22 Bone

Quest Gained: Collapse Weave’s teleportation network to ensure the immediate extraction of a critical and compromised asset.

Reward: +10 to Stealth; Realmsplitter Dagger (Heroic); Shroud of Veiled Existence (Heroic)

Failure: Briefly alerts the Composer to 50% of Aviary’s agents operating within her dimension.

-Quest granted to the “Corvids” of Aviary operating in Weave

22

Bone

The first thing that surprised the raven was the large mound of horrifically burned but still somehow gleaming tumors. As the automaton reeled back in surprise, two crow-helmed assassins entered the room right after, with one of them asking: “You said the boy had the Cage of Valor Thann? Where is it? And what is—”

This led into the second surprise—when missiles molded from tumorous tissue were suddenly ripped free from the disgusting mass. Two tumor-missiles smashed into the crows before fusing over them, encasing their struggling, screaming forms in diamond-dense cages molded from fried flesh.

The raven who pretended to be Metven wasn’t going to be so easy. It was much faster than the crows, and by all rights should have swatted the approaching biomass projectiles aside. Too bad it wasn’t ready for the third surprise, which was Shiv ripping the vitality out of its mechanical body.

Shiv was surprised automatons had vitality, but thinking back to what he overheard from some Slayers back on Blackedge put things into perspective. Humans and most races were made from living matter—organic beings, as some Biomancers called them. However, they weren’t the only living beings. Automatons number the largest among all the inorganic species, and they too had vitality in them, as Shiv confirmed right now.

Such was why the raven let out a mechanical wail of surprise before Shiv’s missiles slammed into it. The raven toppled over as it tried to move—its legs bound by sinews of dense, Diamond Shell-enhanced tissue, while Shiv fused more of his flesh over its head and encased its staff in layers of coiling muscle. Finally, all of his unmelted ribs and bones clamped down around its body and squeezed.

To Shiv’s delight, he felt parts inside the automaton start to break.

It’s not that tough, he realized.

This culminated in the fourth surprise when Shiv pulled open his original body and unleashed the Umbrals. His pre-death warning worked. They came out ready for violence and a desire to inflict harm.

The two crows Shiv had captured twitched as Uva reached out for them. Her face was a mask of cold rage, and she advanced on the struggling automaton with a shortsword drawn in her other hand. Thrusting out, a spear of ice formed in the air and smashed into the raven’s underbody. The other Umbrals were in motion as well. Two of them were already withdrawing bloodied blades from the crows—Shiv left them gaps in his flesh for exactly this purpose. The youngest Umbral made it her life’s quest to deprive the raven of its legs, and her nightglass blade sparked with every cut.

To her credit, the raven’s right leg was swinging by a wire. Shiv decided to test his new Pyromancy by launching a stream of flame into the gap. What emerged was a brief flicker of a spell as Shiv’s newest—and smallest—mana field spat sparks at the opening.

True to Valor’s words, having a high magical skill in one attunement didn’t do anything for another. Shiv was going to need to practice his Pyromancy pretty hard if he wanted it to catch up with his Biomancy.

Then, a piercing siren screamed out from the raven. Several unseen mana fields intertwined as a spell born of a fused skill formed on its chest. A blast of air, fire, water, ice, and earth swept out from the raven. The young Umbral caught a heavy stone on her left hip—and Shiv felt her leg leave the socket. She shrieked as she was flung out from the room, slamming into a wall outside. Uva formed an ice-wall to protect her, and the other two Umbrals phased through and parried the magic respectively.

And to the young Umbral’s credit, she crawled back in the room, dragging a dangling leg behind her, cursing about how she was going to take the automaton’s leg for that.

Despite everything Shiv had been through, he still lacked experience regarding how powerful certain Tiers truly were. The raven gave him a hands-on education as it reflexively tore open a gap in reality, summoning a combat dimensional in the form of a massive elemental golem. Shiv gawked. The raven was still encompassed by his flesh and couldn’t reach its staff. It could call upon this much power without even focusing?

The behemoth practically took up all the space inside the chamber, standing well over five meters tall and wide. It resembled Metven to some extent, but its head was an orb of angry fire, its body was something of an animated landslide hiding chunks of ice, and its limbs were made from a mix of lightning and water. Uva and the others started making their retreat, moving for the door as the walking natural disaster roared at them. 

“Out, sisters! Out!” Uva cried. “Someone get to control! We seal this room! We purify the bastards!” She didn’t notice Shiv’s presence in all the chaos of combat—but before the doors slammed shut again, her expression was one of pain as she looked away.

System, this isn’t going to be easy to explain to her, Shiv thought. Dinner and dessert better put her in a coma later, because if not, she might just kill me too.

Of course, he would need to survive this mess first. As the monster pulled its arms back, the limbs crackled with lightning and building force, and Shiv doubted it could smash its way through if what Uva said about the chamber requiring someone to be Master-Tier to break out. However, Shiv was still in here, and he was not leaving until everyone else was dead. In a few moments, the purification spells were going to spin up again, and everyone inside will get cleansed again.

Well. This is going to hurt. Time to see if I can kill the golem before that happens.

As the golem smashed its arms against the walls, the room shook and spell patterns flared. It tried to take another step, but Shiv used all of his original body’s remaining biomass to bind its legs and arms together. It bounced backward and tripped. On top of the raven.

The raven cried out in pain, voice echoing with static interference. It didn’t have any living matter, but Shiv could feel part of its chest sink in and crack open—and he took that opportunity to seep his flesh into the automaton’s inner machinery. Looks like you might be almost Master in terms of magic, but are just Advanced when it comes to your Toughness. Negligent. Shiv ripped and expanded more tumors inside the automaton. Meanwhile, its golem rolled off and began to pull at the bindings on its legs.

Just then, Shiv resurrected, emerging from his shadowy husk to truly join the battle. He suddenly realized how expansive the raven’s mana field was—stretching for what felt like a hundred meters beyond. Thankfully, it was too busy howling in pain and choking on its inner fluids to focus its magic. Shiv’s plan had been a good one. If he allowed it to hold onto its staff or achieve any kind of focus, all the Umbrals would have probably been flash-fired before his eyes in an instant.

Fighting was a quick and messy thing. And that meant endings came quick and messy, too.

He pulled on his field and ripped a piece of rib out from the flesh holding the automaton. As he opened a path to its head, the raven looked up and flinched in surprise. “How—”

That was all the almost Heroic-Tier assassin got before Shiv drove a diamond-tipped piece of rib bone through its skull and twisted up at an angle. The automaton tried to create a final spell—but fast as it was, spells took time and focus. A dagger just took direction and force. With a wrathful cry, Shiv pulled, and tore a mess of circuitry and silicon. He guessed this was the equivalent of ripping out someone’s brain matter.

“Foreshadowing didn’t warn you about this, huh?” Shiv said, spitting on the automaton’s corpse.

Biomancy > 26

Knife Proficiency > 23

As he looked at the tip of his rib-dagger, an idea occurred to Shiv. Actually, these make pretty good weapons now with Diamond Shell. In fact, most of my body is a good weapon with Diamond Shell. He watched as the golem struggled, pulling hard at Shiv’s biomass restraints. Slowly, he could feel the flesh attached to its legs reach the breaking point, but the monster was still extending significant effort. Yeah. You know what? I’m going to keep these ribs as daggers. I can control them with my Biomancy too—fight using my field too. Shit. System. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? With my Diamond Shell… I am the weapon! I am my own armory!

The idea was macabre but really godsdamned awesome too.

Just as the golem ripped through Shiv’s bio-binds, he repurposed the flesh he used on the crows and latched them around the giant’s legs and face, respectively. Once more, it crashed down, its burning orb of a head hidden from sight by the immense density of Shiv’s flesh. At the same time, fragments of sharpened bone began punching through its body. Shiv felt his soul strain as he used his Biomancy over and over, but he wouldn’t stop. Not when he was having so much fun.

“I killed your master too quick!” Shiv taunted, advancing on the elemental dimensional. He molded the rib he was using into a proper dagger, giving himself a handle and adding a finer edge to the blade. “I burned real slow. I’m still pissed about that. So… I’m going to ask you to put up more of a fight.

The dimensional cried out in pain as Shiv tore into it. Sharpened bone arrows punched deep into the golem’s body, drilling through dense stone, before Shiv ripped them out for another go. At the same time, he cut and slashed at its abdomen, chipping chunks of moving rock away to find where it’s core was. Heather always talked about a mana core for the elementals. Just have to find it. He leaped back as its body tumbled and twisted, struggling to free itself from the restraints again. Its water-lightning legs couldn’t just pass through a solid object without destabilizing, it seemed.

Made sense. It wouldn’t be easy for it to stay standing otherwise.

I’m surprised it's still doing stuff without a summoner to guide it. Not that I know the first damn thing about dimensionals or summoning magic.

Shiv struck the same part he did earlier with his biokinetically guided bone missiles. He shaped their tips into wedges, and he pulled up as he ripped them out this time. Shiv laughed as he continued his onslaught. Yeah, this was a great idea. I don’t think anything short of a higher Tier weapon or something made by a proper craftsman is going to outdo my flesh and bones.

Again and again, he struck at the golem, practically ripping chunks of stone away with every strike. What was better about Biomancy was he could force his tissue to heal, even if it did become a clump of tumors, he could still slam it into someone like a blunt weapon—or wrap it over them. Even without proper knowledge over biology, there was still a lot he could do—especially since he was willing to die for it.

He saw a flash of light before a wall of ice fused over the creature’s insides. More rocks covered the wounds he dealt, and Shiv cursed. The damn thing was regenerating—or at least moving the bits he chipped elsewhere. He was either going to have to crack the entirety of the golem’s torso in a single, massive blow or…

Shiv had another funny idea. He sent his bone missiles forward again, but this time he turned them in the air—like they were drills. Immediately, they began to grind deeper into the golem—and it wasn’t as stressful on his mana field, either. He made it even easier by gathering all his bones into one large drill and grinding it in. Stone and ice dust flew everywhere. The golem roared as it struggled to dislodge the attack—only for Shiv to pull its legs out from under it, using his biomass bindings as a handhold.

I felling love Biomancy, Shiv thought as he roared with laughter. He released his bone knife and let his mana field catch it, and then, with a primal roar, he used all his strength to drag the golem against a wall to better hammer the bone drill in deeper.

He felt his drill start chipping at an inner core of pure ice. The dimensional was starting to panic—and the room was starting to heat up again as well.

“Come on, you big tainted shit,” Shiv growled, the thrill in him rising high. He shouted as he slammed it into the wall again. “Don’t go out like your master. Give me—”

And then, its strength prevailed again. Lightning blasted out from its limbs as it broke Shiv’s diamond-hard bands of flesh. Kicking off the wall, it was on Shiv in an instant. And the felling thing was fast. At least twice as fast as he was. He tried dodging out of the way—but fist made of surging, electrified water slammed into him.

Shiv’s muscles seized as he was launched into the opposite wall. A resounding crash echoed through the room. But the damned golem was on him before he could even finish his fall. Its fists fell like a bastard hate-child born of an avalanche, a tsunami, and a thunderstorm. It hit him no less than ten times each second. Every punch made his muscles spasm, made his bones shudder and creak.

But after his last death, Shiv’s perspective on pain had shifted. The golem wasn’t going to top that.

After a good ten seconds of unleashing everything it had on Shiv, the golem staggered back, and Shiv dropped. His face was a swollen mess. Most of his ribs and sternum were fractured again. He was probably bleeding somewhere else inside as well. But he landed on his feet, and when he did, he spat blood at the foot of the monster and gestured for it to continue. “Well, I guess the raven didn’t summon you for all that stamina you have.”

Just then, the behemoth peeled the remnants of Shiv’s flesh off its face. For the first time, it laid that baleful, burning eye on him, and the orb quivered with building fury. Shiv sensed something with his Pyromancy. Something from the golem and the chamber as well. Mana fields were moving in the air, and things were about to get doubly hot for him.

Unfortunately for the golem, it was slow on the draw.

Shiv’s fused bone drill slammed right into its back, knocking it off balance. The fiery beam it was about to unleash went off course, splashing against the wards lining the walls. As it toppled forward, Shiv yanked his bone dagger off the ground using his Biomancy as well and added its mass to the drill.

Biomancy > 27

The effort was tiring for his soul, but he could keep it up.

He smashed his shoulder into its chest at an angle as it continued to stumble—intending to keep it off balance. Only for it to immediately backhand him. Once again, Shiv went flying across the room, rolling along the walls. And once more it pinned him in place before he could get far.

Stupid thing’s impossibly fast for its size. This is bullshit.

In its hands, Shiv could only twitch and shake. The electricity made him unable to control his muscles, but though it tried to crush him with its watery fingers, Shiv felt his body endure. Even if a few of his ribs finally broke outright.

“D-d-diamond S-s-shell, a-a-asshole!” Shiv managed through tremoring lips. The blow had broken his focus. The drill was laying discarded on the ground again. Still, Shiv could see two massive holes in the golem’s body and glimpsed the radiant light of its core. These holes weren’t being filled up at all. He was close… He just needed to do this one more time…

He struggled and fought as much as he could. But it was to no avail. His muscles wouldn’t—wait, I’m an idiot. Shiv could move his body—he just needed to force it to obey him instead of the lightning. The electricity was causing him to lose control of his physical muscles? Fine. Time for his magical muscles to pitch in.

Shiv applied Biomancy and Physicality at the same time. Despite all the electricity, his pain tolerance refined from earlier made the exercise of focusing his mana field easy. Suddenly, his body shot forward, surprising the monster with an explosive burst of strength. He blasted through its fingers and slammed fist first into its chest. However, Shiv felt his flesh and veins unlatch from their proper positions as he snarled in pain. Right, different parts of the body moving at once. Not great… Might be able to fly using Biomancy if I had more control…

That was for the future. Right now, he resigned himself to death—but was determined to take the elemental juggernaut with him. He landed three hard punches on its inner core of ice. Flashes of brilliant light splashed over him—and Shiv felt his Physicality advance once more, bringing that skill into the Adept Threshold as well.

But before he could claim final victory or examined his new Skill Evolution, the golem adapted to his strategy by wrapping its hand around his face and channeling its electrified water down its orifices. Shiv immediately lost focus again and found himself slammed against the walls. Worse, the chamber began its incineration process for the second time—while the felling monster was firing its beam at his chest.

Dammit! Shiv sighed mentally. Seems like this isn’t going to be a no-death fight. Well. I asked for this. Better than the bast—

And then thinking got hard as his stomach, lungs, and other organs filled with water. Shiv struggled and kicked as his drowning Reflexes kicked in. And that was what did him in this time. Not the fire. Not the golem’s beam. Drowning.

It was actually quite pleasant by the end.

Skill Evolution: Physicality (Common) > Might of Mass (Adept)

Might of Mass > 56

Reflexes > 48

Pyromancy > 2

Biomancy > 30

Diamond Shell > 70

Knife Proficiency > 26

Grappling Proficiency > 35

Striking Proficiency > 21

Foreshadowing > 11

Shiv reached out and started draining from the golem. A flood of vitality filled him as he sensed just how potent the golem was. The raven must have had an absurd summoning skill to bind such a creature to its will.

Then, another unexpected occurrence followed.  A spell formed at the center of the teleportation chamber as purifying flames splashed down. However, the fires meant to cleanse the chamber surged into the golem’s burning skull, and the wounds Shiv left in its body began to fill with rock and ice. In seconds, it was fully healed.

Is this thing… regenerating from elemental mana?

Suddenly, the spell patterns lining the walls winked out. The flames died. Shiv felt his Foreshadowing trigger—saw an image of Umbrals fighting crows somewhere. But it promptly vanished as the golem swung through his Revenant form.

Shadows began to condense around Shiv as he approached maximum vitality. He took the time to consider his approach and avoid the mistakes he suffered during his last death.

Not exactly sure what Might of Mass does yet, but more Physicality is always helpful—especially since it’s still much faster than me. I have to keep it pinned or distracted long enough to finish it off with my drill. But how the hells am I supposed to do that when it can shock and drown me at the same time?

Then, Shiv remembered what he did right to overcome the monster’s grip. He used his Biomancy in tandem with his strength. He could move himself, if nothing else, but it still left him internally wounded.

Maybe if I had an external rig or structure I could pull on… Like an armor of biomass. Then, Shiv made the next logical leap as he looked first at his newest body and then at his gleaming bone drill. Or just a literal exoskeleton.

A flood of vicious excitement rushed through Shiv as felt his imminent resurrection. He grinned at the golem. The poor dimensional didn’t know what was coming. 

As the golem launched another fist at his peeling shadow, Shiv launched the bone drill into its back—and knocked it onto its hands and knees. His Biomancy field was much stronger than before with this past death. Not a surprise considering how much he was using the skill.

Instead of drilling further, however, Shiv left the weapon temporarily embedded in the golem as he shifted his intent onto his nearby corpse. A crimson spell came to shape atop Shiv’s outstretched hand as his mana field shifted. He felt his will sink into his flesh and close around his bones.

Then, he pulled.

His skeleton slipped free like a sword leaving its sheathe. He resurrected completely while it was in flight. Shiv ripped the burned scraps that remained of his shirt off, leaving his torso bare as the upper layer of his exoskeleton arrived. He aligned the spinal cord with his back first before commanding the ribs to close tighter around him, clasping him like a cuirass. The other parts were simpler—he sculpted the bone around his body, coating himself in a layer of gleaming white. His hands were soon encased by diamond-sharp digits. Smooth slats of plating covered his limbs, while he sharpened the edges of his new “exo-feet.” His former skull he wore as a full helmet, the sockets he made wider to allow for better sight.

The final bits of leftover mass he decided to shift into a thin shiv that he took in his right hand. That final bit made everything feel right.

As the golem rose, Shiv ripped his bone drill out of its back. The dimensional toppled over on its side, thundering in outrage. But as it rose to stand, it caught sight of Shiv standing just a few steps away. Next to him, a two-meter-long bone drill hovered in midair, a Biomancy spell pattern coiled along its length.

What was that Valor said? Shiv thought as the golem slammed the ground. Lightning and water splashed out. A shockwave struck Shiv. He rooted himself in place with his Biomancy and didn’t budge. To his surprise, it broke against the non-skeleton clad parts of his body like a stiff breeze as well.

He felt not just stronger, but heavier. Like he was an oak rooted to existence itself.

Was this Might of Mass?

He got a clear answer when the golem attacked. It fired its beam. Fire splashed over his body—and a good portion of the initial heat was blunted by his exoskeleton. Shiv launched his bone drill. And missed. The golem was on him faster than he could blink. Damn thing had no right to be that fast. Before Shiv could shift the focus of his Biomancy field from the bone drill to his exoskeleton, he felt the golem drive a fist into his outer sternum. 

An explosion of lightning and water detonated against Shiv. This time, though, Shiv didn’t go flying. This time, as he braced against the blow, as he pushed back, he felt the ground groan beneath his feet as his mass swelled.

Shiv budged. Barely.

The absurdity of the moment made both golem and Deathless pause.

Then Shiv launched himself into the golem using his Biomancy, and he proved to be more like a missile than his bone drill ever was. Getting dragged into motion by his exoskeleton didn’t feel good, but it was far better than ripping his tendons and veins out of place. It’s closer to launching myself like a javelin than actually flying.

Regardless, the effects were incredible. Between the velocity offered by Biomancy and his spontaneous implacability via Might of Mass, Shiv smashed the golem’s constant rockslide of a chest and cracked it.

Holy shit! Shiv cheered mentally. Somehow, the dynamic had shifted. He was now the juggernaut in this brawl, and the golem was the underdog in a head-on collision. The golem stumbled back. Shiv used this opportunity to recall his bone drill—right into its exposed back. The weapon struck this time, and at an angle. Golem lost its balance and crashed on its side. Shiv called the drill into his right hand, letting his small dagger fuse with it.

Then, as the groaning golem fought to rise, Shiv pulled himself high up into the air using his Biomancy—and spiked himself back down. He hit the golem drill-first, straining both Biomancy and Might of Mass as much as he could. A shockwave tore through the room as the golem’s outer shell of stone cracked like an egg. Now, Shiv felt himself standing on the inner crust of ice, so he released his bone drill and made it spin. Ice chips filled the air. The golem tried to roll over—but Shiv punched in the back of its burning skull, and it felt like he dropped the weight of a small building down on its head. The golem’s burning eye fractured as it crashed into the ground, and jets of flame sprayed free in all directions. Shiv ignored the heat licking at his body as he continued drilling and punching.

Through it all, he pressed his body weight down against the golem—and despite everything it tried, it couldn’t move him. Even when it reached behind its back and tried to toss him off—it yanked, but by Shiv’s will and his Might of Mass, he stayed in place.

It doesn’t have the strength to move me, Shiv realized. Not when my Skill Evolution lets me increase my own mass.

And that was another thing working against the golem. Shiv was at once both small and heavy at the same time. Even if it was bigger than him overall, it couldn’t apply all the strength against him easily. Not when he was pressing everything he had into its already broken body. Then, it applied its last ditch effort. Shiv felt fingers of electrified water rush up to flood his skull helmet.

He responded by fusing his sockets and jaw shut. Water splashed against his face but found no point of entry. The golem’s struggle grew more frantic as Shiv continued driving elbows down on the golem while his drill pushed ever deeper. Then, he felt it. The last bits of ice broke away and his drill sank all the way in.

The golem stopped struggling. Shiv expanded his eye sockets again and studied his enemy. The rocks lining its body were scattered around it in a mess. Its limbs were more like sparking puddles than electrified jetstreams. Wisps of faded flame spilled free from its head as if it were weeping tears. Slowly, Shiv walked over to his drill and ripped it free from the behemoths back. At its tip was a gleaming core of shifting colors—a mixture of different elemental mana.

The golem let out a low, mournful groan as Shiv clutched the monster’s mana core in his hand—and crushed it.

A final detonation of uncontrolled, elemental mana washed over him, but Shiv held himself in place using his Biomancy and Might of Mass—refusing to yield an inch even at the very end of the fight.

Finally, the golem’s burning eye fizzled and died to an ember. And then what remained of its body came apart as well, crumbling beneath Shiv’s weight. He splashed down into the remains of his enemy, and Shiv found himself shivering from leftover adrenaline.

Biomancy > 31

Knife Proficiency> 28

Spear Proficiency > 6

Grappling Proficiency > 37

Striking Proficiency > 22

That… was godsdamned felling awesome, Shiv laughed. Looking down at his own reflection in the water, he studied his new appearance. The skeletal armor looked intimidating enough—but it was the glowing white dots within the skull sockets that really did the trick. There were a few nicks and cracks lining the bones, but he could sculpt over those pretty easily. The only part of him that was still exposed was his torso and—well, damn, am I twice as muscular as before?

Shiv was always reasonably tall and well muscled, but now he was built like a brick wall. Still, it would be wise to fill in the places between the ribs with bone plating when he next died. That would complete the external protection. 

Actually, the combination between my Diamond Shell and Biomancy makes bone the perfect material for me. I can shape and sculpt whatever I need this way and make it as heavy or light as I want. Just like my own mass.

Shiv triggered Might of Mass out of curiosity, and to his surprise, his muscles visibly grew thicker and denser. 

Broken Moon, Shiv said, shaking his head. I should have thought of this soon. Gods, that was effective.

And then he looked at his bone drill in the water’s reflection. It hovered in the air next to him, adding to his menace. This was a great weapon for him. It was even a modular weapon, Shiv thought as reached into it and pulled out his small shiv again. Even with his Biomancy field in the throes of exhaustion, he could still keep it aloft.

Still, he wanted to give his mana a break, so he attached it to his exoskeleton for now. 

He didn’t even feel the mass.

The last two deaths have made him a lot stronger. Even his Reflexes were close to reaching the Adept-Tier Threshold. I wonder what I’ll get when it reaches that point.

Shiv had a feeling he might find out sooner rather than later.

Well. Whoever comes next best bring all they have, because I’m pretty close to indestructible right now.

Just then, the door to the chamber snapped open, and Shiv saw—

A hammer smashed into his mind. Shiv’s consciousness reeled.

Pretty close to indestructible physically, he realized. There still wasn’t anything he could do against a Psychomancer’s attacks.

Two more mental hits blew holes into his focus. Shiv clutched his head and nearly doubled over.

Then, someone slammed something over his head. That something broke. Shiv remained absolutely fine.

More hits rained down on him. He felt pinches of pain like someone was jabbing a needle into his torso. A swarm of hairy hands grabbed and pulled at him—and Shiv just shrugged them off. Growling, he reached out with his Biomancy and—

Realized he was surrounded by Umbrals and Weaveresses. Blinking, Shiv’s mind stopped spinning long enough for him to realize that an entire mob of Umbrals and spiderfolk were stabbing at him, using their skills on him, trying to restrain him. Behind the group, a few dozen mages were shaping new spells.

All of them except for one.

Uva stood at their center, her eyes wide, her mouth open.

“Shiv?” She said, her mind brushing his.

Hi, Shiv replied lamely.  An Umbral’s nightglass spear left a skin-deep cut under his left pec before bouncing off. Shiv winced as he looked down at himself and realized why they were attacking him—his appearance practically screamed evil assassin. That, and the Umbrals probably all thought he was dead. Uh. Sorry. I’ll explain later. I promise, but for now…

Shiv used his Biomancy to unlatch his from his head. “Can you all please stop hitting me. I killed the raven. I killed the summoned golem. The fight’s over. Stop!”

He held up his hand, and slowly, the Weaveresses and Umbrals all halted.

Most of them looked at him with expressions of astonishment or disbelief. “I am not Risen,” Shiv added. “I will explain later! The Composer knows about this! But we’re not done.” He stepped past the Weaveresses—several of whom were of the invisible cloak variety, and even they were leaning in, staring at him as if he was something unbelievable. “There are still more enemy spies. They’ve infiltrated your order.” He checked his quest and saw that it was still active. “We still have time to find Yunni  and stop this.”

He marched past some ten Umbrals—all of whom gawked at him, and came to a stop before Uva. “I need your help. I need you to scan the minds of those we’re not sure about—I don’t know how deep this goes or who we can trust, but… Uva? Are you listening?”

She reached out and touched him, feeling at his cheek. “It’s… really you?”

“Yeah,” Shiv said, sighing. “It’s a… It’s something to do with my Path. It’s the reason why I didn’t want you to read my mind. I’ll explain later—I swear.” He chuckled weakly. “And it’ll be the best godsdamned dinner and dessert I’ll ever make. But right now, we have to stop New Albion.”

She blinked twice and then swallowed. Then, something broke her focus. “I—wait, what are you wearing?”

“And did you get even bigger?” the young Umbral said, hobbling closer beside Shiv, staring a bit too close at his bare torso. “More… muscular.”

Uva reactively dragged the other Umbral away by the scruff of her neck, as if she was a small kitten.

“This,” Shiv said, gesturing to his exoskeleton and bone drill. “Yeah. Got it from myself. My last few corpses.”

“Corpses,” Uva muttered.

“I wasn’t really using them anymore,” Shiv joked.

She kept staring at him like he was insane.

“Uva. Bombing. Passage. Adam?”

“Right,” she said, snapping out of it. She looked over the rest of the group and drew in a breath before speaking into her booch. “Operator: Public frequency. Mass broadcast: I am Sister Uva Mettabon. Esteemed Sister. Designation: Intel-0122. Everyone not of my team—I am invoking Contingency Albion. Submit yourselves to emergency detention. Prepare for deep-level mind scans and switch to emergency mana frequencies on your brooches. We have been infiltrated.”

And that was all she needed to say. As she looked away from her brooch, she eyed Shiv again and shook her head. There was a lot she wanted to say—and a lot he had to say to her, too. But that needed to wait. She reached behind herself and handed Valor back to Shiv.

“So,” Valor said, speaking to Uva. “Do you believe me now? I told you not to worry.”

She didn’t say anything.

“Shiv. How did things go with the adversary.”

“Oh. You know. The usual. Died twice. Got a Skill Evolution. Made a set of armor out of my old bodies using Biomancy. Smashed an elemental golem apart.”

The dagger let out a sentimental breath. “Ah. To be young again. I hope you enjoyed yourself, because the day’s nowhere near done, I’m afraid.”

“That’s good,” Shiv said, licking his lips. “I’m still pissed at them for burning me to death.”

“Come on,” Uva said. She twisted the sides of her brooch as if it were a dial, and a different spell pattern flashed. “I’ll see if the operator can get me a lock on Adam’s location. We secured the control center earlier—there were crow-helmets there. Right now, an Honored Mother I trust is manning all stations for this sector of the building. But that’s all I am sure about.”

“So. That means no reinforcements or support past a certain point?”

“Something like that,” Uva muttered.

Shiv sneered. “That’s fine. More ravens for us, then.”

***

Adam Arrow proved surprisingly easy to find. All they needed to do was follow the bodies.

Ten dead crow-helmed strangers were left in the Young Lord’s wake. All of them had arrow wounds left where their eyes used to be. Then came a dead Weaveress, a smoking automaton, and a headless Umbral. A few steps away from her, standing in front of another teleportation chamber was Adam Arrow, glaring at something. He bled from several shallow cuts, but his own blade was drenched in a deeper red. Close to his back quivered a Hydromancy-forged bow and several watery arrows.

The Young Lord sensed their approach even before they turned the hall. He almost put a shot through Shiv’s eye socket before he paused and lowered his weapon. “Uva? Is that you?”

“Adam,” she greeted, looking over the carnage he left behind. The Umbral Psychomancer regarded the Young Lord with a bit more respect in her voice. “You did all this?”

“Most of them,” he said. He kicked the headless Umbral. “This one was a traitor, I think. She stabbed that spiderfolk in the back before she tried going for me.” He snorted. “That was her last mistake. She was slow. And the friends she had waiting in ambush weren’t as sneaky as they imagined.” Adam looked at Shiv and narrowed his eyes. “Who’s this? Do you Abyssals have some kind of team Necromancer?”

Shiv opened his helmet again. Adam blinked. “Shiv?”

“Hey, Young Lord,” Shiv said. He looked appreciatively at the bodies. “I see you’ve been busy too.”

“I would have been less busy if I had my armor,” Adam said, frowning at his cuts. He paused and looked at Shiv again. “Shiv—what the hells are you wearing?”

“Bone armor,” Shiv said with a straight face. “I harvested them from my corpse. Now I got an inside and outside skeleton. A dagger and a bone drill too.” He made the bone drill hover beside him. “Pretty cool, huh?”

The Young Lord hesitated for a moment. Shiv saw him wanting to disagree, but then Adam sighed. “Yeah… Yeah, it really kind of is.”

Shiv grinned. “I knew it.”

“But still, your own body? That’s… demented. I always knew you had problems, I just didn’t know how severe.”

Shiv frowned. “Some of us have to be resourceful, Adam. Some of us don’t have Legendary armor gifted to us by daddy.”

“Well, until I see daddy’s Legendary armor, I’m not going forward.” Adam said, cocking his head at the chamber.

“Why?” Shiv asked. “What could be so—oh.”

And there, in the corner of the teleportation chamber, was a dark, narrow crevice framed by a dense weave of webbing. A stream of blood led into the blackness—and three severed Weaveress limbs lay in a puddle right before the portal.

“That Yunni elf—whatever her name was—vanished down this hole while I was occupied. A couple of the invisible spiders went in after them and didn’t come back out,” Adam said. “That was ten minutes ago.”

“That,” the young Umbral from Uva’s began. “Should not be there. That is not an approved spatial tunnel. I’m sure of it. I’m not much of a Jump Mage yet, but… that spell pattern is wrong—it’s stealing parts from the existing containment spells. It doesn’t lead anywhere.”

“Maybe not outside,” Shiv muttered. “What about to another teleportation chamber? Or all of them.”

The young Umbral stared at him for a moment before her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, shit.”

“Composer protect us,” one of the Weaveresses whispered in the back.

Shiv stared off into the darkness for a few moments and sighed. “Well. Looks like we’re taking a walk into the dark.” He reached out and extracted another bone dagger from his drill—a dagger he offered to Adam.

The Young Lord arched an eyebrow at the weapon. “Really? I already got a bow and a ‘borrowed’ sword. I just need my armor.”

“For when the claustrophobic knife fight inevitably begins,” Shiv insisted.