The Fusionist Book 4 -- Chapter 46

Chapter 46

A sudden pressure against mind nearly knocked him unconscious as he struggled to keep from collapsing completely onto the floor of the extremely dark tunnel. Closing his eyes and feeling everything going on inside of his body, similar to how he felt for his Mana, he sensed that the Umbral Demon was attempting to seep into every facet of his flesh, muscles, and bones. The sensation was like a cold plunge into an icy lake, as he felt his body lethargically succumb to the numbness of the intrusion; whatever the Demon was doing was beginning by essentially shutting down any physical resistance – and it was working.

Larek didn’t feel it when all of his struggles proved to be for naught as he lost control of his body and he collapsed on the floor, completely helpless against anything that might choose to attack him at that point. Fortunately, as well as unfortunately, the only dangerous threat inside the dark tunnel was the Demon that was even now concentrating on taking over his mind and then whatever constituted his soul, replacing it with its own.

Unable to feel the pain directly, the Combat Fusionist nonetheless sensed the Demon working against his mind like a vise, surrounding his consciousness like a wet and heavy blanket on top of a fire in order to smother all the life inside of it.  He did everything he could to fight back, but despite having high mental stats in Intellect and Acuity, it was like trying to fight against a Gergasi with his bare hands; in other words, he was completely defenseless against the assault.

When his awareness of his surroundings faded as the information from his senses was snuffed out one-by-one, and his thoughts were reduced to repeatedly reproaching himself for being stupid enough to walk into a dark tunnel while just recently learning about the threats found within the deepest and darkest places in the world, Larek knew that this was the end. A tenuous connection to the mind of the Demon gave him glimpses into their methodology in replacing souls and how they planned to take over the world. Or more accurately, destroy every living thing within it.

Just like the monsters he had fought, as well as what had happened to Serena, the cold darkness that suffused his entire body wasn’t designed just to paralyze him temporarily, but would eventually consume the flesh, replacing it with the solidified shadows of which the Demons were also composed. When the victim was killed afterward, their bodies would dissolve and disperse into the shadows in which it was made – which was exactly what happened when he killed Serena and the others, as they left no corpse behind. That was what would happen to Larek in a short time, after his soul was essentially destroyed and replaced by the Demon’s will.

After his consciousness was quarantined within his own mind, it would remain the only part of Larek that would remain him, giving the new host of his body access to all the information and even abilities that were available. It would essentially become him in nearly every way possible, and no one would even know it.

Except that the Drekkin could somehow detect when someone was taken over by an Umbral Demon, and they would bind them with a metal that possessed special properties that restricted the amount of information and abilities they could access. The understanding he received from the Demon’s mind was that they absolutely hated even the thought of this special Enexro metal and was why they were now working to eliminate the Drekkin underneath the desert so that knowledge of its creation was eradicated entirely. Once it was no longer a threat to the Demons, there was nothing to stop them from killing everything in the world.

Why? That would be because there was no way to kill an Umbral Demon entirely, and killing a host too early would only unleash what was inside to wreak havoc on other unsuspecting victims.  When a Demon took over a new host, they only left a portion of their natural forms inside of them like a seed, which grew as it consumed the flesh of the body over time; essentially, it was a way for them to reproduce. When the host died before the brand-new demon was fully formed, it would have a chance to escape and attack any other life form nearby. He could only assume that when Serena was found to have been taken over by a Demon it was in its earliest stages, so that was why she was bound by the Enexro necklace and sent out of their lands – to make her someone else’s problem.

With the sudden appearance of Corrupted monsters through Scissions and later Apertures, the Umbral Demons found something unprecedented – a living being without a soul. Because of this, once they took over their minds and replaced their flesh with solidified shadows, they didn’t need to stay within their victims in order to control them; they became extensions of the Demons’ wills after they replaced the controlling influence that the Corruption had over them. While the Corruption in them was still present, the Demons had effectively hijacked control with minimal effort.

What was even worse? With each monster they “consumed”, they were able to reproduce, meaning that there were effectively tens of thousands of them down below the desert of Lowenthal, with more being produced every day. They were an unstoppable army of silent killers, and there would be very little defense against them once they eliminated the Drekkin and broke out into the world.

Not that Larek could do anything about it, because he was quickly becoming their latest victim.

There was a sudden detached feeling that suffused his consciousness, as he sensed that his connection with the Demon’s mind had fully isolated what made Larek himself and took over completely. As much as he thought he should be frantically raving and mentally demanding that the Demon let his consciousness free, all he could do was docilely and detachedly experience his soul being essentially ripped out of his body and replaced with a foreign will.

At least, that was what the Umbral Demon desired to happen… but the result wasn’t what either of them expected.

As soon as the invader moved on after fully subduing Larek’s body and mind, touching the soul that it needed to destroy and replace with its own, the Demon was hit with a violent spiritual backlash. The Combat Fusionist sensed rather than saw the Pattern Cohesion that suffused his very being act like an impenetrable energetic shield that protected his soul, and the Umbral Demon’s invasive tendrils weren’t only repelled but utterly destroyed.

A mental screech of pain nearly ripped his own consciousness apart due to being connected with his attacker’s mind, but the isolating barrier keeping it separate worked in his favor to keep it intact. It was the only thing that allowed him to concentrate on what happened next, as the enraged Demon apparently decided that it wasn’t going to take no for an answer and counterattacked the defenses in place, throwing everything it had at what Larek pictured as a glowing barrier around the center of his being, where his soul supposedly resided.

That was the Demon’s first and last mistake.

Rather than passively repelling the all-out attack by the Demon, Larek’s Pattern Cohesion moved within him like it was alive and had a mind of its own. While it wasn’t something visible, the sense he got was that the powerful Cohesion struck out at the attacking Demon and captured it in a blinding glow of unfathomable power. Reaching out with tendrils of energy, it began to rip apart the main core of the Demon and burned away the scraps, before doing something that sucked in every trace of its presence within his body. When it was all gathered together, it was smothered and ground into tiny motes of shadow like some herbs inside a mortar and pestle. Even those shadowy motes were quickly burned away by the intense energy inherent in his Pattern Cohesion, leaving not a single indication that the Umbral Demon had ever been there. Then, as if it was satisfied with a job well done, the sensation of his Cohesion faded away until he couldn’t detect it any more than he normally did.

As soon as the last trace of the Demon was completely eradicated, Larek’s consciousness was freed from the enveloping darkness that had isolated it within his own mind, and he was immediately disoriented by the influx of information streaming in from his senses all over his recovering body. Sucking in a deep breath as if he had been starved for air, he coughed at the scratchy feeling in his throat even as he tried to make sense of what had happened.

Opening his eyes, he had to close them quickly as he was nearly blinded by his Directional Illumination Fusion’s cone of light bouncing off the nearby wall, which was more reflective than he expected. With a groan, he crawled over to the stone rod and used his senses of pinpointing Fusions to slip his hands around it, before turning the Magnitude down to 2, hoping that it would be enough to see by.

It definitely turned out to be enough, considering that the oppressive darkness of the tunnel had disappeared entirely. Sure, it was still dark because there were no veins of glowing crystals like there were out in the main tunnel. Slowly getting to his knees as he looked around the tunnel he had entered what felt like hours ago, he was nearly knocked over again as he received some notifications.

Pattern Manipulation Skill has been unlocked!

Pattern Manipulation Skill has reached Level 1!

…..

Pattern Manipulation Skill has reached Level 10!

Congratulations!

Due to your intensive study of spell patterns, Fusion formations, and your own internal Pattern Cohesion, you have unlocked the PatternalSpecialization!

Requirements:

Pattern Manipulation Skill of 10

Pattern Formation Skill of 10

Pattern Recognition Skill of 10

Intellect of at least 10

Acuity of at least 10

Pneuma of at least 20

The Patternal Specialization also provides these benefits:

Ability to manipulate up to 10% of your Pattern Cohesion outside of spell patterns and Fusion formations

Ability to gradually manipulate your internal pattern

5% reduction in Pattern Cohesion requirements for all spells and Fusions

Do you wish to accept this Specialization? Yes / No

As Larek tried to look over the notifications, his body spasmed slightly as he instantly gained 10 Levels in a brand-new Skill that he’d just unlocked: Pattern Manipulation. After a few moments he had recovered and was able to fully concentrate on what it all said.

He had no idea what the new Skill was all about until he saw the new Specialization for something called Patternal, and it appeared to be an extremely basic Specialization considering its requirements. With only needing “Pattern”-related Skills at 10 and the highest stat at only 20, he suspected that this was something that most Mages should be able to acquire while at an Academy, if it wasn’t for the fact that he hadn’t heard of Pattern Manipulation before. He had a fairly good feeling that no one else knew of it, either, otherwise he probably would’ve been told about it at some point.

When he looked at the benefits for the Specialization, he began to understand what exactly this Manipulation Skill did when it came to his Cohesion. Thinking about what it had done against the Umbral Demon, he realized that his Pattern Cohesion could be manipulated in ways he had had never considered before. While he knew it could be used in the creation of spell patterns and Fusion formations, because he was taught that was all it could do, in reality it was so much more. Even now, he could feel a portion of it waiting to be called upon to be used in different ways inside and outside of his body in different ways.

As far as inside his body, protective shields around his soul was the obvious usage, but he thought that he might be able to move it around and use it to protect his mind from outside influences. For external purposes, he was fairly certain that he could pull it out and, instead of creating a pattern for a spell or a Fusion, he could change it in a way that would act as an external shield against attacks. It was a bit limited in application right now, as he thought he might be able to make a small circular plate of flattened Pattern Cohesion to help block an incoming blow, but as the Skill Level increased, he figured he might be able to do more – possibly even cover his entire body.

But it was more than just defense, as he could also use it to coat the blade edge of his axe, giving it the qualities of his own Pattern Cohesion, which seemed to have some sort of strength against the shadowy Umbral Demons. He wasn’t sure what else it might be good for, but for now, that was enough for him.

The other benefit from this new Specialization, which said something about gradually manipulating his internal pattern, Larek was largely unsure of what that meant. He could only assume it that it meant he could alter some things about his own pattern, but why would he want to do that? And what kind of side effects would that have if he decided, for some reason, to try it?  Those were questions that he didn’t try and answer at the moment, because that wasn’t as important as getting out of the tunnel he was in.

Not because he was eager to leave, however. His opinion had changed on fleeing somewhat since an Umbral Demon had tried to not just kill him but take over his body and pretend to be him. Most others might take his survival as a lucky break and get out of there before it happened again; while Larek was usually of that same mind, his experience of being entirely helpless and basically watching as his body was taken over bit by bit, knowing that he would essentially be a prisoner in his own mind for the rest of existence was enough to convince him that he didn’t want that to happen to another living person.

Whether they were someone from the Sealance Empire, one of these Drekkin he had heard about, people from his own Kingdom of Androthe, or any other land around the world, he knew he had to stop these things before they could spread from underneath the desert. The Drekkin might think it was impossible to kill the sneaky Umbral Demons, but Larek was fairly certain he had found the key to their demise. There were still a lot of unknowns, and there were apparently a lot of them down in the tunnels and near the Aperture according to what he picked up by the alien mind of the Demon that he had killed, but he was determined to stop them here and fight them with every bit of his abilities.

Apparently that informational notification knew me better than I know myself. Fight well, indeed!