Magic Breaker Ch 7-9

Chapter 7: Civil Disobedience

Thatch stares up at her. His mom is a tall woman, almost as tall as Inu, and built. He’d said she was a fitness trainer. Right now, I’m rather sure she could fold me in half. Unless I suppress her.

I blink. Right, I shouldn’t be thinking of how to deal with her that way. This was a problem to solve with words. 

Reaffirming myself, I give her a short nod. “Okay. Why?”

“Have you looked outside?” she asks, a small sneer on her face. “That’s not safe. We’ll die.”

She has the same kinda blonde hair as Thatch, all brushed to one side and the other one shaved short. Her eyes are focussed on me, and I almost wanna shrink back. But I don’t.

“We won’t,” I tell her. “Staying is more deadly. Stronger monsters will appear.”

“How do you know?” she asks.

“We saw one. Living thing made of shadow. Do you want to be strong enough to defeat them, or do you want to die?” I ask.

At that, I see her eyebrows furrow. “Tough words.”

“You need to hear them,” I tell her. “Right now? We can go outside. It’s risky, sure. But I don’t plan to spend the rest of my life at the mercy of what may come.”

She bites her lips. I can see her defenses crumbling. Then, Thatch helps. He lightly taps her shoulder with a fist. “That’s what I’ve been saying mom! We need levels!”

Her head falls slightly. “Fine,” she says. I don’t know if she’s ready for the horror… but I think she has a better chance than Inu’s parents. “But we head for supplies-”

“We head for Opal. They live nearby,” I say. 

Again, her eyes focus on me. She doesn’t even seem angry, and she doesn’t dismiss me, either. I’m not young enough for her to do that. 

“Fine then,” she lets up. “You’re Snow, right? Name’s Bay. If you’re gonna boss us around, you better keep my son alive.”

I nod. “I will die before him, if that’s what it takes.”

Bay looks at me, and she sees that I mean every word. At that, surprise and a small smile play on her lips. “Alright, Snow. Lead the way.”

- - -

Opal lived alone, having moved out. They had begun working on coding during their college times and gotten a full-time job instantly once they were out of it. Their flat wasn’t too far away, but the streets were slowly turning more chaotic again.

Turns out that when goblins were throwing rocks through windows, people weren’t exactly prone to staying calm. When we left Thatch’s house, police were gathering outside. It had only been a matter of time, really.

By now, we were a few hours into the apocalypse. The eyes in the sky made phone reception spotty at best, though emergency alerts still worked, luckily. But people were starting to worry.

The news had no explanation for the sudden phenomenon, and the blood splatters left on the road. There were corpses in the streets - humans and goblins, slowly disintegrating - and people saw. From their windows. 

It was that time when preppers headed to their bunkers with their guns, to ride it all out. It was that time when kids who played games and read stories experimented with the status. It was when people first figured out that they had power, and others don’t.

In short, when we left the house, there was a gunshot.

A deafening noise in the quiet streets. Norman and Jess flinched. I saw a man drop to the floor. The police officer stared in disbelief in the air. I tried to imagine what she must be reading. Something like…

[You have killed a lv. 0 Human]

Maybe level one, though I doubt much higher. The man laid on the floor, bleeding. I imagine the way the box must be disintegrating in front of her eyes. Bay is the first to act, striding towards the policewoman. 

More strangers do, too. People from the group the man was a part of were split between pushing forward and drawing back. Another police officer is on the floor, unconscious. I think he’s not dead because he isn’t bleeding.

“Excuse me,” Bay announces her presence. The police officer turns, reflexively pointing the gun at her. At that, Bay’s eyes widen and things dawn on her. I watch. Bay stops, slowly raising her hands. “I mean you no harm, ma’am,” she says.

“Stand back,” the policewoman replies, whisper-quiet.

“Please, I-”

“Stand Back!!!” she screams. Her voice pierces right into my head, making it hurt. The dark thing under my skin writhes, moving to acquiesce her command. I grit my teeth, remaining standing, pitting my will and the dregs of mana I’d recovered against the little creature underneath my skin.

The woman pants, falling to a knee, her hand holding the gun shaking. Everything’s quiet, moments passing. The group the dead man had originally been part of slowly retreats. Bay stands there, frozen, her hands still in the air.

Dropping the gun, the policewoman brings both hands to her face and sobbed. “Fuck,” she mutters. “Fuck. What did I just… shit. Holy shit.”

Bay slowly approaches. “Ma’am, I’m coming closer,” she warns. 

I eye Inu. “Use your skill,” I say.

She looks at me for a long second, then nods quietly. I see the policewoman tense slightly, but her breathing becomes a little more even. She gets to share some of my calm. I hope Inu doesn’t get to feel my pain through the skill.

Given the look she was currently boring into me, she does. I focus more on [Suppression].

Bay reaches the officer, laying a hand on her shoulder. “Ma’am, can you tell me your name?”

She shakes again. “It’s… Alea. Alea Wilson.” 

Thatch’s mother nods. “Alright, Alea. I’m Bay. This is my son, Thatch, his friends, and another set of parents. Could you… explain what happened to us?”

“I killed him,” she says. “I shot him at point blank and… it said I levelled up.” She breaks into a small chuckle, defeated. “What the hell does that even mean.”

It wasn’t a question, not really, but Bay still answers. She takes a moment. “This is… like a video game, in the real world. Things get powers through levels. Can you say the word ‘status’ for me?” she asks.

The policewoman shakes, still on the floor. Obediently, she opens her mouth. “Status.”

From there, her eyes move left to right, reading. She saw her name, the floor, her level, her skills… And then something in her eyes lights up. I know that. Dangerous.

I turn to Thatch. “Tell her to come back.”

Just like Inu before, he knows me. He recognizes my tone of voice. “Mom? Come back to us, please.”

She turns, confused, and hesitates. The policewoman grabs her leg. “Stay,” Alea [Commands].

Bay freezes. “Yes, Ma’am,” she says, voice obedient and empty. 

Thatch’s face falls. He seems so disappointed, so sad, and I feel my blood boil. “Thatch?” I ask. “Are you angry right now?”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“Kill that pig,” I tell him.

I [Select] the woman. It’s hard maintaining two targets at the same time, abhorrently hard, but it’s fine. I can do it. But [Suppression]? I forget about the thing underneath my skin, about the pain it will cause me. I target the woman, I target her insidious, horrible command.

Pain burns through my side as the inky infection moves again, but I don’t care. I see Thatch take a step, then two, then three. The policewoman freezes. She got hit by my [Suppression], and I imagine Thatch’s [Piercing Gaze] at the same time. She barely even responds when he slams his fist into her face with the crunch of breaking bones.

The officer’s head crashes into the pavement, brutally. Her skull breaks, blood pooling underneath her head. Thatch instantly stops, takes a breath, then stretches out a hand to his mother. “Hey, mom? Can we move on?” The street is quiet.

Bay turns to him, her eyes glassy with the faint sheen of tears. “Yeah,” she says. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to just… leave you. I’ll listen next time.”

Thatch smiles. “All okay,” he says, lightly tapping her shoulder. “Don’t even worry about it.” 

Norman’s face twists in disgust. Jess seems both horrified and unsurprised. Inu simply stares at the corpses. We approach.

The other officer is also dead. The man probably had a skill to hurt people without outward injuries. We move on from the three corpses, before they can attract scavengers.

Chapter 8: Shelter

[Level up! 2 > 3]

I stand above the broken corpse of another goblin, looking at my increased level. I add its knife to the dozen strapped to me as I allocate two points to heart, and one to vessel.

Lv. 3

Heart: 5

Power: 2

Vessel: 9

All my stats have increased naturally. I’ve scraped the bottom of my mana pool as I keep [Suppression] active on the little creature under my skin. My heart increased once, naturally, from fighting off the foreign infection.

Now, with two more points, some of that pain fades. My blood vessels are healing, knitting themselves back together. I need to survive, and so, while I want to use my skills more, I put the points into heart.

I shiver as my blood flows faster. I can almost feel myself become healthier. The dark thing starts to struggle even more, but the point in vessel has given me some more mana to work with, so I intensify my mental hold on it.

‘Suck it,’ I think at the creature.

With the heightened stats, I also feel that tingling more clearly. There is mana inside me, in the air around me, and within my companions. I’m sure that it’s not the only thing that can fuel skills, but it sure seems to be what fuels most of them. 

It makes me wanna master it. To be able to use it. I reach out, but it’s entirely pointless. The mana in the air doesn’t respond to me at all, doesn’t want to be mine. All I have to use are the pitiful amounts appearing in my vessel, like water vapour condensing up against a cold window.

Taking a deep breath, I keep moving. The others have killed their goblins. This time it was a group, and it’s only thanks to Norman that we’re unhurt. He’s rather good at casting his barriers at opportune times and stabbing the goblins who are busy with us while unnoticed.

A barrier casting rogue. Jess is a butchering ice-mage. Bay is a controller, with some kind of stun ability. Thatch is a mix between a scout and a barbarian, Inu a supporter-juggernaut.

What does that make me? I think I’ve barely scratched the surface of [Selection], but [Suppression] would make me a debuffer. I’m the person who softens up the enemies for the kill. 

I wince as my mind wanders, bringing it back to the task of stopping the thing that is inside my body. I can’t hurt it in there. Whenever I try to hit it, it moves, or squishes, unbothered. It doesn’t respond to cutting or blunt force.

By now, I kind of consider asking Jess to freeze it, but I don’t think that’d go well with it still inside my body. Then, there is that new thing that I don’t quite like the feel of. 

[You have caught the Eye of the Creeping Darkness.]

Waving my hand through the box, I watch as it falls apart into stardust and nothingness. But I remember. I look at the sky, full of thousands of eyes. Does one of them seem focussed on me? I can’t tell. All of them seem to watch everything all at once.

Thatch puts a hand on my shoulder. “You good?” he asks me, out loud, then leans in closer and whispers. “I don’t want to freak you out, Snow, but… I think there’s some kind of shadow thing inside you.”

It’s quiet enough to not alarm the rest of the party. I smile at his antics. “Yeah,” I reply to his first question, then I turn my voice to a whisper. “I know. It’s under control… somewhat. For now. You get it.”

He gives me a long, quiet look. “Glad to hear it,” he says, then smiles brightly. And then, he backs off.

That trust was why Thatch was my friend. Why I chose him, like I had chosen Inu and Opal and Sylves. Why I couldn’t let any of them die. Why I need to find Opal. But when we get to their apartment after a few hours of walking, it’s empty.

No sight of my friend. 

I stand in front of the open, empty door frame for a long moment. Their apartment is a mess. Someone looted it, maybe one of their neighbours. But there’s no blood. Everything of importance is gone. No electronics, bedding strewn across the floor, an open balcony door, letting in the cold air.

Inu puts a hand on my shoulder, and I let her, staring at the empty apartment. The sky is starting to darken outside.

“We should… stay the night here,” I say. It feels so bleak. Like giving up, like leaving my friends to die. Opal and Sylves. 

“Fine by me,” Bay shrugs. “I’ll check to see if any of the other apartements have more bedding. Not keen to sleep on the floor.”

Norman simply collapses into the messy bed. Opal’s bed. I’m about to call him out, but choke the words in my throat.

Inu stands by me, and Thatch gives me a mournful smile as he sits on the floor, leaning against the wall. 

“They’re not here,” I tell Inu, and she nods. 

“Yeah,” she says. “Think they went looking for us?”

I nod. “Maybe. They’re the heroic type, right?” A thin smile worms its way onto my lips at the thought.

She chuckles at that. A tiny, warm noise. “Definitely. Who knows, maybe Sylves is with them.”

A small bit of hope. “That’d be nice,” I say.

Then, Jess speaks up. “Do you have your own family, Snow?” she asks. “You talk about your friends so much. Don’t you want to-”

“Mom!” Inu interrupts her. She says more than that, but the damage is done. I’m not listening anymore. Their conversation fades.

I don’t know whether Opal is alive. One of my friends. Inu, Thatch, Opal, Sylves. One of them might be dead. And she asks about my family? 

For a brief second, I consider killing her. 

I look at Jess and put the option on the scale. Inu is next to her, holding her shoulder. She’s talking, probably explaining. I take a deep breath. 

“Inu?” I call out, quietly. She looks at me, her eyes wide with worry. No fear. “I don’t mind explaining myself.”

At that, she nods. “Okay,” she says. No questions. No pushing. She makes it so easy, I smile.

“Jess. My parents live elsewhere. I don’t think my time is well spent worrying about them. Yes, I have more family. A brother and a sister. Aunts, uncles, all of that. But my friends? They live nearby. I can help them. People who I personally choose to be around,” I say. Every single word is true.

She nods, slowly. “I… see,” she says.

“Right. You see, I get to choose my friends. And I take that choice very seriously. I would die for your daughter. Without hesitation. I would kill for her, you understand?”

Again, she nods.

“That same thing goes for the others. For Thatch. For Opal, for Sylves. I choose to be friends with them, and so, I intend to stick to that responsibility,” I say.

Her answer doesn’t matter. I’m not listening to it. The crawling, squirming mass of ink in my side is acting up again, brushing against my bones. Digging through my flesh like an army of maggots. It hurts, piercing agony. And I don’t [Suppress] the pain, not at all.

Instead, I [Suppress] the thing. I minimize its movements and damage. Still, as I sit on the hardwood floor, leaning my back against the drywall, I let myself feel the pain. My face is neutral, unempathetic, and I reach into my bag, putting on my headphones, playing some music and tuning out the noise the others make. Then, I touch a hand to my side.

It tingles. The mana in the air feels like faint pinpricks against my fingers. Hours pass as the others forage. I eat some more of the ranger store supplies, feeling the tingling mana contrast against the writhing underneath my skin.

The thing moves in tune to my heartbeat. It eats my flesh, slowly, suppressed by my will.

But I can tell one thing. As it eats me up from the inside…

It’s growing.

Chapter 9: Nighttime

One by one, my party members fall asleep. 

Inu and Thatch know that I’m hurt. They can see it. Thatch saw the blotch of darkness beneath my skin, Inu can feel my pain through [Empathy]. And yet, they tell no one. 

I smile. Their trust means the world to me. I trust them in turn. The same way I trust Opal and Sylves. They’re out there, somewhere, I’m sure.

Slowly, the sky grows darker. 

With the eyes in the sky, the day was already a little gloomy, but now? They eclipse almost all the stars. Dozens, hundreds of pupils in the sky, staring down. Unblinking.

Taking a deep breath, I ignore them.

Darkness creeps in, heavier than it usually does in the city. The streetlights go on, then flicker out. There is a droning to the darkness, an ominous quality that feels like it might get up and slither in through the window. 

The thing beneath my skin starts writhing more, and the pain keeps me awake. Every notion of sleep flees when my brain is reminded that there is a living thing currently burrowing inside me. 

Over and over, I clamp down on it with my mind. [Suppression] activates again and again. It feels like each cast is building a more sturdy prison, like I’m caging the thing in, bar by bar. But it writhes. It fights.

It’s growing, consuming me. And with night falling, I think it’s becoming stronger.  Minutes tick by, and the pain gets worse. My skin prickles with mana. The world has changed. 

I adjust, splitting my mind as best I can. A part of it is focussed on maintaining the cage on the inky creature, another part is just… thinking. Trying to stay away from the pain. What does this world mean for me?

Violence is what comes to mind first. It means violence. Humans aren’t exactly kind creatures, to the world, to each other. And with the potential for power when killing each other? This world doesn’t exactly seem to encourage kindness, or mercy.

But, at the same time, I feel a sense of wonder. 

Yeah, there is a living thing currently killing me, but so what? I can feel mana tingling against my hand as I move it through the darkness that spills into the room like ink. The air feels heavy to breathe, pressing against my chest. It’s the kinda presence that makes it all feel real.

This feels meaningful. Like I have a purpose. No endless grinding at some kind of dead-end job, no long nights of writing papers I couldn’t care less about. There is something pure to this situation.

Me against the world.

It’s simple, really. I kill whoever I choose to kill, I protect whoever I choose to protect. And that thing whose attention I caught… Creeping Darkness, right?

“I know you’re out there,” I whisper. “Come the hell at me.”

No reply. The minutes tick by, and I refocus my efforts on caging the inky monster. I can’t sleep, so I focus. I think. I try to practice, feeling the scraps of energy in my vessel, shifting them around.

And then, the darkness turns thicker. Ever thicker, until I cannot see the room anymore. Midnight hits.

There is no clock telling me so, I just know.

As the entire world turns black, words dig into my vision, glowing bright in my retina.

[Congratulations!]

[You have survived the first day. Second stage of descent imminent. Prepare.]

Within that darkness, I feel prickling on my skin. It’s heavy, and unlike the usual slight tingling, this is more intense. Like needles, painlessly piercing my skin. A thousand of them, all over my body. 

Something within me changes. It feels like someone is taking my nervous system, and numbing it, then moving it around. I experience the sensation of my insides turning liquid and malleable, but there is no pain. Not even a hint of it. The absence is almost bizarre, since I feel like there should be some kind of agony.

None.

[Sensory alterations applied. Physical and Mental limits lifted.]

[Initializing terraforming.]

Things instantly feel different. Despite the numbness, I can feel the ground rumbling beneath me. Earth would no longer be the same after this change. 

[Planets merged. Dungeons created.]

And that is all. The ground stops shaking. It was so faint that I can almost convince myself I imagined it, but no. As the darkness recedes, things are different.

The first things I notice are those “sensory alterations” it mentioned. This system doesn’t seem to like giving out much information, but I can feel the difference. It’s visceral, and incredible.

Before, mana had felt like tingling pinpricks on my skin, but after the first day? I can feel it. The way it flows from my vessel and through my body, the channels it follows, the way it has to burrow through my flesh.

I activate [Suppression] and see the way it spills into patterns, writhes inside me. It coils and contorts, then resonates with the world. It follows the smokey, greyish tendril of [Selection] and latches onto the inky blot inside me. 

And then it settles on it. Like a heavy weight, crushing the thing. 

My mind feels fresh. My body, too, feels… more limber. Easier to move. Not stronger, but less limited. As if the ceiling was removed and I could finally see the sky.

Despite the writhing pain in my abdomen I smile. 

Slowly, carefully, I lift a hand. I pull the tiniest wisp of mana from my core, guide it into my palm, then out of it. A wisp of energy floats in the air, and, unlike the ambient mana, still feels like mine.

It’s like a tether between me and it. A faint connection, not quite like [Selection] but similar. It’s like a piece of me. I consider suppressing it, but disregard the notion. But as it is, as a wisp, it’s not useful.

Wrapping my mind around it, I push. The wisp condenses into a smaller area. Into a droplet, then even more. I press on it with my mind. It feels playful, like a toy, even though it’s hard. I push some more, and the mana eventually obeys.

It condenses further, the tiny drop of it becoming an even smaller little crystal. It’s like a grain of rice but sharper. I grin. I made that.

[New Skill acquired!]

[Solidification 0 > 1]

My grin grows wider, and I hold the tiny grain of mana in my hand, close up to my eye. It’s fun. It’s so fun, pushing the world around with my mind. I want to do it more. 

The pain in my abdomen isn’t what’s keeping me up anymore. It’s raw curiosity. What else can I do with mana? What else is out there for me to find? I wanna see it. Wanna see it all. Wanna show it to Inu and Thatch and Opal and Sylves. 

We merged with a new planet, too, it said. This thing might be stingy, but it at least told me that much. And dungeons. What else is there?

Classes and jobs, for sure. Maybe quests? Legendary items? Magitech? It says Earth is floor zero, so maybe some kind of tower? I look at the eyes in the sky, stretching my left hand upwards as I close my right around the tiny grain of mana. 

The Eyes look down on me, and for a moment, I think they’re all focussed on me. The smile on my face grows manic. “Just you wait,” I tell them, quietly. “I’ll come up there and see what you really look like.”

I wanna see this new world. Every bit of it. I wanna see just how far I can go.