blinked, and then he adjusted his posture, taking on a regal bearing. “Well, of course, it is my duty, after all, as path-bearer to protect one who is my lesser.”

Both of them looked at each other, and somehow they shared a mutual snort of amusement.

Tran and Heather looked between the Deathless and the Young Lord, absolutely confused as to what was going on. A mere two weeks prior, Adam despised Shiv, and Shiv didn’t want much to do with Adam.

Now… well, now things were a little different, at least.

As they continued catching up with each other, talking, relaxing, dealing with their wounds, Shiv tested his Woundeater and mana again. Then, he began devouring the remaining injuries sustained by his allies. All of them flinched and gasped with surprise as they regarded his Master-Tier Biomancy. Some of them even asked to touch his wyrm, but he denied them. The crystallized wounds within were more like mana bombs, things that would detonate against Magical Resistance or transfer the wounds on to another willing or unwilling recipient. After he explained that, no one wanted to go anywhere near his wyrms.

“‘Five bloody Master Skills,’ Adam whispered. ‘Absolutely madness. And a felling Feat.”

Shiv smirked with pride. “‘Well, if you get another Heroic-Tier Skill, you’ll get a Feat too.’”

Adam nodded. “‘Yes. But still, your growth is… it is horrific. It is terrifying. Your casual willingness to die and Shiv—” Adam eyed Uva as she approached the Jealousy. He leaned in closer to Shiv. “Shiv, do you realize that how unnatural you are?’”

Shib paused, frowning. “I mean, yeah, you guys spent a lot of time saying, he’s a monster this and a monster that.’”

“No, no,” Adam interrupted. “Do you know how strange it is, how ridiculous it is that your mind is coming back together? Do you know who Cassayla, the Siren that Turns the Seas, is?’

“Not really,” Svhiv said.

“‘She was a Legendary Pathbearer. A Legendary Pathbearer of absurd power, capable of sinking islands. But her life ended in tragedy when her mind was broken by an adversary: an enemy Psychomancer. A legendary demon. She slew the Greater Demon, but even now, to this day, she wanders. She wanders the seas, mad and lost to insanity.”

Shiv blinked. “Ah, that sounds pretty horrible.”

“Yes, and she never got better. For the past 400 years, the island nations have treated her as both a figure of great mourning, but also a natural disaster. Every time she approaches, she still thinks she’s fighting her adversary, and she strikes at anyone who possesses Psychomancy. Anyone. She has destroyed thousands of small kingdoms, obliterated entire land masses, and no one, no one has dealt with her. No one dares. And here you are, mere hours after having your ego ripped in half. Practically fine.”

“It’s remarkable what good food can do to you,” Shiv muttered.

Adam shook his head. “The food is good. Beyond good. Master-Tier there as well…” The Young Lord gagged in mock disgust.  “But it’s more than the benefits of the food. It has to be. You have always been mentally and physically durable. More than durable. You seem to just recover. Recover from trauma. Shake off death. There’s something more to you, Shiv. And I think it’s part of the ritual as well.”

Shiv paused, taking in Adam’s words. He had a feeling that that Young Lord was right. With everything that was broken inside him earlier, and how he could barely stand how mangled his soul, his mana, and his mind was? That shouldn’t have been a few hours of recovery. Part of him knew that this should have been crippling for good, eternally, unless some Legendary Healer of the mind and the body came to put it back together. But a few deaths later, and a few hours, and some food, shiv was quickly returning to a place of stability, if not normalcy.

And at that moment, Shiv noticed Uva reaching out into the Jealousy, pouring her mind-mana into the dormant, broken, Greater Demon.

“What is she doing?” Adam asked.

Shiv shook his head. “Don’t really know.” He rose, walking over to Uva, maintaining his silence so he didn’t distract her, didn’t disturb whatever she was doing.

There were consequences for breaking a spell. Shiv’s consequence for breaking a Woundeater spell was receiving the wounds he was trying to cast. He didn’t want to discover what might happen if Uva was distracted from whatever she was doing with the Greater Demon. He couldn’t tell what she was doing, even with a Psychomancy skill of his own; he had no idea where to begin. It wasn’t just how weak his Psychomancy was comparatively, but rather, he was missing a lot of practical knowledge that went with it. 

His Biomancy’s counterpart, practical metabiology, was also drastically behind as well. He had learned a few things, but without time to rest properly and truly dive into his odes, he didn’t develop his understanding of theory as much as he did his magical muscle. And that was ultimately a wonderful characterization of Shiv. He was a monster growing stronger and stronger at an alarming rate, but not truly more skilled, not more sophisticated. And the thing about monsters, when they fought, other people paid for it.

Mastery is what I need, he thought. Mastery, more experience, more understanding and focus. I don’t need to break things anymore. At least I don’t feel like that’s the most important thing. Power. Power comes with death. But the other stuff, the stuff that Adam can do, the stuff that everyone else is good at, that they spent years building, I need to get really good at that too. Otherwise, people will just keep dying around me.

Shiv’s thoughts were interrupted as a series of translucent sigils began to spiral around Uva’s mind. They revolved around her for a moment, circulating as if asteroids orbiting a planet. And then they twirled, spiraling through the air as they streamed from her as a pattern into the Greater Demon. For a few moments she did nothing, nothing but shape more spells, nothing but concentrate. Her face was a mask of immense focus. She looked like she was wrestling with a mountain of her own—a mental mountain in the form of the Greater Demon. Uva coughed and staggered. Shiv caught her, but she kept casting. He held her with his gravitic field until she was done. He could practically feel the exhaustion radiating off of her mind.

“I have no idea how you beat that thing. It’s not even a low hero. It’s in the middle. I took a glance at its status when I had the chance. You have no idea how high its Psychomancy level was.”

“I got something of an idea,” Shiv said, “the asshole practically tore my mind in half.”

“Yes. It’s a good thing you had that mask. A good thing.” Uva paled as she stared into the demon’s baleful eye.

Shiv paused. “Or the system wanted this fight.” He considered that a little bit more. “I think the system wanted this fight. The system wanted all of this.”

Uva fell silent for a moment, and she turned to stare at him. “I am inclined to agree. It is too fortunate a gift, and too useful a boon. Regardless, regardless, I’m glad I taught you how to link with someone’s mind.” Her expression turned mockingly offended. “Even if you used it in ways I cannot properly condone.”

He coughed awkwardly. “Yeah, about that. I, uh, can try making it up to you later.”

Uva’s expression turned one of pretend innocence. “Oh? And what will you do?”

“I don’t know. I guess we’re going to find out, won’t we? 

“I hope you won’t do to me what you did to that monster, though,” she muttered. “Still, its ego might be shattered. Its sense of self is ruined, but its memories are there. Its memories. All its techniques. The way it shaped its intent into spells. All of it.”

Shiv paused. “So what does that mean?”

“It means that me and the Psychomancers of Weave are about to experience an incredible windfall. Once again, thanks to you,” she said to him. “You are willing to surrender this piece of loot to us, aren’t you?”

She batted her eyes. It was then that Shiv realized she was trying to seduce him for her nation. But also mostly for herself. That was fine. Shiv liked it when Uva seduced him.

“Oh, I’ll be giving you a lot more than that,” she said.

Uva blushed.

“No, I mean literally.”

He looked at Heather. “Her armor—that’s going to be going to you too. Got that off a dead Inquisitor. I can add some of my new bone armor to reinforce it. Got a large, Psychomancy greatsword as well. Don’t know how useful you’ll find that since you use a short sword, but maybe the people back in the city can help you make something out of that.”

Uva eyed Heather again and looked to Shiv. “So, her armor—”

“Your armor,” Shiv corrected.

“Right. Does she know about this?”

“Yeah. I told her, repeatedly. She’s not going to forget.” Shiv clenched his teeth. “She better not forget.”

Uva shifted uncomfortably. “I… I’m… honored? And rather touched about how thoughtful you are, but still. This feels…”

“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t like her,” Shiv said. “And she owes me her life.”

Uva blinked. “I… see.”

A passed between them. Uva coughed and continued. “Anyway, I think we will be able to learn a great many things from the Greater Demon’s Psychomancy. In fact, let me try something first. I should have enough control over its inner thoughts to influence it now.”

“Influence it to what?” Shiv asked.

“Everyone,” she sent out a telepathic message that swept through the group: “Do not be alarmed. I am going to start piloting the Greater Demon.” She gave Shiv a slight smile. “And I will do it in a more efficient way.”

He frowned at her.

“I was trying my best,” he muttered.

“I know.” She patted him on the chest. “You are a remarkably tender brute, Shiv.”

And that was just about the sweetest thing anyone had ever told him.

And just then, the Jealousy began to move. It twitched, the eye rolled, and Shiv could have sworn it came back to life, if not for the fact that Uva was once again straining herself with concentration, pushing her mana field to the limit. As she pushed herself, however, he felt her field grow and swell rapidly. More than that, he felt a change coming to her field, a twisting, weaving change that pulsed through every wavelength of magic it took to shape her spells. Uva was growing before him, changing in real time. He had a feeling that she wasn’t far off from Skill Evolution either. 

And with the Greater Demon captured--captured mind-dead but alive…

Suddenly, the Jealousy began to move its tentacles. It moved its tentacles delicately, and over the course of a few minutes, it shaped a spell. It shaped a spell that Shiv recognized. First, a layer of shadows swelled through the cavern. Some shocked murmurs and terrified cries came from the slaves, but everyone else looked on, enchanted by the scene. Finally, a needle formed. A psionic needle—a needle that Shiv had seen a few times.

Then, the Greater Demon used this needle to implant itself inside the mind of a slave, escaping from him. Finally, he was carried within the needle, carried with the Greater Demon, as they both met their final fate. Within the mind of another slave. Except, Shiv recovered from his supposed final fate, and the Greater Demon stayed broken.

Yeah, Adam’s probably right, Shiv thought. There’s something more than just being physically deathless with me.

And finally, the needle splashed outward. The entire Jealousy vanished into a thin thread of magic—a thin thread of magic that Uva internalized. It swelled around her field briefly, an imprint of its colossal size, and she let out a cry of effort before she pulled it into her mind. 

This close, Shiv could practically feel what she was doing. She was containing it, carrying it within her memory. She had adapted its great spell and used its magic to aid her in accomplishing this feat. Uva had effectively used the enemy’s spell to make carrying the Jealousy more convenient.

“That was quite taxing,” Uva said, leaning against him. “But we should be able to move easily now, without being noticed. Stealth is hard when you’re dragging a small mountain with you.”

Ikki was clapping.

“Stop that, Sister Ikki,” Uva breathed.

“No!” Ikki yelled out loud, “Everyone clap!” The other Umbrals clapped sarcastically, and then Ikki yelled, “Kiss, too!”

“Ikki?” Uva growled.

Shiv smiled. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind.”

“Shiv, don’t encourage her.”

“Fine. But, uh,” Shiv grunted, “look, when we get close to Weave, can you let it back out again?”

Shiv blinked.

“Why?”

“I kind of want to carry for a bit, you know, just to grow my Gravitic Wrestler skill.”

She stared at Shiv, and once again, she patted him on his cheek. “You are a very, very adorable brute. I suppose we can take turns carrying it.”

Shiv grinned. “You’re the best, Uva.”