II-1 Ambush (ALSO II-2 Because adjusting Chap 31 for to II-1)

After the Great One fell, at first, there were three.

First were the Necrotechs, intellectuals and engineers who survived the black age of Post-Integration, and built a shelter near the Great One’s pulsing heart, painting their souls deep with its mana.

Then there were the Descenders—savage, warrior tribes united by a new purpose, and rising from the Abyssal ruins, forging their knightly orders along the length of the Great One’s bones.

And from them came those who needed more, those who gazed into the Great One’s veins and drank deep when they were destitute or desperate, the divine ichor twisting their mortal shells to be chalices of eternal blood.

But they were not the only ones that were nested in the deep. For the Great One brought two outsiders with their descent.

The first was a daughter, born from the Great One’s parted flesh. By song and grace she trailed the world, taking the needy and small, guarding them in a web of light.

And the second was a great gate—a gate unleashed by the Great One’s mind as they dream during this brief interlude of death. And their dreams they touched countless dimensions beyond, countless world aside, and for the first time, pilgrims from across arrived to these gates, seeking what lay beyond.

But it was the Followers of the Blind Maiden that finally laid claim to the Dreaming Gate and built their pandimensional city-states within the Great One’s mind. And they did it through the invisible chains of the old world, now bestowed by the system’s might.

Contracts were made. Demons were bound and given proper service. In return, blood was offered. Blood and treasure and desire and life and memories and more. And as more sought the gate, the number of contracts and cities grew and grew, until something greater needed to bind them together in the face of the other Faiths. And so, for the first time, the Lords of Law convened to forge a grand agree that would birth a new kingdom. The likes of which Integrated Earth has never seen. And after a full century of toil, machinations, deceit, betrayal, war, marriage, and exhaustion, four signatures graced the page of the Compact. And hence, a Fifth Faith of Law and Unseen Chains was born…

-Compact: Contracts and Chains

II-1

Ambush

“Shiv?” Uva said, looking upon him with a faint glint of concern in her eyes. “What just happened? Why can’t I sense you?” Her Psychomancy field pressed against Shiv’s mask, but like a sea wall, the waves of her mana found no point of entry.

It was true the other way around as well. Shiv’s own mind mana was contained—bottled in place against an equally impenetrable barrier. He pressed against it with all his strength, but it didn’t yield. He could feel it shake slightly as Uva tried harder, but ultimately, it endured. “I think this might be the Heroic Mind-Shield enchantment. You might need to have a Heroic Skill Evolution to get through this. Or maybe fully be in the Threshold.”

“Threshold is my guess,” Uva said, retracting her mana. She pressed her lips together and considered Shiv with unease. “It is a good item, but I have seen other’s like it. Helmets and accessories meant to shield someone’s mind against a Psychomancer. They usually only offer resistance, though. Or detection. This is a layer of true separation.”

“You want to try it on?” Shiv asked.

She considered it for a moment. “When we get back to Weave. There might be someone I know who would be interested in examining such a mask. If you’re willing to show them. It is your quest reward, after all.”

“Sure,” Shiv said. “The more I learn about this thing, the better. Speaking of which, let’s see if I can figure out how this thing’s Perfect Semblance enchantment. It sounds like it might let them pretend to be someone is my guess but…” Shiv trailed off as the mask vibrated. As he started at Uva for a moment, a notification appeared before his eyes.

Kill target and take her face to claim her semblance and steal a skill.

“Broken Moon,” Shiv muttered. The idea of murdering Uva and taking her face made his stomach churn slightly. “Well, I guess that’s how that works… That’s kind of felling dark.”

“What?” Adam said, squinting at Shiv’s mask. “You found out how it works?”

Shiv tested it on Adam. The same notification appeared. “Yeah,” Shiv said. “If you stare at someone’s face long enough, you get a notification telling you to kill them and take their face to claim their semblance. It also says something about stealing a skill.”

“Well, I suppose I should have expected such charm from the identity-snatchers of Aviary,” Uva said, her voice flat and scornful. “You said this mask was formed by the mana bomb? Of all the raven and crow helmets melting together.”

“Some other helmets with them as well,” Shiv said. “But yeah. It fits. This is a mask fit for an assassin. Wonder why the system decided to offer me this as a reward. Or how it ensured its creation in the first place.”

“Because the system wants you to strive toward strife,” Valor explained. The skull floated closer to Shiv, drifting around him, considering the mask. “Hm. Yes. Very much the visage of an assassin. But quite useful for us right now… Quite useful indeed. True to its Tier, it allows you to ape the capabilities held by some dedicated Heroes on the Path of the Shadow. I wonder if it only works on people, though. Or a race with great similarity to yours.”

“Not sure yet,” Shiv said. “Also… the elemental golem I fought didn’t have a face—and some other things don’t look human at all. Perfect Semblance might be missing some details about its scope of effect.”

“Perhaps. This will be something useful to discover early during experimentation and not in a crisis.”

Shiv looked past Valor and considered the gate in the distance. There were still screams trailing in from afar, and though they were gazing down from a vantage point, there were certain things that could only be gleaned when observed from the ground. “I have an idea about how we can start. I might want to take a walk closer to the gate. See just what kind of forces and other surprises they have arrayed there.”

Uva shook her head immediately. “No. The risk is too great, and you’re rushing too much. Take this slowly and carefully.” Shiv wanted to insist but she continued. “You might be able to return from death, but tell me, does the mask have a binding enchantment?”

Shiv looked through the list again and frowned. “No. It’s missing that. My cloak has it.”

“So, then, should you die,” she continued, “you are likely to lose the mask and find your mind exposed to the enemy. And that is ignoring the danger posed by the Jealousy.”

Shiv looked up into the air and frowned at the colossal, looming octopus demon. Its single, crimson eye glowed like the sun through a film of rising smog. “How high is its Psychomancy Skill?”

“I wouldn’t contend with it,” Uva admitted begrudgingly. “Perhaps if I had the owl’s power, I would be confident. But it is a Great Demon that hails from a dimension that feeds on emotions—and its flavor is deceit and heartbreak.”

“Yeah,” Shiv grunted, seeing her point. “Might not be the best idea to draw its attention. Yet. But we’re going to need to make our approach at some point, and the mask is my best chance of surviving any encounter against a powerful mind mage. At least in the near term. Depends on how good my teacher is.”

Uva gave him a slight smirk. “Depends on how willing the student is to learn. But you see my point. I have an alternative suggestion. One that will be helpful for all of us.” And a particularly piercing cry came from afar, making Adam flinch. “One that might clear our minds of the blackness we have just witnessed and mete out a bit of retribution.”

“Well, do tell us,” Adam said, sounding impatient. “And know that we don’t have months to do this—we have maybe weeks at most by this point.” Something on his face soured. “And I can’t believe that the capital hasn’t sent reinforcements. My father—he is a hero! Blackedge is meant to guard the Abyss. To lose it will compromise the Orange Belt and threaten Fortress City Despero next.”

“I suspect things will not go nearly that far,” Valor said with a breath. “Sullain is targeting Blackedge specifically—your father especially. This is an act of revenge, if the Composer’s words are true. A home for a home. Sullain is many things—and a radical in the extreme. But he is no true fool. He knows he dances a fine line already, and if he pushes further into the surface, he will have no point of retreat or recovery. He might be able to endure for a time in the light, but not the bulk of his forces.”

“Well, that’s a real consolation for me,” Adam grumbled. “Only my home is at risk. What joy…”

“Your home is at risk in more ways than you know if Harkness’s words were true. She said that the nobles there are playing their games of power, and your father has been targeted specifically, and does not hold the Auroral Court’s favor. At least not the bulk of the court…”

“And we’re going to believe the words of a mind-twisting murderess who sought to kidnap children and train them as slave-assassins?” Adam spat, disgusted.

“I think there is some truth in her venom. That is why the words likely hurt so much. Regardless, I do agree with you. The Dread Horizon and your town is now likely besieged not only literally, but also politically. You two are likely the only variables they have not accounted for.”

Adam’s sourness diminished slightly. “Very well. Sister Uva. Let’s see if we can find ourselves some slavers we can question and…” He looked at Shiv and shook his head. “A face for this walking nightmare to claim.”

“Oh, and disciples,” Valor added. Both Shiv and Adam regarded him. “This is part of your training too. Treat it as such. Remember what I want from you.”

Shiv grinned. Adam grimaced.

“Alright, Adept Adam,” Shiv said, gesturing for Adam to lead. “Show this foolish Young Master-Tier what he must learn.”

“Fine,” Adam muttered. “I need you to listen closely now… the first class at Phoenix Academy…”

Shiv nodded.

“Was called shut up and listen to your instructor. We start that lesson right now.”

“Whoa,” Ikki whispered off by the side. “Did the small surfacer just turn into a male Uva.”

Both Uva and Adam glared at the young Umbral at the same time.

“You know what, Sister Uva, perhaps the lesson should be shared with some of your subordinates too.”

Uva nodded. “Hmm. Agreeable.”

“Uva!” Ikki complained.

***

It took little time for them to find some stragglers between the Umbrals’ familiarity with the wilderness and Adam’s terrifyingly impressive Awareness Skill. Adam, Shiv, Uva, and Valor studied at a halted cave biter from afar. Below, hidden in the vegetation were Ikki and the others, spread out and laying in wait.

The cave biter was truly massive—practically the size of a small mountain. It was also loudly bellowing about how it didn’t want to walk anymore, no matter what its contract said.

In response, a few hundred tiny figures holding the treasure trove on its back and driving the slaves on the ground were lashing it with whips. Whips that seemed too small to actually deal such a large beast harm, but it was flinching each time anyway.

Off along the side of the ebony road, a four meter tall humanoid dimension made of interlocking shards of metal extracted a few of its blades from the unmoving body of an Umbral. A slave had taken a chance to slip and run when the cave biter decided to go on strike. That same slave was laying face down in the soft loam, his blood feeding the bioluminescent blades of grass.

The bright blue was easy to see when contrasted with a pool of dark red.

There were perimeter guards as well. Most were lesser elementals of varying varieties, but Uva pointed out two Grudges which were lesser demons capable of mind magic to some capacity. They resembled writhing patches of shadow outlined by screaming faces. Just looking at them made Shiv’s stomach turn a bit. And then there were a few human looking figures—so human Shiv thought they could pass for a surfacer if not for the gleam of their cat-like eyes.

I guess that’s an adaption one gets when living in the Abyss all this time.

“Well, that’s not a small group,” Adam muttered.

“It’s the smallest group you’ll find among the slave drivers,” Uva said, narrowing her eyes at the enemy. Fully in the field of action, she wore a focus-crystal full helm that covered her entire face, and Shiv felt her mana field expand by half again.

I really do need to get one of those focus crystals, wait, I think one of those Abyssal humans is holding one… Well, what’s yours is going to be mine soon, bastard. Shiv chuckled.

“Shiv. Please don’t laugh like that.” Adam sighed.

“Like what?” Shiv asked.

“Like you’re planning to kill someone before peeling their face off for your own use,” Uva said, with a slightly sardonic edge to her voice. Shiv guessed that she was doing that “barely smiling” expression under her helmet. “You were planning to do something like that, weren’t you?”

“Ah,” Shiv said, shrugging. “Yeah, but I was mainly thinking about killing a specific guy for his staff. Your helmet’s given me focus crystal envy.”

Uva hummed a light laugh. “You are adorably straightforward.”

“It’s just how I am.”

“I know. It’s my favorite part about you. Now. Plan of attack, Adept Adam?” Uva looked to the Young Lord, and he just blinked.

“What? You’re ceding authority to me?” he asked, surprised.

“I am not ceding anything. I am technically not here. This slave caravan is about to be hit by a group of unaligned raiders or… a Path-empowered beast.” She gave Shiv a brief glance. “The Arachnae Order and the Composer knows nothing, and sends her condolences to the Lords of Law that reign over Compact.”

Adam barked a laugh. “You know something? You’re growing on me, Uva. Which is strange since you’re not here at all.”

“I’m glad you understand. Now. What do your surfacer war colleges teach you?”

“Many things,” Adam began. He made an “L” shape with his hand and closed one eye as he examined the enemy. “But let’s start with tactics. Right now, we have… approximately 153 active hostiles. Most of them are Advanced. Barely. But the Adepts number around twenty. You see those?” He pointed out a few individuals to Shiv. The Deathless was surprised to see how many Adepts were automata as well.

Guess their slavery preferences aren’t exactly prejudicial, Shiv thought. Automata had different needs from humans, but they still had similar enough ethics and morals. Emotions, too, surprisingly enough.

“Wait… you counted thirty more than I see…” Uva said.

“That’s because some of the slaves aren’t slaves.” Adam pointed more targets out to Uva and Shiv. “You see those people? They’re too well-fed. But more than well-fed, their manacles make the wrong noise with each step—which means they have been modified. And the elementals and guards aren’t really watching them at all… See that idiot in the back? One of her manacles is undone. The other slaves have noticed, but she hasn’t. And the guards aren’t reacting. And that’s not accounting for the rider trying to hide using the towering shroom caps above us.”

Uva was leaning forward with every word, relaying what Adam just told her into her communication brooch. Shiv, meanwhile, couldn’t stop staring at Adam. “Holy shit. You got all that just from a few seconds of watching?”

Adam smirked smugly. “Well, no. I sensed the rider before any of the other. The bastard put a muzzle on his mouth, but the thing’s heartbeat is the sound of thunder in the air—and it’s flying along. I guess it’s probably a rather vicious creature. The skies get quiet when hawks are in flight. Do you know that, Shiv? Because birdsong is like a challenge to a bird of prey, and unfortunately for our friend in the air—” Adam nocked over a half-dozen magical arrows as he drew back on Spellstring. “They are not the hunters here.”

Somehow, Adam did the impossible: He managed to fully, genuinely, and absolutely impress Shiv. “Well, damn. It’s like I’m looking at your father.”

The Young Lord failed to hide a blush. “Ahem. First lesson: Shut up. Second lesson: You listen. Listen to me.” He pointed at the forces on the ground. “You see them?”

“Yeah?” Shiv said.

“Do not touch them. If you get into the fray, I suspect that most of the slaves will die—and there are approximately… Nine-hundred or so slaves in this caravan. Worse, you might scare that big creature, and if it starts stampeding, we could be looking at mass casualties. If we’re going to do a slave raid, then by the gods we’re going to do this right and precise. No collateral damage if we can help it.”

“Rightly said,” Uva said, with a tone of respect in her voice.

Behind them, Valor looked and chuckled.

“So… what do I do?” Shiv asked, feeling slightly offended. “And I don’t intend to just discharge my Momentum Core among all those people—”

“Right. Don’t intend. But how often does what you intend to happen transpire?” Adam asked.

Shiv thought back to his vampire hunting days and grunted an acknowledgement. He set himself on fire more than a few times to survive after being spotted or surprised. “Yeah. Sometimes…”

“‘Shit happens,’” Adam said. “That is what Captain Irons used to say at the academy for TacStrat101.”

“What’s that?”

“A class. On tactics and strategy. 101 means it’s for beginners.”

“Ah.” And now Shiv was feeling something he hadn’t for Adam in a while: Envy. The Young Lord might not have Shiv’s Path, but spent years being a Pathbearer—being an actual warrior. Shiv wasn’t blind to tactics, but the approach one took to clearing lesser vampire nests along was pretty different than what was needed to ambush a small enemy force of a few hundred other Pathbearers without killing any of their transported prisoners.

Especially the big one, Shiv thought. Don’t know how Adam plans to deal with the adult cave biter…

Adam continued. “So. This being 101, here’s the basics to an ambush. Before anything else is intelligence. Know their strength and composition. We have that, but things are still not optimal. We don’t know their habits, tactics, or schedule. But the Umbrals do, and this should be the last in the group for a while.”

“Okay,” Shiv said, actually listening now. “But… what am I doing—”

“I’ll get to that. Lesson two, Shiv.”

“Fine.”

“Tactics are a whole study in and of themselves,” Adam said. “There are numerous ways Pathbearers can support each other in combat. Just learning about how to counter Jump Mages is a nightmare—but thankfully, I have that covered.” Adam tapped a space mage arrow with a finger. “There are definitely no powerful Portomancers among that group because if there were, they would have just moved the biter—despite the mana strain that would cost. This also tells me that this isn’t a well-trained operation. Even poor militaries avoid skimping out on a capable Jump Mage.”

“So, you can kill them if they jump?” Shiv asked. “All of them?”

“At the same time? No. I won’t be able to track the spatial routes. But I can kill most of them before they ever jump. Them, and most of the perimeter guards. Now. Next part. We wish to kill the enemy but keep the slaves alive. That requires speed and accuracy at the same time.”

“And that’s you,” Shiv said, sighing at the Young Lord’s attempts to show off.

“No, it’s all of us. I can only get so many—and even then the Adepts will likely not die so easily either. Remember these letters: METTT. Mission. Enemy. Terrain. Troop reinforcement. Timeframe. I explained the first two to you somewhat. Terrain is our advantage—the enemy has, perhaps because of fear for the flora and fauna, kept away from the vegetation flanking the road. This is a mistake. But the vegetation can turn against us if a dedicated Pyromancer survives and ignites all that can burn. It’s hard to fight in an inferno.”

“You can get used to it,” Shiv shrugged. Both Uva and Adam stared at Shiv. “What?”

“People don’t get used to burning alive, Shiv. You’re just a fearless, unyielding monster in the form of a man who likes to cook afterward to relax. Now. For the rest of us normal people, burning alive isn’t that fun. So if we want to preserve the terrain advantage, we do this quick and brutal. We break their resolve. We crack their formation and send most of them running. Ikki and the others can cut down those in the thicket without too much trouble.”

The Young Lord let out a huff of consideration. “Another part of this is our own troop availability timeframe. There aren’t many of us, but we should be considerably stronger—at least individually. That will have to make up for a lot—and the fact that we don’t have what we need to achieve a proper ambush formation. But if you and Uva do your parts right, then I don’t think that will be that essential.”

“Oh, and what do you need from this absent sister?” Uva asked.

“At a baseline, for you to pin that monster,” Adam said, indicating the cave biter. “If you can keep it calm and still, that will be optimal. What might be better is if you can pacify any other mind mages in the zone before breaking the minds of the hidden slavers.”

Uva nodded. “I will see it done. But there is an issue of range…”

“Yes, I’ll need you to position yourself closer with your sisters. Rush in just enough to pass your Psychomancy field over the biter. Call out any impediments to me using your brooch. Then draw back after you’re done with your sisters. Do not risk any discovery.”

“Understood.”

“Shiv,” Adam said. “You are going to be my bird of prey today.”

“I thought you were the hawk?” Shiv asked.

“I am the hunter,” Adam grinned. “You will be my beast. The final parts for an ambush are surprise, speed, and violence of action. Your Momentum Core discharge will signal us to begin our offensive and allow us to achieve all three of the aforementioned components. You’re going after the rider—to ensure they don’t get away and call in reinforcements, and to deprive them of any aerial assets. Then, after you drop, I will indicate harder targets for you. Hopefully, by this time their formation will break and most of them will be fleeing into the woods. The risk we face there is if the slaves start fleeing too and mixing in with the slavers. Alternatively, the enemy will be holding and fighting still. I suspect some slaves will die if that is the result. Whatever the case, I’ll strike at the most dangerous foes with my arrows. Just follow the shots.”

“So, you’re going to be the nail guiding the hammer, huh?” Shiv asked.

Adam eyed Shiv and snorted. “I told you, Master Shiv, the metaphor is a hunter and his beast. Bring out your skin decoys too and wrap one around your armor. We can’t have the bastards thinking you’re at all human when the killing begins.”

***

“Join the Traders, he said. Avoid my own indenturement by securing contracts from the others.” Vet spat off the back of his wyvern, hoping his phlegm would land on the head of one of the slaves below. He had been circling the air for well over an hour now, making sure this group of louts actually arrived. The other riders were gone—they were probably in Little Gomorrah drinking it up and getting dirty with the succubi. And here he was again, stuck monitoring detail. “It’s shit. It’s all shit. I hate this. I hate my life. And I hate the godsdamned slaves—just move! Just move! You signed the felling papers, what are you regretting now?”

And now he was projecting. Because he signed the same papers they did under Compact. The only difference was that he had a Path that gave him the means and skills to be useful. Useful in the sense that he was worth more as a slave catcher than a slave. They, meanwhile, weren’t that useful. Because the system was a felling asshole that either made you someone that could decide their own fate, or someone that appeased someone of the Martial Paths to ensure their survival.

These people weren’t doing much appeasing. That meant they were stupid. That meant they didn’t understand some very simple things.

Vet didn’t blame the cave biter that much. The dumb creature had the intelligence of a dog that could talk, but it also was the size of a mountain. Vet wouldn’t take shit from most people if he were the size of a mountain. Well, unless they were like a Master Pathbearer or something, but there weren’t that many of those out there, really?

“Hungry!” The wyvern chirped. The damn thing’s long, snake-like neck kept flopping back as it tried to take a bit out of Vet. He kicked it in the face, reminding it that he was the rider, and not food.

“I godsdamned hate you too,” Vet said, spitting on his mouth. Why he got the Path of the Lancer, he would never know. But a Marital Path was a Martial Path, and it was better than being on the chained shits below. As Vet passed over the edge of another mushroom cap, he saw that the dumb bastards hadn’t moved at all. “Great One’s Corpse, what is so hard? Just hit the stupid thing with mind magic. It barely has a mind to change! I swear, if I was down there—”

A sudden ripple of wind washed over Vet. The wyvern shrieked, its four insectoid wings jerking hard against a sudden rush of turbulence.

“Hold… felling still!” Vet cursed. “Where’d that bloody wind—”

And then his answer came in the form of a bomb. Or at least, Vet thought it was a bomb. Approximately three hundred meters away, an entire patch of the forest below simply disintegrated into paste and shrapnel. Vet blinked as he tried to control his wyvern, his mind struggling to process what he was witnessing. 

A faint gleam in the distance was the only warning he got before the monster came.

As Vet chose the wrong time to blink, a missile hit him. A missile that held the mass of a small mountain. The only reason Vet survived was because his wyvern took the brunt of the impact—but it didn’t spare either of his legs. Vet screamed as his mount splattered apart beneath him while his lower body was shredded apart at the thighs. Something hard cracked into his chest and Vet felt things inside him shatter.

He vomited blood inside his helmet and his Berserker Rage Physicality Skill Evolution triggered. Rather than going into shock from the pain, Vet let out a primal scream and took the handaxe from his hip—a handaxe he swung hard against the offending missile that was somehow still grabbing him. His axe crashed against the missile to the accompaniment of thunder, but a moment later, Vet realized that was no thunder at all—it was just the echo of the sound barrier being broken. And as his eyes cleared as well, he saw that it wasn’t a missile holding him, but a nightmare. 

The thing was shaped like a man but looked like a monster. It wore a coat of flayed skin over a dense exoskeleton. A large spear followed the monster, drilling through the air and bound to the beast by crimson mana—Biomancy. Then, there were its eyes. Eyes of pitch black surrounding islands of light at their center. Vet noticed the monster was wearing a peeled face over its skull-like head, and it was studying him too, ignoring him as he swung his axe against its sides over and over and over…

Until the axe shattered, like glass against metal.

The nightmare then reached up and tore Vet’s helmet from his face. It stared at him for a moment thereafter before sighing. “Hm, no, you’re too ugly-looking for me. I’ll take someone else’s face instead.”

Something inside Vet broke. Tears spilled out of his eyes. He started shrieking. Warmth spread through his ruined greaves. He barely got a note out before the nightmare tightened its hand, shaped a spell, and demanded that Vet’s heart stop.

***

Intimidation > 14

“Well, at least I got something out of that,” Shiv muttered as he cast the dead rider aside. He suspected the man had Adept-Tier Toughness and some kind of Adept Physicality Skill Evolution, but not much else besides. Considering how much of Shiv’s kinetic energy the wyvern soaked, smashing into the beast first was a good idea. His brief glimpse into its biology also gave him some insights.

He was beginning to notice that many organisms—even plantlife—felt similar at the foundations when compared to people, despite the massive differences in structure and anatomy. Cells… There’s something there…

Trailing colors flashed far below. Shiv watched as a tide of spell-carrying arrows cut through the air. As he crashed through the caps of mega-fungi and dipped through the foliage, Shiv caught sight of slavers bursting apart, slavers burning, slavers dropping as mind magic arrows destroyed their consciousnesses. In the time it took for Shiv to rip the wyvern and its rider apart, Adam was butchering the weakest enemies wholesale—so quick that the caravan was still in a stunned state.

A second later, the fleeing began. All sense of cohesion shattered. The cave biter let out a loud cry of: “WAIT! WHO IN BRAIN! WHO IN BRAIN WITH—I… I AM SLEEPY…”

The Deathless grinned. Nice going, Uva. He reached into his cloak to retrieve his brooch—because having it on him while he discharged Momentum Core would have disintegrated the device outright. “This is Shiv. Rider’s dead. Mount’s dead. Touching down soon.”

“Confirmed,” Uva said, sounding slightly distracted. “I have the beast. Their mind mages have been pacified as well. Note that some of the slavers are using the slaves as shields.”

Adam’s sneering laugh came through the brooch with an interference crackle. “Not for bloody long.”

Then, there came the sound of more arrows being loosed—ending with crackles of lightning and screams.

Adam’s going to be a real problem when his Marksmanship or whatever he has hits Master, Shiv thought. I’m kind of looking forward to it, actually…

Shiv’s drifting thoughts came to an end as he smashed through a final layer of vegetation. He blasted through dense branches the size of bridges back on Blackedge and accelerated his fall with a push of his Biomancy before impacting the ground. Rather than sinking into the soil and sending shrapnel born of earth and debris everywhere, he absorbed the force of his landing using his Momentum Core and found himself an eighth full already.

Just then, over a dozen organisms entered his Biomancy field. Shiv turned, stomping through the woods with a bone dagger in his left hand before taking his bone drill with his right. He laid the drill on his shoulder as he spotted his newest enemies. Some slavers were making a run for it—dragging an entire row of enchained automata and Umbrals behind them. Shiv counted eight slavers. Only two had magical resistance, while one had a dot of Biomancy around them.

Poor bastards, Shiv said. Then, he saw the states of the slaves, and whatever discomfort he felt vanished. The chained automata and Umbrals were dragged along their sides. Most of them were either Pathless still, barely Advanced, or non-martial Pathbearers. They couldn’t keep up with the slavers, so they were just being dragged. He could feel most of them missing entire stretches of skin—and see automata with wires and exposed and coolant leaking.

It was about this point that the slavers spotted him emerging from the dark of the woods and all ground to a halt.

“What is that?” An Umbral slaver cried out, pointing a spear at Shiv. “What the felling shit is that?”

A bulky Abyssal human clenched his jaw and chambered his shoulder-mounted ballista. “It’s dead! That’s what it is!”

He fired. A huge spike of raw iron shot out. Back when Shiv was Pathless, he wouldn’t be able to perceive this thing coming. Now, it was practically a snail to him. Shiv tapped his bone drill against the coming projectile and stole its momentum. It crashed into the mud at his feet. Shiv stepped over it.

The Abyssal human slaver’s eyes widened as he tried to ready another shot. Shiv tested the man’s Reflexes with his bone drill in response. A second later, the Abyssal human was pinned chest first to the base of a mushroom, gurgling blood as the other slavers looked on in horror.

“Looks like you need to work on your Reflexes,” Shiv said, feeling the man writhe. “Well. Maybe in another life. I think… yeah, I hit them. The drill’s through your ascending aorta. Won’t be long now.”

The Abyssal human’s leg twitched as he relieved himself a final time.

The other slavers moaned in horror, and now the slaves were looking up at Shiv from where they lay. He stood there silently, draped in his own flayed skin, wearing his own bones, a pitch black dimensional cloak shivering behind him, casting him with another layer of menace.

“Shiv. Do you know the best way to win about?” Adam had asked before Shiv launched himself.

“Kill them before they’re ready?” Shiv replied.

“No. It’s to win without even fighting. And that might be something you can do with your… habits. You certainly enjoyed terrifying me earlier, so why not use it against those actually deserving?”

“Is that why I’m wearing my own skin?”

“Yes. Horrific as it is. It might make them surrender. If nothing else, I expect you to be a Master at Intimidation soon.”

And Adam might not be wrong. Both the slavers and the slaves shared a mutual expression of absolute terror. There was an Umbral child among the slaves, her lip quivering, her small body shaking. The armed slavers weren’t much better. One of them tried to run. Shiv shaped his Biomancy and held her skin in place. While her muscles kept going. She pushed forward. Shiv pulled back. A second and bone-chilling ripping sound later, most of the slavers and slaves got an in-depth anatomy lesson from Shiv as they looked upon the fleeing slaver’s exposed muscles.

Practical Metabiology > 13

“Hell yeah,” Shiv laughed. “I finally pulled that off.” He was proud of himself. He had been trying to extract the skin off someone without doing any damage to improve his control. Ekkihurst claimed it was supposed to be simple in Odes, so Shiv kept trying—and was rewarded. It didn’t strain his Biomancy at all, either. It was just about disconnecting the right parts and supporting the rest.

A whimper of absolute horror sounded from the Umbral slaver holding the spear. She turned. Shiv stared intently at her… and thought it best that he find a male to test Perfect Semblance on. It might be awkward pretending to be a woman. And an Umbral woman at that. He looked at the other slavers.

“Alright. Which one of you is the prettiest. I need a new face.”

The Umbral slaver’s eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she dropped. The other ones screamed. The slaves screamed harder. Including the small slave child—her heart was pumping at dangerous speeds.

Intimidation > 18

Ah shit, Shiv winced. I didn’t want to traumatize the slaves, too. Dammit.

“Shiv! Shiv!” A series of arrows crashed against something hard as Adam called in. “I found a tougher nut—and the bastard elemental’s closing in on Ikki. Follow the sound of my arrows and deal with the problem!”

“Got it,” Shiv said. He looked at the slavers. “Never mind. I’ll take a face from one of your corpses later.”

This was the exact wrong thing to say if he wanted to calm the slaves, as they all started wailing for mercy. It didn’t help that he used Biomancy to obliterate all the slavers right after—and launched his bone drill through the two that had resistance. Shiv felt his Intimidation shoot up another level as he stared awkwardly at the screaming, weeping slaves now covered in slaver bits. “I… Uh, just stay here. Someone who doesn’t like wearing parts of their own corpse will come and help you.”

Shiv gave them a nod, realized none of them were going to be in shape to run away because of their injuries and how much their legs were shaking, and sprinted away.

Broken Moon, I feel like a bastard, Shiv said, trying to unhear the Umbral child. I might have gotten a little too carried away. And used to just pulling people and things apart…

Intimidation > 19

***

Shiv blasted out into a clearing a minute later, using the resounding impacts of Adam’s as his guide. He arrived to a scene of carnage. Dozens of slaves lay on the ground in pieces, an Umbral sister was clutching a deep wound lining her side while hiding behind a badly mauled tree, and Ikki was limping away while carrying a near-broken automaton in her arms. Behind her came a familiar sight—the metallic dimensional made of blades. 

The one that killed a slave earlier.

“Run, little Umbral Sister,” the blade dimensional sang, its voice the sound of clashing steel. “Run, and show me your back—”

It launched out a series of metal shards. Ikki turned, bringing up her spear to deflect one—but she wasn’t nearly fast enough to block the others. In the end, it didn’t matter, as the shards crashed against Shiv. The blade dimensional shook with surprise before it pushed its shards harder against Skiv’s armor. He drained the momentum, but too his surprise, the blades actually managed to take chunks out of his exoskeleton before he stopped them.

“Finally,” Shiv said. “Something worth fighting. I hope you can manage to kill me, because your friends are all disappointments.”

“Shiv!” Ikki cheered. Her smile faltered as the flayed face he pasted against himself flapped over, staring at her with its empty sockets.

“Get the slaves and your sister out of here, Ikki,” Shiv said. “I’m going to see if this one’s worth my time.”

The blade dimensional retracted its shards and started circling Shiv. “What… are you?”

“Just a guy looking for a face. And you don’t seem to have one.” Shiv stared harder at the dimensional. No notification appeared. Well, that answers my question. Has to be a race that looks something like me.

“Why are you clad in flesh and remains? Be you an Acolyte of Lord Scorn?”

“No,” Shiv said. And that was all the conversation he had with the dimensional. Ikki fled with the slaves while Shiv charged the dimensional. He kept his bone dagger in one hand and left the other empty for now. Let’s see if I can get some parrying done. If I can get that to Adept too, it just might compliment my Diamond Shell. Speak of that, I hope this bastard can kill me. My Toughness has felling stalled since fewer things have been able to kill me physically. Let’s see if this one is… hey, the blades look a little like my kitchen knife…

Suddenly, Shiv had a new desire. “After this is over, I’m looting you. I’m gonna find me someone who can make me a full kitchen set.”

“What?” the blade dimensional said, momentarily confused.

Shiv wasn’t confused. Which was why he launched himself toward the dimensional and booted it in the chest. The air shook from the force of his blow. Might of Mass fed Momentum Core as the dimensional was blasted through a tree. To the dimensional’s credit, it managed to stop itself from being launched off its feet by burying a few shards against the ground. Shiv noticed how there seemed to be a pulling force with the dimensional. Magnetism?

Then, a rain of blades were flying at him fast. Shiv grinned when he could barely track them. The damn dimensional was fast. It probably had a higher Reflexes level than him, but maybe not a Master Tier Skill. Shiv deflected the first shard and the second, and then had to rely on his Momentum Core to drain all the following as they buried themselves against his body. His choice to make his armor thicker was good too. There were still things that could pierce his flesh, but Diamond Shell made every centimeter a struggle to get through.

As Momentum Core filled, Shiv’s Reflexes started matching then exceeding the dimensionals. He didn’t attack, however. He focused on parrying, guiding the shards away with his palm and dagger.

“Why do you not strike? Is it too much? Are you spent after one kick?”

Shiv didn’t reply—he wasn’t here to talk to the thing, he just wanted some skill levels out of this. And after a few more seconds of parrying, he got just that.

Parry > 32

Momentum Core > 65

“Well, that’s something at least,” Shiv muttered to himself. Then something hit him in the shoulder. Might of Mass stopped him from moving, but he felt a blade punch relatively deep—even nicking his skin a bit before he shrugged it aside.

“Is your intention to taunt me? Is that it?” the blade dimensional raged. It was launching more shards from all directions—and though Shiv was getting faster, he could dodge them all. He also didn’t want to discharge his Momentum Core right here, considering the fleeing slaves and sisters.

“Well, it was worth something while it lasted,” Shiv said. And then showed the dimensional that it wasn’t the only one that could do the “blade from left field trick.”

Where its blades nicked and got jammed against his armor, his bone drill smashed down from on high and left the entire dimensional pinned against the ground. The blades composing the elemental did some damage to his drill, but that’s why Shiv had harvested his own corpses. A radiant, metallic mana shone out between blades of warped steel exposing the dimensional’s core. It shifted the upper blades of its body into something resembling a face and let out a rasp that sounded like a sword getting pulled from a scabbard. “M-monster.”

“Kitchen utensils,” Shiv said, his heart pumping in excitement. “I’ll prepare part of you as a gift for Georges when I see him again. Right now, though…” Shiv punched through the bent blades and tore the dimensional’s heart. He then chucked both core and dimensional corpse into his cloak. Which was getting a bit heavy and starting to drag.

Carrying a good amount of weight on me now… Maybe I should…

A series of arrows hit something in the distance. And kept hitting said something. Adam was ringing the bell. Time for the beast to come running. “Alright. Let’s hope this next thing can kill me.”