Wish upon the Stars (Original Superhero cultivation sci fi litrpg)

[Malcolm Tent]

Looking at the small town (or settlement or whatever you wanted to call it) in front of us, I was blown away. Not because it was nicer or more intricately crafted than most Ascendant cities I'd seen so far, but exactly the opposite.

The Underdistrict, as Griff called it, was unique in that the whole thing seemed to have been thrown together at a moment's notice out of whatever people had lying around. Not that the resulting buildings weren't beautiful, but it was in a messy, unfinished sort of way. Square shacks and booths and even small buildings built from cans and trash can lids and shuttle parts, all somehow merged into a singular whole while showing exactly what they had been.

Noticing our staring, Griff chuckled. "This place gets raided semi-regularly. Everyone knows we're down here, and the big wigs don't drive us off completely because this continent is so big they would lose track of us, but they come down and wreck things every so often to put the fear of the gods in us."

I heard the bitterness in his tone, and I might have sympathized…except this whole place was literally made from scratch by the gods. They could have just gone to another planet where things were less stringent.

Not that I couldn't see what upset them. In another life I could have seen myself maybe siding with them, but there was too much here I didn't like. The gods that Hatescream had recruited seemed pretty objectionable, and the Horned Lords were kind of dicks. I liked some of them, but I wouldn't lose sleep over switching sides when it was time.

For now though, I was supposed to be blending in, so Callie and I ooh'ed and aah'ed along with everyone else, and followed Griff into a big ramshackle steel building made out of lift parts and what I was pretty sure was a smashed flat dumpster.

Inside, we found a series of tables made from melded metals, and in the back, a big bar top with a man behind it polishing a glass. The man in question was amiable and quiet, with close cropped brown hair and a big curling mustache over a vest and a button up white shirt. He had a bolo tie around his neck, and smiled calmly when we approached. "Griff." He said to our boss with a nod.

"Meechum." He said with a grin. He flipped him a chit. "I need todays patrol schedules and about two dozen beers." He turned and gave us all an understanding smile. "See a bunch of cringing faces here. You could all use a little hair of the dog."

I'd rather be drinking ACTUAL dog hair than more booze, but at least beer was pretty light alcohol by volume. Something else caught my attention though. "Patrols?" I asked curiously. "I thought they didn't care about people being down here? At least not most of the time, what are the patrols for?"

"Down here they can take or leave." He explained. "But deeper takes you into the parts of the flipside where they do actual maintenance. Messing with that stuff can actually cause damage to the continent, albeit not on a scale that would be anything but annoying. We don't interfere with that level of enchantment or machine though. That's a good way to get dead."

I nodded in understanding. "So…" I glanced at the smiling man filling mugs. "Meechum knows the patrol schedules and sells them, and no one does anything about it?"

"Does anything?" Snorted Griff. "Meechum is a member of the Freeholders Guild. A collection of powerful independents that act kind of like a clan. They have five S-rankers, and are probably one of the most powerful factions after the main six. Not counting solo monsters like Lark or Draylen Dread."

I raised an eyebrow at that last name, but he just glossed over it like it was common knowledge. "Anyway, we need to plot a course and time it so we avoid the patrols, so feel free to get something to eat. The baked potatoes here are amazing. Feel free to look around before we leave."

He turned and wandered off, and I shrugged, ordering a pair of baked potatoes for me and Callie before heading to one of the tables to sit down. The potato was so hot I could barely hold it and they'de like…injected butter into it somehow. Ever inch was a buttery white hot dream, and I found myself eating it so fast and I barely noticed it was gone.

"Terrible manners." Drawled a random member of the Horned Lords as he sat down. "Is that the way I raised you?"

I froze, blinking at the man uncertainly. He wasn't familiar, a freckled man with alternating green and red locks of braided hair. I shot Callie a thought and she covered us in Stealth as I gaped at the man. "Zeke?"

He chuckled at that. "Well I could hardly follow you down here as I was. I grabbed one of the newer members and made a temporary mask."

My eyes roved over his form, my Perception straining, and I whistled as I failed to find a single issue. No hints that he was who I knew he was. Because now that he said it I COULD tell. Something about his demeanor and the way he spoke. This was my uncle. "What the hell are you doing down here?" I hissed.

"My job." He snorted. "Flipside is designed for isolation. Even A and S-rankers can't listen in to what goes on down here. I can't get involved unless you're attacked, but my testimony might be useful, and in case someone DOES attack you, I need to be here to help."

I looked around. "Is Callen here? He was with you right? Did you bring him with?"

"He's around." He nodded. "Making a mask from an E-ranker takes about as much effort as making a sandwich. Though these aren't made well. They'll last three days." He seemed proud of himself, and I understood why. I'd never seen Zeke do this whole…turning into another person, thing, until he killed the Duke and hit A-rank. It was clearly a higher level application of his Path.

I checked to make sure everyone was ok (they were with my mom right now) and then he got up and left. It would have been suspicious for whoever he was supposed to be to hang around with us too long. Once he was gone, Callie and I got another pair of baked potatoes and then called over the others, Stealthing and filling them in on what we'd learned.

Abel seemed unsurprised. "I assumed he was here. After they told us about the blocking properties this place had he'd have needed to follow us. I assume you caught him up on what you learned inside the bubble from that disruption earring?"

"Right after I got some time alone I sent him the info via scan ring." I glanced around. "We're conspicuous grouped up like this. Let's split up and sightsee, get a feel for this place. I don't want to do anything too noticeable until we get back topside."

Everyone agreed, and we split up. I noticed a tall bald man following Chelsea, Bethy, and Gabe, but given Callen was around, I assumed either he was the one following them or whoever it actually was would be wishing they weren't before long. Callie and Iwere on our own, with Mel and Abel doing their thing, so we took the time to just take a romantic walk.

"Those baked potatoes were so good." Callie groaned. "I totally want another one. I wonder if any of these other places have food like that."

I chuckled. "They were pretty good. We can look around for some more food. I think I saw a place making funnel cakes, and another with popcorn. Reminds me of the circus almost." I could have sworn I saw caramel apples, and I was on the lookout for those.

One of the things that really entranced me about this place was the vibe. I could see people I'd noticed topside in cloaks slipping out of alleys between buildings. Towering pillars and stairways connected us to the surface, obvious maintenance exits from high rise buildings up above. It was like an entire secret world beneath the surface.

You'd think with the WCP I'd be used to that, but the palace had never really been secret. Even back in Valen we knew it was there. This place though, I bet plenty of the topsiders didn't even know it existed. Knowing it had to be rebuilt on the regular made it even more amazing, and part of me wished we had more time here.

We stopped at a few stalls where people sold discounted alchemy concoctions, flawed weapons, and dangerous inventions that people wouldn't pay for topside. I was tempted by a few things, but in the end I didn't have the cash to blow on things I didn't need. I made a note to come back here sometime after this mess was over though. Maybe pay Zeke for another identify spree.

After about an hour we got called back and we met up at Meechum's where Griff informed us of our next move. "We have about twenty minutes before the return loup on the local patrol, so shut up and follow me quickly. This will be close."

Without another word, he turned and strode off into a nearby alley, the rest of us trailing behind him. He took us down a length of street, then did a quick left turn, and we barely got into the alley he ended up in before he cornered again. We had to hurry to keep up, but he finally brought us to a large empty house built into the under structure of one of the stairwells.

Clearly not ALL the buildings were taken down when they did the raids, this one looked old, but we didn't stay long enough to confirm, heading down into the basement. We stopped at a large refrigerator, and he opened the door,pulling some of the shelves out partway and then sliding them up or down.

There was a click and the back of the fridge opened up, and he climbed through, not even waiting for us to process.

It was a tight squeeze, but we made it. The next twenty minutes was a blur of turns, climbing, dropping, and a few times crawling, avoiding glowing enchantment script or dangerous looking machine parts.

Finally, we came to a stop. "Alright." Said Griff. "We're here. Made good time too. Good work everyone." He stepped forward and turned a metal wheel on an oval door set into the wall. Metal security bars slid out of the surrounding steel brackets and the door swung open, admitting us all into a huge metal chamber decked with machines.

There were other people there, lots of them, all crowded around what looked like a big ass stage in the center of the room, upon which stood a tall dark haired woman in a long black dress and a bright red cloak.

I didn't recognize anyone here, but I hadn't expected to, this place wasn't exactly a hangout for my old friends from the Glade. Many of the Horned Lords spread out to talk to the oddly dressed people mingling, clearly other gangs, and I did my best to listen and remember what was being said without seeming like I was eavesdropping. Never knew what would come in handy.

Griff clapped Abel on the back. "Welcome." He said jovially. "Welcome to the place where your mind will be freed from the chains the six put on you. Free to return to our true origins. We're all just animals, Kyle, and the Law of the Jungle is the only Law we should be following. And after tonight, you'll know it as well as I do."

Glancing around at the milling crowd, I was worried he might not be wrong. Out of reach of most civilized people, even with Zeke here, I was just nervous of what might happen. In a very real sense we were off the edge of the map down here. Here there be monsters.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We wandered around for a bit listening in, but we didn't have context for anything we heard so we didn't learn much. We hadn't expected to, really, we were here for the meeting to get a good idea of who our enemies were. It didn't take long for things to start though, and after a few minutes, someone walked up onto the stage and everyone went quiet.

It was odd, the first thing I heard, even over the muttering before it died down, was footsteps. The clack of heels on hard stone as the person in question ascended the stage.

The person who emerged onto the stage was captivating. Not because of any physical characteristic (they were wearing a heavy concealing robe and a sort of red veil that hid everything about them) but because they seemed to create an almost gravitational pull on everyone's attention.

Every step, every motion, every sound, it was all somehow shaping the room toward them. All eyelines led to this person, all sounds traced back to them. Paying attention to anything was part of an unbroken line of events that led to staring at the robed figure who took their place atop the stage.

"Family." They said, in a voice like the whisper of leaves over the icy surface of a midnight grave. "This is what we are. We who are outcast, who are shunned. We disenfranchised and abandoned and disdained."

I felt…rightness, from the words. My mind conjured images of times I'd been alone or forgotten. Times I'd be abandoned and maligned. I resonated with the idea of being an outsider, and that this person was the same as me, and that made us one. Or I would have, if I hadn't already been one with someone.

Love flooded the bond. Adoration and affection and a beseeching for the return of the same and I gave it. I wasn't alone. I was never alone. Not really. And suddenly something snapped and the figure was just a figure. They continued speaking though, and it was easier to pay attention without the mindbending.

"You have come to seek the truth." They whispered. "To find guidance. You've been told for too long that it was your own fault, that you needed to change to fit society, to become part of a greater whole. Is that what you wish?"

As one, the entire audience (barring a few of us like Callie, Zeke, and I) bellowed. "NO!"

The figure nodded. "Of course. Because to do this would be tantamount to self murder. To abandoning your core and forsaking your soul. They pretend society is some monument to perfection, that it always was and always will be. But we know it is not. It is simply the expectations of the mighty few, imposed on their lessers, shaping the world to be as they wish."

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I wasn't wearing my mask. Cult 101, telling the people you're recruiting they're special and better than everyone else.

"Power." The voice whispered. "Such a fickle thing. There is a finite amount of power in this world, and to attain it you must take it from others. That is the truth they hide from you, the truth you know deep in your hearts. Those who rule you have power, and in order to be free you must seize it for yourself."

The rhetoric was fine, not great but not terrible. I knew how they'd gotten so many onboard though. That weird mental compulsion would have made this sound like gospel if it was still happening to me.

I kind of wanted to argue, to point out that their whole conceptual model was petty and shortsighted. But if I did that it would just be obvious that I was here to spy. To my shock though, one of the gang members did it for me. "That's all well and good." Called one man in the back, an intimidating man with green skin and tusks. "But it sounds like you and yours just want to replace one master with another. How do we benefit from you new world order?"

"Because you are the predators." Reassured the figure. "The laws of nature benefit you most of all. This farce of the 'civilized' gods is unnatural. They force those below them to care for the weak to drive back the very beasts that would separate wheat from chaff."

I blinked. The six did NOT do that. Like…at all. Maybe the Emperor, but the rest of them were mostly a live and let die sort of people in my view. Exactly how brutal were these vanished gods that the WCPs complete apathy seemed SOFT to them?

The green skinned man laughed. "That's a lot of fancy words to use saying not much at all. The Wild Call doesn't work for free, or on maybes. We want assurances, contracts. You're hiring us to take part in your little coup d'etat. It's a risk for us no matter how you spin it, and you're an idiot if you think we're going to fight your battles for you in exchange for vague promises of advancement."

Despite not having visible features, it was clear the figure had turned to stare at the man. The rest of the crowd seemed to be stirring, the man had a presence of his own, and it was beating on the air, pushing back the subtle manipulation of the audience with raw warrior charisma.

Turning, I studied him more closely. Long red hair pulled back in a braid, threaded with loops of dark metal. His ears, high and pointed like an elf's, were pierced with the same material, five small ring along the cartilage of each pointed lobeless appendage. His eyes were citrine, blazing with intensity and power.

"Who." Whispered the figure, voice somehow rising despite remaining the same pitch. "Are you?" Where before the whisper had been a faint rustle, now it was a storm of whipping leaves, still faint but somehow more insistent.
"Davian Barrow." Said the man. "And who are you? Because you never gave us a name. No one ever asked. They were too busy being whipped into a frenzy by your poisonous muttering. I've sat here and listened for weeks as more and more of us fell sway to your nonsense. I don't care about the rest, if they're weak enough to be compromised that's on them. But I don't miuch appreciate you trying to mind control me and my boys to work for free."

The vibe in the room changed, the rest of the listeners tensing as they started to examine their own thoughts. The figure paused, seeming to be caught off guard, before it spoke in a reassuring murmur. "Family." It said again. "We are all one. I do not control, I simply share. My passions, my feelings, I communicate as best I know how, if these things sway you is that not what words were coined for to begin with?"

"This ain't about your mind tricks." Spat Barrow. "It's about payment. Make as many vague speeches as you want, but I'm not working unless I get paid. So make an offer or get lost. And don't think we didn't notice you avoiding the question about your name."

The figure drew itself up. "Brute! I am Patience, third chorister of The Catachism of Calamity, speaker of the radiant truth, voice of the undying dream, and bearer of the flame of knowledge! I bring enlightenment to your savage ears, and you seek only to scrabble for petty benefits? I speak to you a tale of freedom! I weave a path to an unbound future! Is that not payment enough?"

"Nice deflection." Said Barrow, unimpressed. "Fun fact, the power company that lights my apartment doesn't take tales of freedom, and my favorite butcher stopped accepting paths to an unbound future for a roast last month. I'll pass on the enlightenment, you can just pay me in chits."

The rest of his men, a variety of powerfully built warriors of various colors, laughed at that, and the chuckle sent a ripple through the crowd as they nodded along.

I heard a snicker by my ear and turned to see Zeke chuckling. I raised an eyebrow at him and he gestured to the stage. He must have been stealthing us because no one noticed him speaking. "Robey over there is using a form of mental compulsion called incitement. It's…old. Some of the Bishops in the Cult still use it, but its rare."

"It's a Skill?" I said, inferring the only way something like that might work.

He nodded. "Yup. It's a form of mass hypnosis. It's absurdly effective on large numbers of mentally weakened subjects, but there's a downside to everything. Incitement puts people in a suggestible state, but that state is universal. The green meanie hijacked the sermon, and now Robey is trying to course correct."

"How many people broke out of it?" I asked curiously. "Callie helped me, which means I assume Abel and Mel are fine. Gabe is an adamant and Bethy is Bethy. The only one I'm worried about is Chelsea."

He just chuckled. "Your sister is more than capable of resisting tricks like this. I suspect a small flare of her purifying flame would cleanse the influence. Even if not, like I said, the Cult uses this particular trick, and the Church warns their people against it. I'm curious how they're going to turn this one around."

"You think this will stop their plan?" I asked hopefully. "That he's put an end to whatever was going to happen?"

Zeke snorted. "Hardly. There aren't nearly enough people here to represent all the gangs on this continent. This is just the latest crop. Even if greenie turns the whole crowd against the Robe it's a drop in the bucket. I'm more interested in what they said about who they are. Ever heard of The Catechism of Calamity?"

"Not yet." I admitted. "I was going to check the book when we got back topside. I haven't had a chance to study it too deeply. Ascendent books are…dense."

Because of our increased Perception and Focus, books aimed at high level Ascendents tended to be written in absurdly small text packed very densely together. The book old Arble had given me on the gods was no exception.

Still, this was an interesting outcome. I stepped over to Griff, who was glaring at the big man who was arguing with the robed figure. "Hey Griff, who's the chatty guy? Like I know his name but where is his territory?"

"Barrow." He sneered. "He and his little crew run a block or two over in the Fairieland district. Think they're better than the rest of us because they charge for being thugs. Mercs not a gang. It's all the same shit, but any reason to turn your nose up, I guess." He sounded bitter, and I wondered if they'd had any personal conflict before. I got that kind of vibe. Still, if anything that made Griff's opinion more valid as a source, as long as I took it with a grain of salt.

I nodded slowly. "He any good in a fight?" Mercs could be useful. I was betting we could get mom to shell out for a contract. If we could hire them to snoop around on Patience and company it could be a huge coup for our information reserves. I'd have asked if he honored contracts, but in a world where gaesa existed that wasn't much of an issue.

"He's ok." Griff said grudgingly. "He's an axe Master at E-rank. Not too rare around here, but nothing to sneeze at. I might hire him for a job, as long as he had shutting up in his contract."

I chuckled along to his lame joke politely, but inside my mind was whirling. I needed to get in touch with Celine and have her reach out. We could contact The Wild Call in our normal identities to prevent these from being compromised, or have Benny and Celine do it themselves. Either way, we had a path forward.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We managed to get out of the meeting without any bloodshed. Zeke vanished again soon after, and Callen reappeared only to take off to talk to my mom about all this. Griff and the others all headed home (thankfully they didn't live at the bars) and he told us to meet him back at there the next night because Patience had a job for us.

When we got back to the inn, the first thing I did was head to talk to Jessie. I'd been putting something off for far too long, and I needed her help to get it done. When I found her, she was hanging out with Celine and Benny.

"Hey all." I said as I headed into the room where everyone was lounging. "Jessie, I was hoping you could help me with something. Before that though, I have some wishes to burn today. I want Jessie to make two of them, but Celine, you or Benny want the other five?" I knew my best friend had been working on himself over the last few months and change, though I hadn't seen the results.

Benny hopped to his feet. "Give them to Celine. I've made a ton of progress. Between the Glade, the war, and the role I played in the ruined soul temple I'm starting to build up some actual rep. Nothing on the level of you or Callie, but I've made some serious progress." Grinning, he wrote out his numbers and passed them to me smugly.

Benicio Cortez- E-rank. Ability: Expert Body of Inspiration- Allows the integration of existing artifacts into the users body for the purposes of strengthening and enhancing them, two items per placement. insignia is a half gear in the shape of a C

Might-6974
Impact-65
Fantasy-556
Vitality-441
Focus-7141
Perception-582
Creation-471
Progress to next rank: 16230/100000


Soul strength: Sapphire Soul Body

Pet- Wolf named Rolf

Current integrated tech. 14/20. Torso: G-ranked intangibility for short bursts, Three times multiplication of Might for five minutes. Right fist: triple punch. Left forearm: F-ranked energy barrier or variable shape. Left fist: minor slow acting tranquilizer effect. Right foot: Density shifting to create heavier kicks and more powerful jumps. Left Foot: momentum neutralization to allow stopping instantly. Head: slight cognitive boost to allow more thinking time, Three times multiplication of Focus for five minutes. Back: ability to grow a shell to tank damage. Chest: Pair of golden G rank spider legs that arch up from the shoulders. Waist: Belt of spiritual calming, Three times Multiplication of Perception for five minutes. Heart: Illusionary double, Three times Multiplication of Vitality for five minutes.

I whistled at the improvement. "Six thousand points? I mean they go faster at E-rank, but still, that's pretty impressive."

He shrugged, buffing his nails on his shirt cockily. "Well you know, word about being involved in killing a D-ranker at E-rank got around. Granted, Callen got most of the rep for that, but since he ranked up and we didn't some people are still talking about it. Apparently it's spread around the Church quite a bit."

"Plus you're E-rank. So you're starting to pull up some of your lower stats just buy virtue of a rising tide raising all ships." I noted mercilessly. He glared at me, and Celine had to hide a giggle at me taking the wind out of his sails. "Anyway, now that I know he's doing ok on his own, I take it you're hoping to pump your own stats a bit?"

Still smiling, she nodded. "I've reached E-rank myself from the renown I gain as a noble. Baroness now, I suppose. I get a decent amount of income statwise, but not enough to keep up with monsters like all of you." Slipping out a bag, she poured five more D-rank coins into her hand and held them out.

"Man, your family isn't shy with the purse strings huh?" I asked as I took them, waiting for her to make her wishes. She did so, wishing for ten points each in various stats. I pocketed the coins and she sighed before finally answering.

I saw her deciding what to say, and waited until she had her bearings, happy to hear out whatever was bothering her. "They see you as an opportunity." She said finally. "You've done various things of note to prove yourself distinct from the average candidate, if one can claim such a thing exists. They consider funding our cooperation an investment."

She said it like she was scared I'd flip out or attack her, but I just laughed. "Well obviously. That's not a big secret Cel. They benefit from investing in me long term and I benefit from it short term, that's how investment works. I know you're worried about me feeling like you're working both sides, but you don't need to be. You've proved yourself time and again since that mess on Callus. I trust you."

In my mind, Celine's willingness to go to bat for funds to help us grow was more than reasonable, it was basically a favor. I'd been commenting on the AMOUNT of money, not the fact that she had it. I said as much, and her shoulders relaxed.

"Ah, I understand." She chuckled. "My mother is a Duchess. And like most major noble houses we're descended from a Princess." I opened my mouth and she rolled her eyes. "NOT the one that lives here. We're not all related. Her liquid funds are substantial, and a few C-ranked chits worth of coins is a small investment. Now, what exactly did you need Jessie's help with?"

I blinked, having gotten distracted. "Ah, right, sorry." I turned to Jessie. "Need to get a few attacks off you. I'm trying to design a new Goetia form, and I'm going to try to lean into something more healing based. I'm not sure if I have enough pieces to make something stable though. I can use your stored heals, but I need more than that for structure."

Jessie frowned. "Hmmm. I don't really know much about Skill creation. But I might have some ideas for you." She perked up. "Actually, I think I definitely do." She turned to Celine. "Can you go get Chelsea, tell her we need her up here." She seemed excited by whatever had popped into her head, so I just nodded to the elf and waited, this could be pretty good if she was thinking what I was starting to suspect.

When my sister arrived, Jessie bade her sit down and then looked at me. "So, before we start, just to make sure I'm not barking up the wrong tree, can you tell me why this particular form is different than the others? Why are you having trouble with it?"

I hummed, thinking it over. "All the other forms have been built on a foundation of my own powers. I have abilities for most things, and I use those as a base to create Skills. Not just in terms of stats or patterns, but in terms of experience. I don't really have any healing Skills, and while I've used your heal bursts enough to have that experience, you can't build anything stable on one point of failure."

"Exactly." Said Jessie. "You need more than just life energy. You need another positive influence right? Could you use the flames of purification?"

I'd expected her to ask that, and I nodded. "I can." I said, sure of it. "I have Afterburner, which amplifies anything and is particularly attuned to fire. Mix that with life energy and purification and that'll be the healing form I need."

Grinning, she gestured to both of them. "Well, as usual, I wish for ten points of VItality, and I'll pay with ten heal bursts." Chelsea did the same thing, and I got ten charges of purification flames to work with. "Ten points is a drop in the bucket for me." she said with a sigh. "Focusing so hard on just one direction is tough. Still I think I'm doing alright. Don't you?" She wrote out her own stats for me.

Jessica Evans- E-rank. Ability: Expert Lifeweaving- Infuse living things with life itself and direct their actions while the users power flows through them. Control has limited effect on sapient entities. Prolonged exposure to life energy may cause lasting effects in controlled subjects.

Might-1425
Impact-65
Fantasy-458
Vitality-10004
Focus-555
Perception-465
Creation-458
Progress to next rank: 13440/100000
Pet- Wolf named Lily and Undying Lifestorm Ursa named Randall(Intermediate Beast Bonding with Jessie)

soul strength: Sapphire Soul Body

Skills: Intermediate Horticulture,Intermediate First Aid, Minor Herbalism, Minor Flower Arrangement, Intermediate Beast Taming Mastery, Intermediate Beast Bonding, Intermediate Shape of the Wild


She'd gained three thousand points (and ten more from the wishes), not having gotten the exposure from the war that Benny did. Still, breaking ten thousand in Vitality was absurd. And the rest of her stats had been dragged up along with her rank.

"Anyway, enough stalling." She said bluntly. "You need to get your Skill made. Strike while the iron is hot. I'm sure you can do it."

Chuckling, I sat down and closed my eyes, triggering my Eye of Revelation in that way that let me study myself. Once I was…I started. Building a Skill out of only stockpiled attacks was something I didn't think I could have done until recently. I'd scanned through a bit of that book, though not nearly enough, and I was pretty sure I know how I was going to manage it.

First up was the heal bursts. I drew them from the spot where all my stockpiled attacks sat, smashing them up into fragments. Now that I knew they were just patterns of forged stats it was easier. Vitality, obviously, and I knew exactly how and where the break points were.

Once they were torn apart, I pulled out the purification flames. That was tougher. Might and Fantasy, mostly, with some Perception, and a bit of Creation oddly enough. They were…complicated. But they were only stored E-rank attacks, and I had more Impact than a normal E-ranker. I don't know why that helped, but it did.

I found points to break them up, then used the pieces of heal burst to reconstruct them around an empty central point. I needed the foundation to be part of me, to actually connect the Skill to myself. Consecration of flame was exactly what I needed. The name and purpose was so harmonious with my intent and purpose it just clicked right into place.

Last, but not least, I built in the little extra kick I needed. Afterburner. As a fire based ability this was exactly the right mix, and I smiled internally at the most stable and harmonious Skill I'd ever made.

When the last piece was slotted into place, the whole thing kind of…shifted. I triggered the form, and I felt green flames roll over me, my hair shifting, my eyes glowing brilliants as swirling tattoos that reminded me of the vitality patterns of heal burst lit up my skin, I felt my body ignite with life and purity and power.

As the new form became a part of me, I allowed myself to breathe out the name of the stance. "Zagan." I said with a smile, as I stared around the room at my shocked friends. "This one is called Zagan."

I felt so at peace. So warm and alive, and I knew that in its own way, this was probably my most powerful form. No combat potential to speak of, but in terms of pure utility it was unmatched.

With this, I could heal allies, cure their poisons, curses, afflictions of any kind. More than Jessie, more than Chelsea. Zagan was the true first step in showing how my versatility could build itself into something that surpassed specialists. Granted, Jessie would eventually surpass me so heavily in Vitality that quality would cease to matter in the face of quantity, but until then, I'd developed a unique and potent new power that would keep us all alive.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The biggest problem that I ran into with Zagan was that I wasn't sure how the hell I was supposed to use it. Not the mechanics, I could just shove healing energy into people, but the actual staff form. Each of my forms possessed a physical moveset, a series of staff arts that anchored them to Goetia and made them a holistic part of my combat style.

Mephistopheles was a lot of sharp brutal thrusting attacks, Mornax was a defensive stance that involved rooting my staff to the earth to soak up a charge, and Belial was all deflection and misdirection. The physical forms were all heavily influenced by their natures.

Which was why I was sitting in my room in the inn, spinning my staff in circles between my hands as I contemplated Zagan. Its nature was simple, but also complex. Purification, life, Vitality. It energized and cleansed and empowered. I considered a series of short sharp swipes of increasing speed, playing into the energy aspect, but nothing felt right.

I heard the door click, and looked up, unsurprised to find Callie beaming at me. "I felt all that excitement." She said as she walked over to flop down on my bed. "Seems like this was a big one. Now I'm just getting frustration though, anything I can help with?"

I shrugged, keeping up my slow spin as I passed the staff to from hand to hand. "Not sure. I'm trying to figure out an actual staff technique to anchor my form, the way I have with the others."

"Well, why don't we try to test it out?" She said with a shrug. Hopping to her feet, she drew a pair of daggers, gesturing me to the middle of the floor. "First thing is first, maybe try telling me what it's NOT."

That was a good idea. I gave a hum of agreement. "It isn't violent." I paused. "It isn't ONLY violent. It's not an attack. It's not exactly defensive, standing and tanking or knocking aside blows isn't right. It's not slow, but not too fast." I groaned aloud. "I sound ridiculous and this isn't helping at all."

"No, it is." She said in a pondering tone. "Maybe it's defensive but not of you? Protection?"

I paused, feeling that out in my mind, I slowly shook my head. "That's…wrong, but closer? I think I've got it! Try to chain me up with your shadows, just cover me in them." She shrugged, and with a flick of her fingers the shadows around the room lanced out as chains, trying to wrap around me.

A few quick flicks of my staff and a few flashes of green white fire and the shadows dissolved. "Got it!" I cheered happily. "It's a counter technique for control abilities. Goes perfectly with the purification thing. It's meant to cleanse effects, and most control Skills are some kind of effect."

It was extremely useful, even if it was also functionally incapable of dealing damage. I could feel from the Skill that Zagan couldn't hurt anyone, and it would fundamentally clash with things like Belial or Mephistopheles. However, it was an excellent support power, and would synergize well with Mornax.

"That tore through my shadows like wet paper." Callie said in an impressed voice. "My Might is HIGH now, being able to do that is no joke."

I raised a brow at her. "Actually yeah, I hadn't had a chance to ask about your stats. How much exactly did you improve over the last four months, Miss Godslayer?" I grinned to let her know I was mostly teasing, at least about the snarky title. I really wanted to know exactly how far she'd come.

We'd been so busy I hadn't really had the time to check in on her progress. I knew she'd been keeping it to herself so she could surprise me, the same way the rest of us had. When I was using all my wishes on myself for stat gain I was much less involved with my friends and their advancement, for good or for ill. Callie grinned proudly as she wrote out all her stats, and I whistled in awe.

Calliope Reynolds E-rank. Ability: Expert Abyssal Infiltration- Enter the shadows and emerge where you will within range, shape the darkness to your call, moving it as if it were part of your body, and even extend your senses through the shadows to spy on your enemies.

Might-11,550
Impact-65
Vitality-742
Fantasy-10,105
Focus-908
Perception-9375
Creation-2485
Progress to next rank: 35230/100000

Soul strength- Sapphire Soul Body
Pet-Wolf named Rellia

Skills: Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Intermediate Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Expert Shadow Manipulation Mastery. Intermediate Paired Dueling.

Path of the Abyss-Illusory.

"Damn." I said in shock. "You weren't kidding about your Might. Now I see why you were so shocked at how easily Zagan dispersed those bindings. I guess being completely specced toward healing and purification makes it way more broken than I expected."

I suspected that the pieces I'd used to make it played a part in that. The Purification Flame was a bloodline power, and one that I technically HAD the bloodline for. I was curious if it would have worked so well for someone else. Chelsea's version of it was the real one. I knew from seeing Enshrining Darkness around that you could make lesser copies of bloodline powers, but from what I could tell they were much weaker.

More than the stats though, I was impressed with her Skills. "I can't believe you hit Expert in Shadow Manipulation. Not to mention Intermediate in Stealth AND Traps, and Beginner with your daggers. When the hell did you have time to do all this training?"

She grinned at me wolfishly. "I didn't. Or rather, I did, but I also didn't. I've been spamming my shadow clones and imbuing them with Piece of Mind. It wouldn't work for anyone else or I'd have mentioned it, but my ability lets me see the world through shadows, and my clones count. The combination with Piece of Mind means I can actually learn with them."

"That is so broken." I said in an amazed voice. "I love it. Can you do it with any Skill?" I was excited about the possibilities of this. Could she learn all her Skills faster? I couldn't copy it I didn't think, at least not at this level of the bond, but maybe someday, I cut off my fantasizing as she shook her head.

"No can do." She said sadly. "It basically stops working at Intermediate. I can practice rote stuff, but innovating like that doesn't work for some reason. Shadow Manipulation was an exception because I was using shadows to do it, and the actual learning seemed to count."

I sighed unhappily. I had a few shadow clones saved I'd been planning to try it with, but for Intermediate Skills it wasn't worth the soul strain. My DS Mastery was my most important Skill anyway and it was at Expert. I'd already passed the phase where I could just smash new Skills into the old one to try and improve it too, I knew too much about Skill crafting and how badly that had almost fucked me over the last time.

Any combinations of Skills I made would need to be carefully crafted from specific Skills or stored attacks. It was made even more complicated by the fact that they were subskills of my Expert level Path Skill, which was why I'd been working on my forms instead of trying to directly alter DS Mastery.

I'd even considered condensing all of my individual subskills into various forms and trying to alter my Path into the Path of Goetia or something similar to slim down my focus a bit, but I was still a long way off from that. I could feel that I'd need to finish all nine forms for that to even be an option, which meant I was less than half done.

"So…" I asked as I walked over and slumped down on the bed next to Callie. "What do you think Griff needs us for tomorrow? I get the feeling that whatever it is, we're not going to be doing something nice."

She smirked at me, hair falling over her face as she let her head loll to the side to stare into my eyes. "Oh, you don't think Griff is planning a puppy parade? Maybe we're going to brush ponies for charity."

"I…I don't think you understand how charity works." I said with a snicker. "It's like…giving to those less fortunate."

She snorted. "I guarantee you that I'm richer than a pony." She paused. "Actually, there are probably A-rank ponies with like Imperial Platinum tassels on their manes and saddles made of dragon leather. I'm probably richer than most E-rank ponies."

"More money than an undersized beast of burden." I said solemnly. "Clearly we've come up in the world."

"I want ponies at the wedding." She said loftily. "I need to teach them their place so they don't mouth off about how much money they have when they get stronger. We could have Bethy tame one for the ceremony, and I could ride it down the aisle!" She seemed to be getting more and more excited as she talked, and I couldn't help but laugh.

Reaching up, I covered her mouth with my hand. "Ok, please stop. Because this started as a joke and I feel it spiraling out of control. You are not riding an E-rank pony down the aisle. Half the guests are lower rank than that, and I'm positive ponies aren't trained to restrain their aura. It would crush your mom like a bug."

She slumped and I removed my hand, noting her pout. "I bet some ponies are trained." She muttered.

"Yes, but we can't afford them, I'm sure." We actually probably could, but I wasn't paying for an E-rank animal trainer for a pony she would ride one time. "Actually, can animals talk?" I asked as I thought back to her joke about ponies making comments. "Like, they seem to get smarter, I'd imagine that they reach a point where speech is possible."

She blinked at me. "You don't know about that? I always forget how little time you've spent as an Ascendant. No, animals can't talk, but when they hit D-rank they have a chance to evolve into humanoids. They rarely do, because animals in general tend to be pretty content as animals, and D-rank animal forms are terrifying, but that's the only way they gain speech."

"I'm surprised, I keep expecting Randall to start talking." I paused. "Or I guess he does, but like, talking our language."

She shook her head. "His throat isn't designed for that. Some of them develop telepathy, but it's really rare. Much more common to find them bonded to a person or to just not care about talking to humans. I'm interested to see which direction our animal companions all go when they hit D-rank. Especially Luggage."

The idea of a humanoid hellhound sounded pretty interesting, I had to admit. I was curious about that too, though who knew which way Bethy would try to push her pets. They were getting stronger fast so it might not be too far off that we got to actually find out. One of the many interesting perks of traveling with a Vampire.

We sat there like that for a few hours, chattering about nothing, cuddled up and enjoying our time together. I hoped I never stopped making time for moments like this with Callie, after the wedding or a hundred years from now. I was never happier than when I was holding her, sitting in a feedback loop of love and adoration through the bond. Eventually we drifted off to sleep, and I did so with a big smile on my face. Whatever came tomorrow we'd be ready, for now I was just happy we were together.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next day, we all had to get ready for whatever the hell Griff was having us do. We hadn't headed back to the bar yet, but we'd all gathered up to go over some of the details before we had to leave, and all of us were more than a tad worried about the direction things had been going in that meeting before Barrow had derailed it.

"So, anyone else worried that whatever he wants us to do will blow our cover to hell?" I asked grimly. We were all sitting around a big table at my mom's place, the same one by the pond she'd made us those sandwiches. Zeke, my mother, and Callen were with us, and I was glad to have their feedback going into this. "Not that I don't see why we would go, but don't we have enough now that we know who Patience is?"

Mom shook her head. "If you aren't up to it you can always back out. I admit you were more proactive than I expected. This might be dangerous, and part of me wants to tell you to back off, but at the end of the day we don't know as much as you might think."

"Between those obnoxious jamming devices and their use of the flipside for meeting and travel, they've done an absurdly good job shielding their activities." Zeke said with a grimace.

I could see why he would be upset. As A and S-rankers, the faction leaders and higher ups must be furious that some measly E-rankers were part of this and they had no way to keep track of them. It just went to show that proper tactics and strategy could offset quite a bit of raw power, though to be fair I was pretty sure whoever was making those jammers was strong on their own.

As if sensing the thought (though she hadn't this time, even if she'd caught the emotion behind it) Callie cleared her throat. "Speaking of the jammers…who is making those? Should they even be usable by low ranking Ascendants if they can stop people like you from listening in?"

"Nah." Zeke said, shaking his head. "They're dimensional shunting tech. Basically dumping the vibrations from speech and movement into the void. You have to remember that the physical aspects of stats are just byproducts. Stats are the building blocks of Skills and abilities. Perception isn't a measure of how well you hear or see, so there are ways to get around those aspects without directly pitting your stats against someone else's as with Stealth."

That just left me more confused. "Ok, but then why don't people do that all the time? Why even use Stealth, and why don't people with legitimate Perception based abilities scour this whole place for the cultists?"

"It's not cost effective." My mother cut in. "Dimensional shunting only works on small areas, as for the latter…" She shrugged. "Politics. There are quite a few treaties in place prohibiting the kind of scans you're talking about. I'm sure you noticed the black market that gets 'overlooked' in Tricorn?"

I blinked in shock. "Wait…nobody is doing scans? I just assumed you were combing this place top to bottom? They tying the representatives up in red tape? That's so…stupid!"

"Welcome to politics." Zeke said with a snort. "But there ARE some scans being done, they're just pretty much only on topside and they ignore a lot of problem areas. You know as well as I do how binding a contract can be, some of the people in charge of Tricorn don't even WANT to uphold the contracts, but they're binding all the same."

My mother sighed. "Don't judge them too harshly. There are certain promises that needed to be made to establish a place like this to begin with. Agreements put in place by higher authorities and engineered to have extravagant escape clauses that would do serious financial damage to even factions like ours, or worse."

"I hadn't considered that." I admitted. "Is that why the contract in the Glade is so important? Because it provides loopholes in existing contracts? That seems like it would need to be written in on purpose and I don't think any of us did."

She just chuckled. "Some of the contracts involved in the creation of Tricorn would take up a library. While this does provide EXCRUCIATING specificity in terms of requirements, it also provides plenty of space for wiggle room if proper precedent is set and applied. There are people whose whole lives are dedicated to maintaining and updating those contracts, when updating is possible at least. It's part of why this conclave was called. Tricorn isn't the only aspect of the alliance bound up in red tape."

"That might explain why Lark showed up." I said with a nod. "He didn't want to miss out on what might be a huge change in the way things operate."

Zeke snorted. "More likely he smelled blood in the water and is here to rip a chunk off anyone who looks vulnerable." He paused, then glanced at Bethy. "Sorry kid, didn't mean to bad mouth your pops."

"Oh it's fine." She said cheerfully. "Daddy says that not pouncing on a bleeding foe is insulting. Can you imagine being too pathetic to be considered lunch?"

That got a laugh out of me. "That's pretty hardcore, but I can kind of see the logic." I didn't agree, obviously, but it made sense in the way Abel's philosophy made sense. It was jarring to see that side of Bethy sometimes, but it was clear after I'd helped her that not all of it was bloodlust. Nature AND nurture had played their parts in forming the exploding ball of napalm sunshine that was Bethany Lark.

Glancing around, I posed the question that had been kicking around my brain. "So…what do we do to prepare? Because I still want to go. If we don't have enough information this could be a huge help to preventing needless death down the road, so what do we do to be as safe as possible?"
"Wishes." Said Callie bluntly. "You still have seven today, we can stack the deck in our favor, even if we don't know exactly what cards they'll play. Not enough to do escape wishes for all of us sadly, but we might be able to swing some good luck, a bit of early warning in case things go bad, that kind of stuff." She glanced at Zeke and my mom. "You two have way more experience with this than us, any ideas?"

Zeke grimaced, miming a zipper across his lips, but my mom nodded. "I might have a few." She glanced at me. "Shane, dear, can I have a few minutes with your darling fiancee?"

Knowing they wanted to prevent me from weighing in and possibly compromising the fairness of the compensation (though I was beginning to think I was far too cautious about that most of the time) I turned and gestured to my sister. "Hey, you know this place better than I do right? Since it's like…a standard layout?"

"It's not standard." She chuckled. "But yeah, I can find my way around. You want me to give you the tour?"

I laughed. "Oh sure, I imagine there's all sorts of cool stuff in this building I haven't seen yet."

"Not as many as you would think." She laughed as she led me away. "But a few." We left the others behind to discuss the possible wishes while she took me around and showed me various rooms. There was a small arena inside the building used for sparring, an awesome armory stuffed with impressive weapons, and a hanger full of shuttles of various shapes and sizes.

Mostly though, I just enjoyed the chance to talk to my sister away from everything. "So, how have you been enjoying your time out among the stars? Is being back in Church territory making you miss the Holy Dominion?"

She shrugged. "Parts of it. I might be sheltered, but I DO have a few friends, mostly other relatives of powerful clergy members. I miss seeing grandpa, and sleeping in my own bed. My bed is…" She trailed off, giving a happy sigh. "Well, it's made from some very high tier materials, and it's lovely. Made with Dream Sheep Wool. I highly recommend getting one."

"Dream sheep…" I said suspiciously. "You mean like counting sheep before bed?"

She giggled. "Dream Sheep are real creatures. The practice of counting sheep is an ancient one, and it's supposed to allow a Dream Sheep to enter your Dreams. They eat nightmares, and their presence promotes health and good rest along with good dreams. Even their wool helps people sleep more deeply and wards off bad dreams. Not to mention it's SOOO soft."

"That sounds awesome." I said with interest. "I might try to pick some up for Callie, she loves a soft bed, and good dreams are always nice. How much?"

She froze. "Um…" She looked embarrassed. "Dream Sheep are A-rank creatures. Well, the full grown ones, Lambs are B-rank, but they're way softer and harder to get so they're more expensive. I think my mattress cost like four B-rank chits."

I choked out a laugh. "Yeah, bit out of my price range. What is that? Forty thousand D-rank?" past D-rank, each successive rank was a hundred of the previous. A hundred D-rank chits would net me a C-rank, but I'd need a hundred of THOSE for even one B-rank. It really put into perspective how little money I had in the grand scheme of things.

Wincing, she just nodded. "Sorry, but it's not like you won't make that much long term. Consider Celine paying a D-rank chit for your current wishes. Not many people make money like that. Seven chits above your rank per day? And on your next rank up it'll be eight on top of the stat and Impact increase." I did look forward to seeing what breaking one hundred in Impact would do for my wish ability, aside from the obvious one I was expecting,

"Plus I'll be able to start making scrolls." I pointed out. "I was told D-rank was when I would be able to make those." That was one of the things I was most looking forward to about D-rank. Not having to actually manually use wishes daily to avoid wasting them would do wonders for my versatility. I could stockpile them and sell them (or give them away? I wasn't sure how compensation worked with those) all at once when I was in a good position.

I didn't bring up Zeke, or how he would probably need to leave when I hit D-rank. At the very least he wouldn't be my guardian, and whether that would give him more freedom or less I had no idea. I hadn't had the guts to talk to him about it much, though I'd need to change that soon.

After a few minutes of walking around chatting we got called back. "Alright." Said Callie happily as she rubbed her hands together. "We put together a pretty good list. Lots of useful little wishes." She pulled out a familiar bag (one of the ones Celine used) and tossed it to me. I opened it and counted out seven coins. "That'll be your pay for the day, so get ready."

Laughing, I took my seat, interested in what they'd come up with. I felt a lot better going out there with precautions in place in case everything went bad, because I had the weirdest feeling something was coming.

Whether it was the big mess of the conclave, the possible attack, or something more immediate I had no idea, but I wanted to do everything I could to get us ready. Whatever happened, I was going to make damned sure my friends and family had the best chance at surviving it. No way in hell was I missing my wedding, god war or not.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Seven wishes. Two of the same type as last time, luck entering and getting out, and five serving a variety of purposes from information gathering to defense. Without any overarching info, they had to go with vague language like 'best possible position to overhear important information' and 'luckiest position for witnessing nefarious actions'.

Mom and Zeke must have coached them, because there were quite a few wishes that seemed worded to get around the weakness my power had to secrets by explotioting chance and probability in a vague enough way that it minimized cost.

"So…" I asked as we stood across the road from the bar. "Anyone have any clue what they're going to ask us to do?"

Abel shrugged. "Probably rob some people, same as they had the others do to draw attention."

"You mean the ones they hired us to murder and decapitate?" I said bluntly. "Those others? Because I'll be honest, that comparison does not fill me with confidence."

"That's fair." He admitted. "But then, we're not them. We don't trust Griff, and between our own abilities and quite a few preparations they have no legitimate way of countering we're as safe as we can be in this situation. If shit goes south, we bail."

Callie nodded. "He's right. Between me, you, Abel, Chelsea, Mel, Gabe, and Bethy, we have some of the most dangerous E-rankers I've ever heard of. Vampires and Adamants and Abel, nobody is going to be ready for that. But this is a unique chance to find out what's coming. They're DEFINITELY going to take a shot at the conclave, and we're going to be AT the conclave. This is the best way to ensure our long term safety."

"I know." I sighed. "It was my idea. I'm just having second thoughts. Then third thoughts. I was double taking any more, I'd be spinning in circles like a confused dog chasing its tail."

Abel opened his mouth, probably to make a dig at me related to being dumber than a dog, but at a glare from Callie he shut up, recognizing this wasn't the time. Or just being scared of my fiancee, she was a pretty scary person when she was pissed.

"Abel, you're up." I finally said, gesturing to the door. "Griff thinks you're the boss, so lead us in. Keep your eyes peeled everyone, this could go bad fast and easy."

When we stepped inside the bar, I was expecting it to be wall to wall with people. As far as I knew, the entire gang should have been here, but instead, it was just Griff, sitting at a table reading a book, sipping whiskey. When he heard us enter, he looked up with a wide smile. "Kyle, Alice, so glad you could make it. Come, sit."

He gestured across his table to a bunch of chairs. Not enough for all of us, but three or four. It was obviously some kind of test to see who would sit. Abel, Callie, Mel, and Bethy sat down. Griff scanned them, then nodded slowly.

"So, I'm sure you're wondering why you're here?" He said cheerfully. "Well, the rest of the gang are out making a mess, and I need you all to go pick something up for me." He pulled out a box, pushing it over to reveal a series of small blue gems set into a variety of jewelry. "These are jammers, like mine, and you'll be wearing them to make the pickup."

Abel raised an eyebrow. "No offense meant, Griff, but…why us?"

"You mean because you literally just joined?" Griff chuckled. "Well damn, boy, that's the whole point. New members are less likely to be watched. Of course, if you manage to get caught or turn on us, we just lose a single shipment. Small price to pay to catch a traitor."

Callie frowned at him. "Not filling me with warm feelings, but fine. What kind of shipment? How is it getting here? Where do we pick it up?"

"Well, it's about a metric ton of none of your fucking business." He said bluntly. "But we have it cut up into crates. You go to the address I give you, stick the crates in your rings. You bring them here and drop them off. You don't ask questions, you don't open the boxes. If one of them is missing or light, you'll be joining our old friend Matthew over the bar."

He pointed over our shoulders, and we turned to see the severed heads we'd brought them mounted up over the liquor shelf, faces all locked in a screaming rictus. Classy. I hid my grimace as I turned back. It helped that they weren't real heads, but I was really glad we'd wished for them to indistinguishable from real ones, or else we'd have been fucked.

"Ok, damn." Said Abel, hands up defensively. "We were just trying to get a handle on what we were being asked to do."

Griff glared at him. "See, that's the issue. You ain't being ASKED to do shit. I gave you an order. You'll follow it or we can test how tough those knuckles of yours really are. I'm not fucking around about this Kyle. Missing a shipment isn't going to kill me, but it'll definitely kill YOU. Still, I'd prefer to just avoid the mess completely."

Abel nodded, and the big man sighed, pulling out a piece of paper. "You have one hour to get the goods and come back. That's a generous travel time. If there's traffic, you better figure it the fuck out. Understood?"

He passed the note to Abel, who read it over before slipping it into his coat. "Yeah." He said solemnly. "We got it. No delays, don't fuck with the merchandise. I assume this pays? Because I joined a street gang, not a charity." He held out his hand, eyes hard as he glared Griff down, daring him to counter.

It was a good move. Griff was pushing, possibly to rattle us enough to do something stupid, possibly just to assert dominance, but nobody at Abel's level was going to take shit for free. He might do what he was told, but money would be his first priority.

Griff smiled, reaching into a pocket and pulling out a coin, flipping it to Abel. I glanced down, confirming it was a D-rank chit. I knew that though it didn't seem like that much to me, a D-rank chit was serious pay. "One before the job, one after." He said succinctly. "If you have any more questions, you can mutter them to yourselves bitterly as you get the fuck out of my bar. Your time starts now."

With a snap, he slammed down an hourglass and Abel cursed, standing and spinning to stalk out the door, the rest of us on his heels.

"What the actual fuck?" I said quietly. "This isn't what I was expecting…but it might be worse. What the hell are we supposed to be picking up?"

Abel threw his hands up. "How the fuck should I know? You think he was blinking at me in code? Whatever it is we better move. Escaping is one thing, but if every member of the Horned Lords comes after is we're not going to be able to keep our cover. And this seems like it's important. The timing of this being right after that meeting can't be a coincidence."

"I wonder if that wish to put us in the right position to learn more is the reason we got picked?" Asked Callie. "It sounds like they alternate groups so no one gets followed." She played with the black bracelet with the blue stone on her wrist, the jammer.

We made our way down the road, hopping a bus toward the Imperial District. "So, how do you think they get it into Tricorn?" I asked. "Whatever IT is."

"Probably the same way they're hiding from everyone." Said Chelsea. "I was thinking it over the whole time we were in there, and I bet they're using maintenance tunnels through flipside to get it up top. Not sure what it is or how it helps them though. Maybe like…bombs?"

I considered it, but shook my head. "No, I don't think so. Besides, wouldn't someone have seen them approach?"

Bethy giggled. "Nah, daddy says too many baby Ascendants think of universe like a plate. It's more of a globe. There's as much up and down as there is side to side. Tricorn is pretty big, if they came in from the bottom and used stealth tech in their ships I bet they could reach the bottom unnoticed."

I blinked. "Holy shit." I said in awe. "That's…a REALLY good point. Whenever I think about other planets I think of them in terms of cardinal directions on a flat place. I never even considered the three dimensional heading. There could be a planet billions of miles straight down from us right now and we'd never even know it."

Callie looked just as poleaxed, and we spent the rest of the ride bullshitting about the universe and how small we all were. Or at least, most of us. I knew an A-ranker with a decent movement Skill could cross from one planet to the next nearly instantly, like the Duke had. I was pretty sure that Skill couldn't be used too quickly in quick succession because he hadn't used ti to kill Zeke, but still. It really put the absurdity of higher level Ascendants into perspective.

By the time we reached the address on the note, we were all…well, not relaxed, but distracted at least. I triggered Eye of Revelation, feeling for Danger Sense just in case, but I got nothing. We entered the abandoned house on the residential street tentatively, worried about possible ambushes.

The inside was empty, barren, and torn apart. No furniture, paint stripped from the walls, and sections of drywall stripped out leaving exposed gaps where I was pretty sure wires and pipes had been. We reached the stairs, and Abel consulted the note, reaching over to twist a bannister knob. The stairs (or a section of them) fell inwards with a thump, leaving a new small staircase leading down into the dark.

We descended into the secret basement, which opened into a large cavern carved into rock, and inside the cavern we found a huge pile of crates.

Stepping forward, I approached a crate. "Alright, we can't pop the lids without them showing it, but I think I can at least get a peek inside. Should I give it a shot?" I wanted a second opinion on this because it affected all of us. If I tipped them off to our intentions everyone would be in danger.

All of them agreed, so I stepped up the one of the crates and closed my eyes, triggering Piece of Mind. With one of my parallels I triggered Pit of Despair, smashing it down until I was only dissolving a coin sized section of the wood.

It was a small strain, since wood wasn't rock, and because of the change of size, but my Sapphire Soul handled it easily enough. My other parallel kept the dust from falling in with Dust Construction, removing it from the hole so I could see inside…and I saw nothing. Or rather. I saw more dust.

A quick sniff clarified that it wasn't dust. "Ashes." I said in confusion as I resealed the box. I checked a few more. "All ashes. We're smuggling ashes." I gave them all a confused look, but something about the situation bothered me. When things got confusing it meant there was a threat you couldn't see all of.

We stashed the crates away quickly and headed back up to catch the bus. We needed to get back to the bar before our time ran out. We also needed to pass the info about this to Zeke and my mom. This bore further investigation, and by someone a lot more skilled than us. Something was going on, and we needed to figure out what before it was too late.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Returning to the bar was anticlimactic. We weren't pressed for time, so we didn't need to worry too much about safety, which meant we were mostly just sitting around trying to guess what the crates were full of for twenty minutes. We shut up as we arrived, bringing them into the bar and stacking them up next to Griff's table.

He checked a watch (a surprisingly stately pocket watch with nice internal gearwork visible) then flipped Abel another coin. "Alright, you're done for the night. Get out of here."

"What…that's it?" Said Abel incredulously. "You called us down here to run a one hour errand and then just send us on our way? Doesn't seem like the best use of our time there, boss." His smile was easy, but his eyes were hard and sharp. He wasn't pleased.

Griff just smiled grimly. "I don't really care how good a use of time it seems to you, Kyle. You just hit the nail on the head. I AM your boss, and I'm not going to explain myself to members of my own gang. You can down here because I wanted you to, and now you're leaving for the same reason. I don't pay you to think, Kyle. Remember that."

And suddenly it became much clearer why we'd been picked for this. Or at least why HE thought he picked us. I imagined to wishes probably steered things our way, but the second reason was simple. He'd wanted to show us our place. Make it clear to Kyle the ambitious badass that Griff would use him but he'd better remember who was in charge.

I triggered Eye of Revelation, and sure enough I saw miniscule signs of concealed people in the room. Not sound or even visual cues, but shifted chairs, slightly out of place bottles. Griff wasn't alone here, he just wanted it to look like he was.

Not wanting to draw attention and fuck up our dynamic, I mentally asked Callie to intervene, and she stepped up to grab his arm. "Kyle." She said pleasantly. "I for one am glad to have a night off. And a paid one at that. Griff is being generous, and I say we don't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Listen to your sister Kyle." Said Griff coldly. "This doesn't need to be a problem. I trusted your to get a job done and it's finished. Go enjoy your downtime. And leave your jammers on the table."

To my shock, I saw something I didn't think I'd seen since that first night when I watched Abel kill that guy who had been beating Alden. True anger. Fury eve. Abel was enraged, and I could see he was seconds away from attacking. I felt his Path manifest, the weight of the lives he'd taken and the blood he'd shed weighing down on the bar for a second as a crazed gleam flickered in his eyes.

And then it was gone, and he was smiling cheerfully, dropping the bracelet he wore onto the wood. "Fair enough, I'm always glad for some time to relax. Come on sis, let's go." He turned and strolled toward the door not waiting for us to follow him, and we all filed out, depositing out jammers as we left. Before we even hit the street Callie had us under Stealth again.

"You ok man?" I asked Abel cautiously. "Haven't seen you that pissed in a good long while. Why did that get to you so much anyway?"

My mentor's face had lost its smile, eyes hard as he stared ahead of us. "I'm a weapon." He said shortly. "I know that. I embrace it. But I'm MY weapon. I follow your lead because I trust you and because it was my own choice. But being used like that. Forced to do some menial nonsense just to 'teach me my place?' My place is standing over that fucking trashcan of a gang leader grinding my boot into his throat. That's where my fucking place is."

He was hissing his words and I heard the crackle of electricity from his gloves as his fists clenched. Mal was looking at him sadly, and it occurred to me that Cicero had used him in a very similar way, based on the stories I'd heard. He left to get away from that, but never actually stood up to his brother until years later.

I made a mental note that if we had to deal with Griff and company in a more permanent fashion, I'd leave the gang leader to Abel. He deserved at least that much.

We headed back for the inn, and it was nice enough out that we decided to walk. I'd snagged a minute sample of the ash in the box while we were on the bus. I didn't touch it, but I'd found that Dust Construction applied to it so I'd made a marble of the stuff and stuck it in my ring. Maybe mom had someone on staff who could figure out what it was.

I hadn't been planning on taking any of the stuff, but one I realized Dust Construction worked I'd decided to take a chance. Between that and the wishes we'd made to minimize our traces I doubted they would notice, and if they did…well we were going to fall out with them eventually.

Zeke was waiting when we got back. He'd been following us, but from too far for us to see. "I missed most of that because of the jammers." He said calmly. "Though I caught your teacher's little tantrum. I have my own thoughts on that, but now isn't the time. Fill me in on exactly what happened and leave nothing out."

He sounded off, and I couldn't figure out why until I took a minute to go over everything in my head. Zeke had been worried. He knew this was the best move, but he didn't like me going, even with his protection.

I filled him in on everything, and by the time I was done he was frowning. "That's…I mean, if your wish pushed you all toward that situation it has to be relevant. Unless it was just to get you in deeper with the Horned Lords. You said you took a sample?" He looked concerned, so I didn't bother commenting, instead just pulling out the marble and passing it to him.

He took it, then held it up to an eye. He spent the next two minutes rolling, sniffing it, throwing it up and catching it, and a dozen other strange tests. After he finished he pulled out a trunk I'd seen before and popped it open, digging around inside of it.
Withdrawing several glass beakers, he poured in a bunch of solutions, measuring them out before scratching a bit of the marble into each. I raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "The further you get into crafting the more crossover there is. I don't do alchemy, but I do make solutions. Or did you think my masks paint themselves?"

Each of the beakers began to bubble. One by one they had different reactions, and he pulled out still more of them, pouring new vials and solutions, mixing some of them and making notes. By the time he was done, he had one last beaker, and he dropped the marble into it.

"What is it?" I asked as he stared at the final bubbling beaker, filled with coruscating red lightning after he'd dropped in the last of the substance.

He stared hard at it. "The non-gaseous, non-aqueous remnants of solid material post combustion." He said firmly. I raised an eyebrow to see if he would elaborate, but I was surprised to find Chelsea glaring at him.

"We KNEW that!" She snapped. "Tell me you didn't waste our entire sample confirming that it was ash."

He shrugged. "Well not all of it. I have some suspended in this beaker. I'll pass it along to an expert. I don't actually know much about this stuff. I'm not an alchemist." At my glare he winced. "Sorry, I was probably more confident in that situation than I should have been. There ARE some small bits of crossover in crafting disciplines, but I guess not as much as I'd have liked to think."

"It's fine." I said, rolling my eyes. "I assume you put someone on the crates anyway, since following them to their distribution point is the next common sense move."

Barking out a laugh, Zeke tapped his nose with a finger. "That's my boy. See, you CAN be taught." He frowned. "Speaking of being taught where is that good for nothing disciple of mine. I got distracted for a bit after ranking up, has he been slacking?"

I blinked at him. "You got…Zeke that was four months ago. You haven't thought about Cark's training for almost half a year?"

"Like I said, just distracted for a bit. I take it he and the kid are sitting things out?" He didn't sound particularly unhappy about that, and I suspected it was what he'd have done in my situation.

Chelsea giggled. "Cassidy is staying with mom. She hasn't had a kid around in ages, and she's loving the chance to spoil the girl rotten."

I hadn't known that. In fact, i felt bad for not knowing that. Between wedding prep and whatever big mess we were currently ass deep in, I hadn't even questioned where Cass and Cark were. How had I missed that? Callie felt my distress and took my hand, squeezing it with a reassuring smile.

"So…where do we go from here?" I asked the others. "I say we stick it out with the Horned Lords at least until the conclave starts. We already went through the trouble of getting ourselves embedded, so it would be stupid not to take advantage."

Benny looked annoyed. "Oh sure, run off and play gangster while Cel, Jessie, and I are stuck here like prisoners. We would have liked to come along you know? You don't have to leave us out of everything."

"I left you out because Celine is a noble and too important to risk, Jessie is freakishly powerful for her level and has a really obvious power, and you're not far enough into E-rank to be helpful." I said bluntly. I saw him flinch, and part of me felt bad, but I respected Benny too much to sugar coat it.

He scowled at me. "I'm plenty strong. With all my multipliers I could keep up with anything you can. What do you have that I don't? Hell, what does SHE have?" He pointed at Callie.

"Same answer in both cases." I admitted. "A Path. We're getting to the point where it's a liability not to have at least an Illusionary Path, man. Hell, Callie's almost halfway to D-rank. Until you can form a Path I can't have you out with us. Not in a place like this, not out among elites and hardcore gang members. It's too risky."

He looked like I'd slapped him. Glancing around at the others, he didn't see anyone to take his side, so he stood up, shoving his chair back, and then stalked off.

I glanced at Celine. "Talk to him?" I said with a sigh. "I don't want to sideline him, but if he can't form a Path he's going to top out at D-rank. It's not fair to expect it this early, but we don't exactly live in a fair world." She grimaced, but nodded, standing to follow him out.

"That goes for any of you without a Path." I said, looking around at the others. "You've all got various bullshit cheats or incredible powers, but at the end of the day, if you can't hit D-rank you can't continue on with us." I looked them each in the eye. "You'll be sidelined more and more until we have to leave you behind."

Not wanting to talk anymore, I stood up and strode out of the room, heading for bed. Today had been eye opening in a lot of ways, and I'd finally laid down an ultimatum I'd been trying not to think about since Perit died. I just hoped I hadn't ruined my oldest friendship in the process.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I left the inn on my own after talking to Benny. I needed to think, and I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I wore my mask and armor though, so none of the Horned Lords drama would affect me. I was just a relative nobody walking the streets in the dark.

It struck me as I walked how long it had been since I'd done this, wandered off on my own to just be by myself. I knew Zeke would be keeping an eye on me, but other than that…there was no one. I'd spent so long constantly around my friends that I'd almost forgotten what it was like to walk by myself.

Part of me expected to be worried or lonely, but I'd come to terms with solitude of a much deeper nature in the Ruined Soul Temple, and this was a trip to the bathroom in comparison to that.

Strolling through darkened streets lit only by lamp and starlight, I took a deep breath, enjoying the crisp, clean air. It struck me that being in space it was weird that there even WAS a night, much less air, but I chalked it up to one of the many huge enchantments or machines down in flipside.

I walked for hours, not talking or thinking, just living in the moment, enjoying the peace. There was something surreal about the darkness around me, something almost alive. I realized I was feeling Callie's ability through the bond, at least a bit, but I liked it. I hadn't entered the shadows so I couldn't hear voices, but there was a comforting buzz to the dark I'd never felt.

Something pushed me on though, rather than sit and wait, I felt my legs carrying me almost on their own, my divination and fate sense pushing me this way or that until I came to a stop at the end of a dark alley.

Feeling with the bond, I pulled the shadows around me as I used Callie's Stealth, maximizing my cover for some unknown reason as I looked out into the street.

Across from me were a pair of men, one small and broad shouldered with an angry red nose and an angrier red beard. His eyebrows were thick and hung over his blue yes like a stormcloud, and his mustache nearly buried his belligerent scowl as he shoved a bag toward another man. "Look Danny, I'm not paying a forty percent mark up on an order I make every week. We have an arrangement."

"And I told you that you are, or you're not getting your Hallow." He held up a small plastic bag full of something grey. "Five of our shipments have been interrupted. We've lost three delivery vessels coming into Tricorn, and two of them disappeared in Flipside and we STILL don't know what happened to them."

The bearded man snorted in derision. "I know what happened. The Darklings got them. I told you idiots not to run around down there."

"The Darklings are a fairy tale, Rudy." Said Danny with an eye roll. "There is NO evidence that prolonged exposure to any of the machines in Flipside can mutate a person, much less turn them into a soulless people eating monster. Even Recursion has limits. Now, I gave you the updated price. Are you buying? Because I can see this to someone else in a heartbeat and you damned well know it."

It was hard to see Danny, who was hunched under a large hood that shadowed his face. I'd seen similar cloaks before, devices made to obscure features. The red bearded man, Rudy, gritted his teeth, but he shoved a small clinking bag toward the man.

Danny took the bag, pouring it out onto his palm and counting the chits before stowing them away. He tossed the bag to Rudy. "Cheer up. This is seriously good shit. You know how it works, increased Skill development is nothing to sneeze at." With a chuckle, he stepped back, vanishing into the dark the way Callie would have.

I froze as I stared at the bag, realizing what it was. It was ash. Specifically it was the SAME ash we'd found in those crates. I furrowed my brow. Why? Why smuggle what appeared to be some kind of cultivation drug into Tricorn.

Something about this seemed off. Also familiar. Ever since the Glade, I'd learned to be wary of miraculous substances that had crazy effects. This 'Hallow' apparently let people advance Skills faster, which was impressive, but also suspicious. The Moonglow Dew had been secretly tainted by the power of a dead god. Was that happening again?

Even if it was, what the hell could a bunch of low ranking nobodies do to people like my Grandfather? Even if the drug was designed to make them stronger or berserk or something, there was no chance they could do anything to anyone important. I was missing part of a bigger picture.

Glancing around, I wondered what the hell I was supposed to do? I could just go home, but I'd walked a long way. I debated chasing the dealer into the dark, but I wasn't Callie, and picking a shadow fight with a dark aligned Ascendant IN the dark seemed unreasonably stupid.

So…I walked. Something in me was pushing me on still. My journey wasn't over, and I trusted my divination and fate sense to lead me further. They'd brought me this far after all. I kept walking, and the path beneath my feet began to change. I'd wandered into the church district, and fairly deep into it somehow, taken a turn from one of the others.

Eventually I came to a small open field of grass in the middle of one of the blocks. A big pond of water sat in the middle of it, and over it a red wooden bridge.

On the bridge was a man, a guy about my age, with pale blonde hair and bright blue eyes, holding a fishing rod. I felt my fate sense pulling me toward him, and I obeyed it, walking along the bridge and sitting down next to him. "Nice night." I said cordially, having no idea why I was talking to this complete stranger.

"It is." He agreed, eyes never leaving the water. "But then, it's always a nice night for fishing, don't you think?"

I shrugged. "Don't really know. I don't have much experience with fishing like this." My mind flickered to punching flying rainbow fish on a rocking boat as they flew around us. "But I think maybe there are some nights that aren't the best for fishing." I glanced down into the water. "Are there…even any fish in that pond?"

"I don't think so. Why do you ask?" His tone was politely interested, and I just raised an eyebrow.

"Because you're fishing?" I asked slowly. "And the point of fishing is usually to CATCH a fish."

He smiled, finally looking up at me. "You have some strong opinions on fishing for someone without much experience. Let me as you this. If I go out on a lake full of fish, cast my line, and wait for ten hours without a bite, then come home empty handed, and someone asks what I was doing all day, what should I tell them?"

"You were out fishing." I said automatically. I saw his point, but I didn't really know how to respond.

His smile grew. "So we have established then, that fish are not integral to the act of fishing."

"Yeah, I get it. But why would you bother then?" I sighed. "Like you're just sitting out here casting your line into the water and you aren't hoping to catch anything?"

He chuckled. "Now when exactly did I say that I wasn't hoping to catch anything? I cast my line and set my bait, and I seem to have gotten a bite exactly as I expected. As I said, one who fishes does not necessarily seek to catch fish."

I frowned at him. "You're implying you were fishing for ME? I'll be honest, that doesn't exactly fill me with hope for your good intentions. I have to warn you, trying to kill me would be a big mistake. I know I probably seem like I'm alone, but I almost never am, and I can tell that you're definitely too strong to be picking a fight with me."

"Oh." He said with interest. "And what gives you that idea? Do I feel like some powerhouse?"

I shook my head. "No, you don't feel like anything. You feel like a regular human being just sitting her without a single point of Impact. Which you definitely are NOT, or else you would be dead just from sitting here."

He sighed. "Yes, that's a problem. Apologies, but being in my undiminished presence can be problematic for lesser Ascendants. I'm surprised you bothered with the threat though, I assume you already guessed who I am. If you have, you must realize Ezekial Cavendish can't do anything to stop me should I decide to do you harm."

"I was feeling out your reaction." I admitted. "You seemed more amused than afraid. The combination of factors confirmed it. You know there were easier ways to do this, right?"

Snorting, he waved a hand dismissively. "Pish posh. It's a grandfather's sacred right to go fishing with his grandson. Did you know, I once caught a fish this big?" He held up a single hand, winking at me as tried to strangle a laugh.

"Funny." I said after the snickering passed. "But it doesn't answer my question. Why not just come see us at mom's place? Why go through all the trouble to get me alone. Also HOW did you do that? Your power is purification right?"

That got another laugh, this one long and low. "My power is a great many things, Shane. But does not lie in such a direction. I used this fishing pole." He patted the item, and I let my eyes focus on it. "It was a gift from my senior brother. Your Path bears some similarities to his in some senses. Casting our karmic thread out with a bit of bait helped bring you to me."

"Wait…you're the reason I came out at all?" I asked suspiciously. "Or did you just notice my walk and snag me when I was alone." I had already inferred that he was the one who led me to the dealer, though why he didn't just tell me what was going on (assuming he knew) I had no idea.

To my surprise, he hopped to his feet, stowing away the fishing rod and dusting himself off. "Well. It's getting late. I prefer to call it for the day after getting a bite." I felt a bit of panic. This was my grandfather, the one I'd been dying to meet since I'd heard about him, and he was just going to leave? He hadn't even really SAID anything to me.

"You're not going to tell me anything about what's going on are you." I said resignedly. "You're just going to drop a cryptic hint and then vanish. Has anyone ever told you older Ascendants how annoying that is?"

His smile this time was beatific. "I'm sure I have no clue what you might be talking about. I just came here to do some fishing. Fishing is such an underrated activity, I think. Staring into the depths of the water, losing yourself in the serenity beneath the waves. It's easy to forget how much we miss when we're paying too much attention. Even when those things are right under our noses."

With another wink, he was suddenly gone, and Zeke appeared in his place, spinning wildly. My uncle looked agitated and confused, and I had to assure him of my safety as we headed back to the inn. I had a lot to think about, and a cryptic annoying riddle to puzzle out. Before we left, I used my Eye of Revelation on the pond, but found nothing. Whatever he'd been talking about, I was missing something. I just hoped I figured out what that was before it was too late.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The first thing I did when I got back to the inn was wake up Callie. She was less than thrilled, but once I explained what happened, she agreed it was for the best. I'd filled Zeke in on the way back so he didn't see a need to interfere. Still, with the extra info, he decided to approach Harrison and request help from the WCP. This seemed like that kind of matter.

One thing Callie and I couldn't decide on was how much my grandfather actually knew. He'd led me to a dealer trading in Hallow, but how much of that was knowledge and how much was the fishing rod letting him muck with karma? The Judgement Pope was renowned for the complexity of and sometimes the nonsensical nature of his power. Could that be what brought me to the dealer?

I had no answers, and the next morning, when I called to ask, mom told me grandpa wasn't the kind of person you could request a meeting with. He'd meet you or he wouldn't, and on his own timetable.

On the upside, while our Church resources might be coming up empty, the WCP DID manage to come through, and Zeke met us downstairs for breakfast with a new associate we'd never met.

We entered the huge dining area to find my uncle at a back table, sipping coffee, and next to him sat a young man a bit older than us (physically). He had long brown hair under a tricorn hat, with two thin braids framing his face on either side, knotted with silver beads. A red bandanna was tied over his mouth, and his eyes were a glowing aquamarine that contrasted with his tanned skin and dark eyebrows.

"Shane." Said my uncle with a smile as he cut into some eggs. "Glad you're finally up. I got in touch with Harrison, and after filling him in, he agreed the situation warrants a stronger response. Since we were the ones who found this latest connection, he sent over his best tracker to help pick up the trail." He jerked a thumb at the hat wearing man in the thick dark coat. "This is Pretseltsen Birchis. Pret is a particularly talented tracked. They call him The Houndmaster."

Bethy, who was just entering the room from the other side, froze and turned slowly to stare at the man with shining eyes. With a squeal of. "PUPPIES!" She blurred across the room to jerk to a stop leaning right into the stoic man's face. "You like puppies too? I have the cutest puppy, I named him luggage. I'll let you meet him if I could meet yours."

Pret raised an eyebrow. "I suppose I might be willing to bring out my hounds if you'd like." He snapped his fingers, and a there was a disturbance in the air. Three different substances began to billow from the ground. Fog, smoke, and sand swirling together to make a trio of large threatening mastiffs. Their eyes glowed red as they stared at Bethy intently, not moving or even breathing as their eyes tracked her. "Brutus, Colchis, and Darude." He said, pointing to them in turn.

Bethy clapped her hands gleefully. Her eyes flashed red for a second and there was a shift in the air as she opened her Domain for a fraction of a second, allowing the hulking dark form of Luggage to slink out, his own red eyes glowing like banked coals. Of course, where the mastiffs were mastiff sized, Luggage loomed over them at the size of a small pony, the hellhound staring down the three constructs.

Pret whistled. "Is that a Hellhound? Where did you get one of those? I thought all the planes connected to those were gone. The gods closed off all but-"

"Watch it." Snapped Zeke sharply. "That's not something they need to know about." His voice sounded…afraid. He was looking around subtly, trying not to noticeably scan the area but definitely checking for something. Whatever it was he didn't find it. "Anyway, put your dog up Bethy, we need to talk about today's operation."

The Vampire pouted, seemingly unaware of what was just almost said. I filed it away because it made me suspicious of a few other things I'd seen and heard, but I quickly zeroed in on the last part of what he said. "Wait…operation? What kind of operation? He's here to help us figure out where the Hallow is being kept, right?"

"Not exactly." He said with a grimace. "You know the Palace. No one does anything for free. Pret's services are on loan, but he's being paid in product." At my shock, he held up a hand. "I know, the stuff is probably dangerous. They're not stupid. It'll be studied. But if there's a way to increase the speed of Skill evolution it's something worth looking into. I'm sure you know what I mean."

I did. One of the biggest issues with wishing for Skills was that at higher levels it wasn't feasible. Past Intermediate, Skills were customized to the person evolving them. As I learned for about Skill creation I realized this was less about details and execution and more about stat construction.

Creation of a Skill was hypothetically the foundation of a Solid Path. Like Zeke had said, more perfected Skills would pay dividends later (I assumed when making a Chronicle) but even non Path Skills were easier to use and strained the soul less when they were customized more completely to the user.

All this was to say that you couldn't really wish for a Skill past Intermediate and have it work right, because the customization involved how the Skill leveraged the soul, which was different from person to person. It could be done, but it wasn't a good idea, because it was bound to fuck with you later.

I'd already noticed this before now, and it was one of the reasons my friends didn't just wish for all Expert level Skills. However, wishing for Skills at or below Intermediate was possible, it was just an unnecessary strain on the wisher's time. A million Minor Skills were worth less than a Single Expert. People tended to focus on polishing their main go to Skills instead of expanding to a wider power base for that reason.

Because of all that, a substance that could increase the speed of Skill growth would be exponentially more valuable to the WCP than anyone else. Wish for a bunch of Beginner or Intermediate Skills and then dump the recipient full of Hallow (or whatever non evil version of it they tried to synthesize) and watch their Skills fill out at lightning speed.

It was brilliant, and it was absolutely not something they would let us ruin. Unless one of the other forces got involved, no one was going to stop the WCP from taking that Hallow.

Which…I found I didn't care about. Sure, it wasn't nice, but at least it would be off the streets and presumably away from where it could do the most damage. I wasn't sure how it connected to the cults and what they had planned for the conclave but I knew damned well that it did. I'd do pretty much anything to protect my people.

"Fine." I said eventually. "I'll bring him to where I met the dealer, and he can help us find whatever their distribution center is. Will he be able to help us raid it?"

Pret chuckled. "Oh most assuredly." Said the D-ranker. This isn't a matter of candidacy. This is a matter of payment for services rendered. It's a win win situation. My master is overjoyed Janus decided to approach us with this opportunity."

Internally, I grimaced. Maybe it was growing up in the Conglomerate or maybe it was dealing with my dad when I was younger, but that kind of ruthless self serving pragmatism left a bad taste in my mouth. Pret was making it clear he didn't care what happened to any of the people on Tricorn, and was only doing this for the payday.

It tracked with what Zeke had mentioned about Harrison, who was known to be ambitious. I wondered if Aiden was like that too, or if he was just too busy to bother keeping a lid on it during all this.

When we agreed to work with him, everyone sort of refocused on breakfast and the occasional question. The others all came down and we started eating, but I was too lost in thought to pay much attention to my food. Now that we'd gotten the reasoning for today's raid out of the way, I was thinking back to what Pret had said.

He'd been about to mention the gods, and he'd said something about other planes. Did he mean the Hellhound came from the same place as the gods went when they Ascended? If that was even real. And if not, did the planes have anything to do with why the six killed all the other gods?

After hearing about Chronicles I thought I was coming close to seeing the whole picture with cultivation, but it seemed like I was only scratching the surface. Hell, I was pretty sure some of what I knew was wrong.

Zeke being able to Rank up to A-rank on a C-ranked conflicted with what I'd been told back on Callus about planets ranking up…or did it? I tried to remember what was said exactly, about whether not being able to rank up to higher was consistent to planet rank. I wasn't sure. Maybe because the planet was Pseudo D-rank?

D-rank was a watershed, and entire new state of being. A planet below that might not be able to handle someone reaching Master. Had I just assumed you needed to rank up on a planet the same rank as you without ever questioning the logic?

The more I learned, the more I realized all the gaps and flawed assumptions in my knowledge of the way the world worked, the more I understood that I didn't understand.

Part of me was excited about that, was enthralled with the idea of expanding my worldview and seeing more of what the universe had to offer. Part of me though…part of me was afraid. There was so much to know and learn, so much I needed to understand, and it just made the chasm between me and the real powers of this world seem to yawn even wider.

And then…I stopped. This. This was the whole reason Zeke didn't tell me most of this shit. THe reason for the geas. Questioning myself, letting my fear overrule my good judgement. Panic and uncertainty.

A hand took mine and squeezed, and I turned to see Callie smiling at me calmly. I felt a wave of reassurance over the bond, and my heart warmed. Callie knew she would be ok, because she had me, and I would be ok because I had her. I wasn't alone, wasn't helpless. I was learning and growing every day, and so was she.

I focused back on what Zeke had said to me all those months ago on the Necromedes. Don't worry about it. It had taken me all this time to really grasp what he meant. If I spent every second worrying about terrifying ineffable enemies waiting in the darkness to rip out my soul I'd never sleep again.

Ascendants needed to roll with the punches, to let what would come do so in its own time. I flooded Callie with the certainty, and I felt her hand tighten around mine as she understood the same thing. I knew she was too much of a perfectionist to take it to heart like I had, but she would try, and I would help her.

Finally, everyone finished breakfast and we all suited up. I felt right with my mask on. I'd worn it last night, but being out among my people in costume again made me feel whole. Once we were all ready I led us to the spot where I'd seen Danny the shadow guy selling Hallow, and Pret's dogs picked up the scent. With that we were off to find their distribution site.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"This is the place?" I asked Pret as we stopped outside a large building. I looked around, and I couldn't see any sign of this place being particularly important. No groups of people, no defenses. If I had set up a distribution center for a giant intergalactic drug trade I'd have left guards or something.

Pret nodded easily. "The pups say yes." He said laconically, patting the smoke grey mastiff. "We need a sitrep. Any of you have a scouting Skill?"

"Leave it to me." Said Callie confidently, kneeling down to press her hand to the ground. When she touched her shadow, she sank into it, fully vanishing into the darkness. She normally only barely entered the dark, but she'd been doing some training, and she'd found that the more of her she submerged the wider her radius.

I paid close attention to her. While she was theoretically safe in the dark, there were tons of strange and seemingly off the wall abilities, and I wouldn't put it past someone to be able to hurt her. Using the bond, I could tap into her power, albeit with some difficulty, and I could use that to pull her out if needed.

It took a few minutes for her to emerge, and she was panting and looking a little sick. "Are you alright?" I asked her worriedly as I helped her over to sit against the side of a building.

"Perception focused D-ranker." She said with a shudder. "Almost caught me. Even in the shadows he nearly sensed me, luckily between Stealth and my Path of the Abyss I was able to avoid the detection. We have a huge problem. There are five different D-rankers in there, and a dozen or so E-rankers."

I grimaced. "What about the crates. Is this where they're distributing the Hallow?"

"Pretty sure. They have a bunch of people cutting those crates of ash and separating them into little baggies. But…something is wrong with them. At least some of them. One of them went crazy when he dropped something in the ash and it puffed up in his face. The nearest E-ranker stabbed him and he…Shane he burned alive. He didn't even seem upset, he was laughing and screaming about a sacrifice."

Sighing, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "That's the opposite of reassuring. Well, we have the right place at least." I turned to Pret. "When is Callen getting here? And hopefully some other backup. We can handle the E-rankers easily enough I'm sure, but I'm not bringing my people up against five D-rankers without a proper counter."

The Houndmaster chuckled. "I can handle four of them. Your swordmaster is on his way. I reached out when we stopped."

I nodded, turning to the others. "Stay away from the ash. If it kills people we don't want anything to do with it. Pret can round it up and take it, just draw any of them you can away from whatever assembly line they're using before the fight."

Abel grinned, cracking his neck. "I bet I can kill more of them than anyone else." He said tauntingly. "Anyone willing to bet on it."

"You're on Alice." Said Bethy with a grin. "You don't stand a chance."

His eyes narrowed. "No animal companions. That's cheating. You can attack five times as many people as I can."

"What?" She protested. "That's not fair. My familiars are part of my power. If you're allowed to use your gloves I should be allowed to use my kitties." She turned to pout at me. "Shane, tell Apple he's being unreasonable."

"You don't get to call me unreasonable when you've gotten my name wrong in three different ways since this conversation started." He snapped. "I'm just making things fair."

She snickered at him. "Oh I'm sorry. I didn't realize we were aiming for 'fair'. I thought I was talking to an actual fighter. My mistake. I'd love to have a fair competition with you!" She clapped her hands earnestly. "Maybe I can try on some of my pretty new dresses. Do you need any extra advantages? I could try fighting them with one hand if that would help?"

Abel looked outraged. "That's not…stop that! I'm not asking for pity! You know what, fine! Use your animals. Use all the animals! Summon a planet of woodland critters and unleash them on the unsuspecting denizens of the warehouse, I'll beat you no matter how much help you have!"

I stepped up next to Mel, lowering my voice as I tried to suppress my cackle. "He knows she's just straight up handling him right now, right?"

"He does." She said in amusement. "He just doesn't actually have a choice but to be handled."

I glanced at Bethy with a newfound respect. She was so much craftier than she let on. This was why she scared me so damned much. "You think he has a chance at winning?"

"Not even slightly." She giggled. "And he knows it. But he doesn't actually care that much. His pride isn't wrapped up in winning or losing, even if she did poke it with that little speech. He's doing it because it's a chance to pit himself against the best and try to improve. He's like that sometimes."

That sounded more like Abel. I knew he liked to indulge Bethy's games because it boosted morale. I wondered how much of that little exchange was him humoring her.

Within about ten minutes, there was a rush of wind and a figure appeared. "Callen." I nodded to the swordsman. "Surprised it took you so long. You're D-rank now right?" That would mean basically no suppression at this level.

He shrugged. "I was on the other side of the district. Why am I not surprised this is Imperial Territory? Anyway, we're going in? What's their roster looking like?"

We explained the layout and the enemy inside, and he nodded. "I can take two, most likely. Depends how deep into D-rank they are. I've been growing like crazy because of all the renown from my little stunt when I broke through."

I had assumed. Considering the overflow renown Benny was getting, the sheer attention Callen must have received for the feat must have been pushing him up almost as fast as Callie, if not faster.

That was something I'd noticed about renown. Because of the exponential weighting toward higher rankers (renown from an A-ranker was worth more than a thousand B-rankers, though that was more of an estimate than a hard number) the higher rank you were the more renown you tended to accrue.

The spread of stories tended to be wider for people with higher ranks because of the way most cities were structured, like back in Callus where everyone was isolated from all but the most powerful people in the faction, but also higher ranked people cared less about impressive feats from lower ranking Ascendants.

Your average A-ranker was much less impressed by an E-ranker killing a D-ranker than another E-ranker was. When you'd gotten that high up the ladder, you'd been through some insane shit of your own, by necessity.

Being D-rank meant more people would be talking about Callen than Benny, or honestly even Callie. She HAD killed a god, but it was more of a fluke than anything. She wasn't even a Master yet, so she hadn't proven herself that interesting. When we hit D-rank, chances were good our stories would start to carry further, assuming we stayed interesting.

I shook off the introspection. Learning more about the world we lived in was great, but there were more important things to do.

I held up a hand. "Before we go in, we're going to make a plan. Callie gave us the layout and how many people are in there, so we can strategize accordingly." I knelt down, imbuing my finger with Belial and reaching down to slowly trace out a map in the road.

Between my Focus, Perception, and even my Might, I was able to draw extremely well these days, and the corrosion of Belial was plenty to eat through the stone of the road. I had a decent map traced out within a minute, and Callie mentally helped me fill out the positions of all the enemies and their ranks.

"Pret, you'll take these three." I gesture at the two of them clustered together and one by the back corner. "This one is the Perception specialist, so make sure to keep him occupied, and your hounds mean you can cover a wider range. Callen, these two are guarding the door together. You should be able to pull them pretty easily."

He nodded slowly. "I might be able to kill one or both of them in a single hit if I can approach the building without being noticed."

I nodded to Callie, who sent me a pulse of assurance through the bond. Then I turned to the others. "Bethy, you're a Vampire and don't breathe, I want you to hit the ones closest to the ash just in case. Probably unnecessary, but discretion is the better part of valor. Draw them out to here if you can." I marked a spot on the map.

"Sir, yes sir!" She said, saluting crisply. Then she giggled. "I learned that in the arm."

"You did it backwards." I informed her blandly. "But I'm glad you're so confident. Gabe and Abel, I want you here and here. I'm going to drop them into a Pit of Despair, then harder in. You'll be waiting to take them out. Callie, I want you waking pot shots at any of the stragglers from the dark, stay in shadow so you don't inhale anything. Chelsea, you'll be on standby in case anyone DOES get dosed, your purification will be our ace in the hole."

Mal cleared her throat. "And what will I be doing?"

"You'll be with Chelsea, keeping her safe and not killing us all in a terrible dust explosion." I shrugged. "Sorry, I don't KNOW that the ashes are combustible, but I don't know they aren't, and throwing around torrents of flame, purification flame aside, in a room full of magic dust that sets people on fire, seems like a poor life choice."

She paused, then slumped a bit. "I…have no response to that. When you phrase it that way it makes sense. But you owe me some front line time soon. I've been getting sidelined, and I want to show off some of my new tricks after getting to E-rank."

With a laugh, I agreed, and we all moved to get into position. I stepped off the air with Ripple Running until I landed on the roof. Strolling over to the spot above the place I'd indicated to the others, I pressed my hand to the ceiling while pulling on Callie's stealth.

Pit of Despair and Dust construction created an opening (and a hand little hood over top of it so the light didn't stream in and give me away) and I peered down into the warehouse. From this angle, I could see down the length of the building to where Callen was going to spring his attack.

Reaching out mentally to Callie, I had her notify the others through the shadows. With a shocking boom of displaced air, a massive sword construct split the front wall of the building, heading right for the two D-rankers.

One lost an arm at the shoulder retreating, and the other raised a shield and tanked the blow, flying off his feet and through the wall. Callen appeared behind the one armed guy and stomp kicked him in the base of the spine, sending him sailing after his friend before her blitzed after them.

Through the gaping hole in the wall, Bethy and Luggage blurred towards the table where a bunch of people were sorting out the ash, and I grinned hungrily as the baying of hounds sounded through the warehouse.

Pret's dogs were on top of the three other D-rankers, Pret alongside them in an instant, and I readied myself for combat. It was time for us to do what we did best. Sometimes it felt good to just cut loose.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

State of Grace made me graceful as I slipped through the hole I'd made in the ceiling. Stealth made me silent. The second I got through, I closed the hole back up. I landed on a platform made from Ripple Running, which was still active from my ascent to the roof, and casually reached up to grab an outlying piece of metal to hang from.

A slight effort of will saw me swallowed in darkness, cloaked by Callie's power as well as her stealth, as I waited for things to play out. I wanted to drop down and wade into the fight, but I knew it was more important to stick with the plan, so I sat, and waited.

Bethy hit the E-rankers head on, luggage jumping on two of them as she whirled around them. She was clearly having fun, pirouetting around them like she was at a dance, skirt whirling as her glittering nails licked out and drew long furrows on skin.

This was the first time I'd seen Bethy fighting seriously since she'd gotten any real control of her bloodlust, and it was wonderful to see how free and excited she seemed.

She blurred away, the E-rankers trailing behind her. They all looked gaunt and kind of hungry, but most of all they looked predatory. Whatever Skills they developed with the Hallow, I was pretty sure they were dangerous.

They were right on her tail as they entered the specific area where we'd agreed to spring the trap, and as I triggered Pit of Despair I Saw Bethy SKIP across the nearly frictionless dust as they all fell in. I immediately hardened the stone floor again by withdrawing my Skill, trapping them all inside.

Dropping smoothly from the dark, I let State of Grace carry me down at a gentle float. As I descended, there was a loud crack as a hand punched up from the stone. Grimacing, I noticed the play of red sparks along the fingers, and my Eye of Revelation showed me a slowly building energy from that hand. "Move!" I bellowed to my friends as I hit the ground and threw myself on top of the hand, activating Mornax.

There was a massive explosion, and I felt myself flying through the air before I hit the wall with a sickening thud, several of my bones cracking on impact.

Mornax was nearly unbreakable to an E-ranker, but it required contact with the ground to work. Once I got blown clear it ended, and I had been pretty much impervious to damage in my stone form so all that explosive power became propulsion that slammed my fleshy mortal self into the rock side of the building. As I slid down the wall, I groaned, wishing I'd saved some heal bursts instead of using them for…I blinked.

Triggered Zagan, I flooded my own body with the green flames of life, groaning as the damage began to knit back together. It wasn't an instant heal, even with all the boosts, but it DID purify my body of pain, which was useful as hell. I'd heal in time, faster now, but this little reprieve was more than worth the form I'd taken.

I glanced through the smoke to see Abel and Gabe smash into the now freed and damaged E-rankers, the one who exploded had blasted them free, though I saw at least one or two corpses from the blast.

One of them stumbled toward me gleefully, and I started to stand to meet him, but the darkness beneath him deepened and Callie emerged. Blurring upward, her daggers moved, severing his achilles tendons, plunging right into his kidneys, then staying behind as she manifested a new pair, slit his throat, and then jammed the shadow constructs into his eyes, all in one smooth continuous motion.

I blinked at her in shock as she viciously kicked him away and rushed to my side. "Are you ok?" She said frantically. "The sound you made when you hit that wall…"

Smiling, I held up a finger, then flicked my staff out into the path of a passing E-ranker and dumping all my injuries into him. I technically had about two dozen fractures and breaks, but I considered them all one big skeletal injury, so a bit of bullying was enough to shove them onto the man, who collapsed to the ground screaming.

"I'm fine." I said, popping to my feet energetically. "And Abel and Gabe didn't lose any limbs from that blast. Which seemed…stronger than it should have been."

She grimaced. "Pretty sure it was a Master rank Skill. Those ashes are no joke. Lucky they're just E-rankers. Your Impact was enough to make up the difference." She shook off her distress. "Sorry, I was just…upset when I saw you fall like that."

"Clearly." I said in amusement, gesturing to the ravaged corpse of the guy who had been on his way to kill me. "You were definitely thorough. Now let's get back in it. We have to help the others."

These guys were…way tougher than they should be. It felt like fighting a dozen lesser version of Abel. Not QUITE as bad, but they were all clearly far too advanced in their Skills, or at least one of them. Gabe was smashing them down, but he was having to focus on one at a time, and Bethy was dancing between two rabid looking partially transformed fighters who looked like animal hybrids.

Luggage had locked onto one and was bearing him down, and Abel was engaged with three at a once, surprisingly gleeful as they managed to take chunks out of him. One was using some kind of straight razor as a weapon, one's hands glowed with a vibrating yellow energy, and one flickered in place like some kind of uncontrolled teleporter.

Which was ten total including the ones Callie and I had already dealt with, leaving us one each. I left the broken bone guy on the floor as I blurred toward the last one, staff licking out to tap Abel, Gabe, and Bethy to supercharge them with my life giving green flames. I avoided Callie because I didn't want to accidentally interfere with her shadows.

I considered the last two, attacking the bigger and more malevolent looking one. My feet slammed down, stacking Mornax and Mephistopheles, maximum offense and defense. The big guy in front of me snarled and lashed out with a massive hammer, the hunk of metal slamming into me and…pushing me back.

Snarling, I ignored the pain in the arm I'd used to interrupt the attack, spinning up my staff as I triggered Flurry of Blows, launching one high and one low burst of black flame.

This guy was stronger than he should be. High E-rank Might, and a Master ranked hammer Skill. Even Mornax was having trouble tanking these hits. I grinned widely. Perfect. It had been ages since I'd had a real knock down brawl. I could feel Callie was fine, which meant there was no reason to worry about anyone.

The big guy roared, hammed smashing down on me. My staff planted, the butt of the weapon braced on the ground as the blow came down on the other side. The explosive force bled into the ground, cracking the stone.

I channeled the black flame into the now underground section of the staff, and the explosive power drove it up and out. Swinging the bottom up, I smashed the ascending staff into the jaw of the other fighter, then stepped forward and smashed my fist into his diaphragm.

Mephistopheles made me an avatar of destruction, the black flame a part of me, and the explosive burst of fire from that punch sent the big man stumbling back in confusion. I whirled my staff, smashing him in the legs with a series of rapid explosive blows, stumbling back as his hammer smashed into the side of my head, sending me reeling.

My crown and mask soaked most of the blow, especially with Mornax active, but my bell was rung pretty good, and I wheeled back on the defensive for minute or two as he rained down hammer blows with an outraged roar.

Despite the pain, my face was split with a manic grin. I was doing it. I was going toe to toe with a high E-ranker specced into Might, using a powerful weapon and taking some enhancement bullshit, and I was holding on. I forced myself to calm down, watching and waiting as he descended, until I noted a slight shift in his footwork.

My overlay was active, and I knew exactly how to take advantage of the gap. Spitting a Steam Arrow enhanced with black fire, I forced the shocked hammer wielder to scream and retreat. As he covered his face instinctively, I smashed my staff into the instep of his foot, detonating an explosive burst of black flame.

I felt several bones give as he howled in agony, and I spun off my back foot, whirling my whole body as I swung my staff like a bat, slamming the heavy length of wood, into his skull even as I dumped my own headache and tender head into him from where he hit me. He went stumbling, collapsing to the ground on all fours.

Walking over to him, I lifted a foot off the ground, straining to keep Mornax active since one was still planted, and SLAMMED my heel into his lower spine with an explosion of black fire. My density shifted stone body combined with the blast snapped his spine and sent his body slamming into the ground hard enough to partially embed him in the stone.

Turning to check, I realized everyone else was done, and I let my forms drop with a sigh of relief. A quick switch to Zagan flooded my body with healing again, and I sighed in relief as the pain faded.

I'd taken a bunch of hits with that hammer, and that guy had been STRONG. Feeling those start to repair was nice. I turned to see Callie sitting over her own sparring partner, who wasn't dead, surprisingly. I guess attacking her personally was less of a cardinal sin in her eyes than attacking me.

"How many of them are alive?" I asked as I glanced around. "I wanted to question them."

Abel chuckled and I turned to see him sitting on one of his. "Mine aren't dead. Tough bastards. It occurred to me some answers wouldn't go amiss. Plus I realized that Bethy wouldn't be getting credit for the ones she kited, and that didn't seem fair."

Chelsea and Mel had entered through the opening Callen had made and were looking over the destruction with an impressed look. "Damn." Said Mel. "You didn't hold back there, huh?"

I shrugged. "These aren't brainwashed puppets or anything. Just assholes who tried to kill us. I was going to try to purify them of the Hallow, but it doesn't seem like it works that way. It's already part of them, and all it does is make them stronger." I poked hammer guy, just to check, and shook my head. "For now."

I'd gotten a weirdly solid idea of what was up with them during the fight. It made me wonder if I should have included scan heal in Zagan so I could have an even clearer picture, but Eye of Revelation seemed to be doing the job.

Pret appeared next to us, and from his eyes I was pretty sure he was smiling. "Well now. That was certainly an effective raid. I'll have to keep an eye on you Shane. Not many candidates can set up such a seamless assault. That's a skill that'll come in handy. Feel free to keep the rabble, they weren't part of our deal."

I recognized an olive branch when I saw one, I nodded gratefully as we started moving to tie up the E-rankers. We'd deliver them to my mom and let her question them, hopefully she could help us make sense of what was going on. The more I learned, the less sure I was of what was happening, and that was starting to worry me.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next week flew by. As usual, I made sure to grind out my wishes with the help of whoever I had handy. I'd have liked to help my friends, but honestly I was starting to worry about falling behind. I got four hundred ninety points from the wishes, and a trickle in from my renown of two hundred and ten, for a grand total of seven hundred points (four hundred in Focus and three hundred in Perception).

Despite that, none of it seemed like enough. I felt…small. Slow. For my won rank I knew objectively I was pretty strong, but it didn't feel like enough. So, I went to go see someone who I thought might be able to actually help. I went to see my mom.

Of course, I was allowed entry without any trouble. People may not know about our relationship, but my mom had given standing orders that I was allowed to visit whenever I wanted, and had told me as much when she did it. I knew she wanted to encourage me to come see her when I had the time.

I found her sitting by the lake in her embassy, peacefully enjoying the fake sunshine and sipping a glass of iced tea. When she saw me, her face lit up. "Shane!" She said happily as she rushed to stand and hug me. "I'm so glad you came to visit. It's always nice to see you and your friends but we never seem to have any quality time."

My stomach twisted, and I felt a flash of guilt at that. I'd come here to ask her for information on cultivation, I hadn't even considered visiting her. I hadn't been spending much time with my mom since we'd reunited, and while intellectually I knew that was perfectly fine and that I had other things to do, emotionally it felt wrong.

There were a lot of weird feelings mixed in there. Guilt, resentment, anger. But I still wished I had the time to just come over to visit. It was clear she'd been trying so hard to be there for me however I needed her to be, and it just felt wrong not to reciprocate.

Curiously, she seemed to notice my discomfort and chuckled, ruffling my hair. "Here for some training tips then? It's fine." Her smile wilted, eyes flashing with pain. "I owe you at least that much. What can I help you with?" She gestured to the seat opposite her and pulled an empty glass from a spatial ring. "Would you like some tea?"

Her being supportive of me not being around honestly made it that much worse, but I powered through it because I knew that the reason I was here was important. I'd have to deal with trying to build a relationship with her later, but for the moment I needed her advice as one of the few A-rankers I had access to not bound by the rules of the contest or my dad's obnoxious geas.

Sitting, I shook my head. "No thanks. And yeah, I had some stuff I needed to talk about. Some cultivation, some just…stuff I'm feeling." I felt oddly vulnerable as I asked. "Is that ok?"

Her smile came back, bursting through the cloud of sadness with the megawatt intensity of a supernova. "Of course it is! I'm happy to listen. Maybe I can be of some help. I've been through a thing or two in my time."

"It's just…" I trailed off. "Hallow. Specifically, the people who take it. I was confident in myself, and I think I've done pretty well for an E-ranker at my level. My extra Impact makes everything I do a bit heavier hitting, my versatility and adaptability are both pretty damned good. All my power gives me a fighting chance even against E-rankers with twice my stats."

She sighed. "But it's not enough." She finished.

"It's not." I agreed. "They were fielding Master Candidates. People like Abel. Maybe not quite as dangerous, but they can MASS produce them. Those Master level Skills were somewhat offsetting my Impact. I need more."

The power I'd seen from those fighters had terrified me, because it had been pushed in a direction I couldn't follow. I had no Skills I could push to master. My most used was DS Mastery, but while adding it as my Solid Path had been beneficial in so many ways by allowing me to ensure it ranked up and letting me create my staff forms, it precluded me pushing it past Expert. I had no other Skills I could polish.

"It's one of the limits you'll face as a candidate." She shrugged. "I know it isn't ideal, and you defy the norm in many ways, but there's only so much stronger you can reasonably get. That's why you have a team. To cover your weaknesses as you cover theirs. You've simply gotten too wrapped up in being able to counter any threat and react to any situation. It's ok to need help, Shane."

I groaned aloud. "I know that, but this isn't about needing help, this is about being able to pull my own weight. Everyone is getting more powerful. Abel is a monster, Callie killed a god, Benny has his new stat boosters, Bethy is Bethy, Chelsea has two insane powers that explode in a cascade of death if they combine, and I've never even seen her USE Enshrining Darkness. I'm falling behind."

"I know it probably seems like that." She said sympathetically. "Though I would disagree. But I can understand the frustration of being surrounded by amazing, terrifying people. Believe it or not, I've been there before."

I grimaced. "Then what do I DO?" I growled in frustration. "How am I supposed to keep up with a bunch of crazy cultists that can manufacture monsters?" I considered all my options, ways I could get stronger or obtain power, and I finally hit on one I hadn't considered before. "Hey…what about a Domain?" I asked with excitement. "Bethy has one, so I'm pretty sure you can have a Job and a Domain, which means Heroic Cultivation should be compatible too."

She gave me a considering look. "You could make a Domain." She admitted. "But you shouldn't."

That was vague enough that I assumed there was more, but as I waited for her to elaborate, she didn't. I raised an eyebrow, deciding to press. "Why not?" I asked cautiously. "Bethy has one and it works great."

"Bethany's racial trait, mutation though it might be, aligns her quite strongly with her father." She explained. "Morgan Lark is not a typical being. Her Domain is based on his story, and that makes it unique in some ways." At my blank look, she sighed. "Have you ever considered what a Domain is?"

I just shrugged. "It's an area of effect based on a story. Like a sphere of influence kind of. I've seen Bethy use hers a bunch and it's really effective."

"It's a shortcut." Said my mother bluntly. "Bethany's is more powerful than it should be for multiple reasons. A domain is a territory you open to bring a story to life. Consider what that means when weighed against what you know of how people progress in cultivation."

Thinking about it…I could see where the seemingly disparate Domain element could fit into the way cultivation worked. If you made a Domain using someone elses story, you could borrow that power. But if mom said I shouldn't do it…I considered what I knew about Chronicles. I didn't have all the information about what happened after that, but I could come to an obvious conclusion.

"It's skipping a step." I finally said. "Domains get stronger if they're based on your story?" I hazarded a guess.

She waggled a hand. "Domains get stronger a few ways. But deep relationships with the story and fewer people using it add weight to that power. That's why Bethany's is so effective for her level. Morgan Lark guards his story jealously, sharing it with very few."

"Is that why he did it?" I asked cautiously. "Wiped out all the other Vampires? I know he hunted them all down, everyone except his own family."

"Among other things." She said with a nod. "Morgan's power is…intimidating. You have to understand something important. Morgan successfully fought against, and bested, The Unity. He fought a GOD. Not a weakened god starving for years, but a true deity in the fullness of his power." At my lack of response she smiled lightly. "Keep in mind, Shane, that one reaches godhood at a thousand Impact. Remember what happens at a hundred Impact?"

I blinked in shock. "Wait…he fought up a rank against someone past a watershed?" My tone was a mixture of horror and awe. "So…basically beating a D-ranker at E-rank?"

"Much harder." She said with a laugh. "Godhood is a much bigger jump in life state. His ability to do so involves some secrets related to his ability to consume stats. It's complicated, but suffice to say, Morgan Lark is the most powerful S-ranker alive, and it is NOT close. Most people don't even believe the story about him fighting The Unity, but I happen to know it's true. That and that alone allows him to share his Domain with his daughter and allow her to flourish."

It had always been academic, hearing about Bethy's dad. Hearing how fucking monstrous he was. Like someone telling you about a really nice restaurant in another city you'll never go to. This though, gave me context. Gave me a measuring stick to use to compare myself to him.

And I didn't measure up. Which made things WORSE. "If I can't improve my soul, and I can't make a Domain, what am I supposed to do?" I growled in desperation. "I'm getting MARRIED mom. I'm going to have a wife soon. Maybe kids someday not too long after that. I can't just keep being a puppet. The Conclave starts tomorrow, how many more powerful people will see me and notice how weak I am?"

It wasn't even just that. I was losing momentum. Slow and steady felt fine before, but seeing what was coming…I needed to go faster, to make a bigger splash. It would snowball, help me advance quicker.

Staring at me, I saw my mother's face twist in heartbroken empathy. Reaching over, she stood and pulled me into a hug. "My poor boy." She murmured. "What did we do to you? How much did we take away by bringing you into this shattered family." I could hear the rawness and agony in her voice as she struggled not to cry, and it broke MY heart to be the cause of that.

"It's not…" I pulled away, frantically trying to comfort her. "I don't resent you. I love my life. You didn't cause this war. Didn't cause the danger. You've done everything you can to help me, to prepare me for this, ever since we met."

Closing her eyes, she took a long, ragged breath. When she opened them the blue of her irises was colder somehow. Deadlier. "Not everything." She said bluntly. "I know about your forms. I can't do much for most of them, but your Mephistopheles is close enough to the way I wield my flames in combat that I can help you refine it."

Stepping back, she smoothed her hands over the place my cape attached at the shoulders. She stared into my blank mask for a moment, then nodded, face firming. "Yes. The conclave is tomorrow, and outside of testifying and meeting with other up and comers, you'll train with me. By the time I finish with you, it won't matter how many fake Master Candidates they send." Somewhere, deep down inside, I felt a spark begin to burn, one I hadn't felt since a year ago when I was starting my training with Abel. I couldn't wait to see what she had to teach.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The rest of that day went by in a blur. I had so much to think about, so much to do. Training with my mom was an intimidating thought. A powerful A-ranker with two abilities, one of which was similar to some of my own powers. It would be interesting to see exactly how far I could go with Mephistopheles.

Hopefully I managed to apply the lessons to my other forms. Zagan wasn't combat based, so I couldn't really see how that one would work, but the others…well I'd have to see.

The next morning dawned with me still distracted. I got up, but on my armor, headed for the door…and tripped. I went sprawling forward as I came out my door, slamming into the wall and leaving a bunch of dents as I came back to my feet and spun around to glare at Benny, who was leaning against the wall with his foot sticking out across my doorway at shin height.

"What the fuck?" I snapped, glaring at him. I wasn't hurt of course, I had State of Grace going almost constantly, plus sixty five Impact. Still, it was the principle of the thing. "Were you waiting outside my door just to trip me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously. Now, mind telling me why it worked?" I opened my mouth to lash out at him…and paused. He was right. That shouldn't have worked.

Benny was weaker than I was, had no Path, yet he'd been able to tip me over without me noticing. He held out a hand and helped me up. "You need to calm down." He said bluntly. "I know you well enough to see when you're in your own head. Callie lets you figure things out on your own, which is fine usually, but sometimes you need someone to throw off your stride."

"That's easy to just say." I snapped. "This is a big deal. This isn't JUST an interrogation. We're presenting ourself to the factions. This will set a tone."

He cocked his head. "You really think it's that big of a deal? That this will mean that much?"

"It definitely will." Came the voice of my sister from behind us. Neither of us was surprised, we heard someone coming ever if we didn't notice who, but we turned to find Chelsea smiling at us wanly. She stepped forward, adjusting my cape absently and then brushing a bit of wall dust off my chest.

Benny didn't argue, just sat thoughtfully for a bit before asking. "What exactly are we walking into?"

"Today?" She said calmly. "Not much. The Conclave won't start with a hearing or a meeting. It'll start with a banquet. Introductions of everyone present are a must. It might seem petty, but it's a fact of Ascendant culture. Appearances are everything, so they'll make sure to be as ostentatious as possible in the ways they can."

I could see that, it would be pretty on brand. It also gave the wolves at the gate a target, which was a bad thing. Then again, I could easily see how that would paint a target on us, so chances were good the enemy would assume something like that would be heavily guarded.

"What kind of schedule are we looking at for the whole thing?" I asked cautiously. "If appearance is going to play a role…" I trailed off, knowing she would get my point.

She chuckled. "The Conclave will last a week. The first night will be a banquet. Then there will be three days of games. They're supposedly a chance to encourage cooperation, but mostly they're a way for the younger generations of different factions to demonstrate strength. Their success will help build momentum going into negotiations."

"Really?" I asked in surprise. This had to be what my mom meant about me needing training. It ALSO meant that my friends and I would be fighting on different sides. Not all of us, but Gabe, Bethy, and Chelsea all represented other factions. "How does some kids fighting mean anything though?"

"Like I said." She shrugged. "Everything is based on image. A full on competition between the S-rankers would not only be way too destructive, it would be beyond the scope that most people would even be able to comprehend. When we fight it's visible. There'll be brackets for E, D, and C-rankers. Nothing higher than that."

That was interesting, though I didn't even think we knew any current C-rankers. Still, we'd be expected to represent our factions I assumed. "Why didn't they tell us?" I asked numbly. "We could have prepared."

"So you didn't prepare." She said with a laugh. "They have some training in mind, I'm sure, but it'll start after everyone is introduced at the banquet. Don't ask me why. The C-rank games will be the first day, so we'll have time to train." That was a relief at least. I wanted to maybe watch the D-rank games so we could cheer on Callen, plus seeing a bunch of Masters fight sounded cool, but the first day we could skip.

For a minute I wondered how much of my heart to heart had influenced mom to train me and how much had been this. Then I realized I was going to be competing for Harrison and the WCP and she was going to literally be training her competition, and my heart warmed a bit.

We all met up downstairs in the front room of the inn, getting breakfast and then getting ready to head over to mom's place. I wasn't sure what we would do all day before we actually attended the banquet, but I didn't mind the distraction. I wondered if it was considered cheating to give out some wishes to help everyone's chances.

Once we finished, we left for the Church District, taking the bus, and as we sat there, chatting about the games, I realized another reason they might be doing this. On the eve of war, having something positive and fun to focus on might help people keep calm. This was going to be a big deal for years to come, and a bunch of really stressed people making those decisions would only make it harder. Affecting the tone of the Conclave in a positive way was probably very smart. Especially with so many Ascendants who would probably be influenced by the renown gathered here. A good start to the recursion could be nothing but good.

While we rode, I withdrew from the conversation, reaching into my ring and pulling out a book I hadn't spent nearly enough time reading. Basics of Skill Design. Opening the old book, I started again on page one.

The text was…dense. I noticed that every time. Not just packed in tight, but heavy. Like the book itself had Impact, even if not enough to qualify as an enchanted item. The longer I read, the more I lost myself in it. The first page was a foreward, and philosophical musing on the nature of Skills, and despite it not containing any technical information, it was incredibly useful.

The author mused on Skills, on what they really were, and why they existed, and why so many of us chose to create new ones rather than to make do. He posited that Skills weren't really some mythical complicated system at their core. They were a wish.

A skill was just a dream that someone made reality, using the dreams of others. A heartfelt plea to the universe to accomplish a goal. And all the Skills we made, or found, were just mechanisms to grant the people who had them their hearts desire. I stopped, staring down at the volume quietly as I considered who had written it.

The person in this book made no mention of the Wish power, not of the WCP. He spoke as if those things didn't exist. His name was Wyndham, and his unique stance on Skills…was this my great-great however many times great grandfather? Was Alistair Wyndham the original Wishmaster?

It made sense, honestly, not just because of how old Arble was, but because I'd heard the name Alistair Wyndham before. One of my relatives in the Moonsong Glade had it. If you were going to name your kid after a family member, why not the biggest baddest family member of all. How many Alistair Wyndhams were there in the family? Ten? Twenty? I was glad I'd only met the one. That seemed like it would be confusing.

Shaking that thought off, I went back to the book. The more I learned, the more subtle meaning I managed to dig out of each word. This book was written by someone who knew what they were doing. Layers and layers of meaning hidden in each and every word.

Some books are too technical to be read by beginners, but some books are written by people who understand how things start. Set a foundation, introduce the mechanisms and the premise, but do it in such a way that while a layman might only get a few scraps of information, a reread will produce more knowledge.

It only took me about fifteen minutes of reading to understand exactly what made the Wishmaster different than anyone else. To find the reason he became a god. He KNEW Skills.

The Emperor and Fairy Queen were great leaders, as was the Unity, as were, in their own way, were Black Sorrow and the Red Revenant. They were all charismatic people who gathered the worship of large groups on their way up.

Not the Wishmaster. Not really. He stayed out of the limelight, even as his power drew him to be a focus. He was unique among all the gods because he reached that height in spite of the attention of others not because of it. Though this was pre-wish power (I was almost sure) Alistair Wyndham casually mentioned reaching Master level in no less than seventy Skills within the first chapter.

They weren't dropped in as a matter of arrogance, simply to illustrate different points, and to show the way different stats could interact to produce different effects. The diagrams were oddly complicated, but familiar, because they were the patterns and Skill constructs I saw when I was making Skills myself.

Except…they weren't. It was like a child making small buildings out of blocks, then walking into a toy store and seeing a hundred foot scale model of a futuristic city made of those same blocks. My fumbling Skill designs, even my best, were nothing but crude scrawling messes next to even the simplest of the constructs he was drawing out.

It was staggering, how much I could learn from them, despite how incredibly small each diagram was, and how complex. There were, for instance, certain patterns and substructures that different stats took to better than others.

Vitality liked curves, Might was inclined to straight lines, Focus should include circular patterns, and as such, worked exceptionally well with Vitality, but poorly with Might unless you included a construct of Perception, which used waves. Unless of course you stacked in some diagonals from Fantasy.

It was dizzying, really, the amount of caveats and sub rules included in the manual, and I was only in the first chapter, only barely managing to scratch the surface. I had so much to learn, to apply to my own Skills. I thought I'd been doing ok, but that was because of the strength of my soul and the relative simplicity of the Skills I was making.

I lost myself in the book, trying to commit everything to memory, but the sheer density of information meant even my Focus wasn't enough for a single read through. I found myself going back to reread sections, understanding more the second time.

This book wasn't just going to take me weeks to finish, I'd have to reread it multiple times to get everything I could out of it, and at this rate it would be slower each time. By the time we arrived at my mom's place though, I was grinning from ear to ear. Training aside, this was something I could do to get better. I wasn't worried about the monsters the enemy could make anymore. When I finished learning everything this book had to teach, I would be a monster too.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The banquet was being held in a central location. Or rather, THE Central Location, since that was what the people of Tricorn called the building in the absolute middle of the three districts. It was a weird building. Specifically, it was more like three buildings smashed together into some weird chimeric vision. Despite being fairly standardized in the Church district, there was a lot of diversity in the architecture elsewhere, and it was somehow all reflected in that building.

"It looks like someone threw up an architecture catalog." Said Benny bluntly as well stared at the misshapen hall.

My mother chuckled. "Yes, it's certainly hideous. Ascendant architecture tends to be focused on going big. That doesn't always produce good results. This building is actually a perfect representation of Tricorn itself. A series of contradicting pieces smashed together in an unfortunate way, so at odds with each other they remain paralyzed in their worst form."

I shrugged. "Not a shock, this place is a mess. Anyway, how are we doing this? I know which entrance but not the actual procedure."

"Ah, right." She said with a chuckle. "We never mentioned. It's simple enough. You'll be entering with Ezekial, Chelsea with me. The others need no introduction, and honestly they're probably better off that way. We'll meet up inside, but you'll be introduced to the delegation from the WCP first."

Grimacing, I stepped forward to hug my mother and sister. "Alright, meet you in there. You be safe, alright? Something weird is going on, and I can't bring myself to believe stealing a few boxes of evil god dust derailed those plans." My mom chuckled, squeezing me back, and my sister seemed pretty unworried.

"They'll be fine." Said a familiar voice, and I spun to see a seemingly normal blonde haired, blue eyed guy about my age, looking rumpled and bored in a hooded white sweater and a pair of long dark shorts. I raised an eyebrow at my grandfather's outfit, and he shrugged. "I make it a habit not to dress up for formal occasions. If they're annoyed at how I present myself they'll stop asking me to go."

My mother rolled her eyes. "You realize mom is going to tear you a new asshole if she catches wind of this? It drives her crazy when you act all flippant about protocol."

"Well then they shouldn't have sent me." He said with a saccharine smile. "They should have sent Absolute or Daydream. I think Rainbow is the only one of us less formal than I am. But no, master had to try to be clever. Well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes."

I raised an eyebrow at my mother. "Wow, he's actually a lot like me."

"No." She said tiredly. "You're a lot like him. It's actually astonishing. You act much more like my father than yours. Maybe it's some kind of bloodline remnant, or maybe it's genetic. Who knows. In any case, with your grandfather around we should be fine. Though, obviously once you leave our presence don't mention the relation. MY friendship with Ezekial will be reason enough for us to interact in there."

Nodding, I gave her one last hug, then gave the old man a serious glare. "If anything happens to them, I don't care if you're the pope. I'll spend the next hundred years getting myself strong enough and then I'll kick your wrinkled old ass."

"Please." He snorted derisively. "Like I need you to tell how me how to take care of my own kid. No one will touch them while I'm around. I might be the youngest of the popes, but I'm also probably the third strongest after Moonlight and Rainbow. You have no clue what a demigod is capable of."

I don't think I'd actually known gramps was a demigod, but it made sense. "Well, Morgan Lark is going to be in there. So I'll be counting on you to fight it out with him if he has any bad intentions."

"Don't be rude." Spoke up Bethy with a pout. "Daddy is a perfect gentleman. He never has bad intentions. He only starts a problem if people are disrespectful to him. Or annoying. Or their voices are high pitched. He doesn't love the smell of fish. Melons, especially orange ones, tend to make him snappish, and he has an intense hatred of rattlesnakes." She paused. "That's all of it though. And most people know about those."

My grandfather snorted. "That melon thing is new. I'm pretty sure he adds quirks just to amuse himself. He's the only being I've ever seen weaponize recursion against himself purely for his own entertainment."

"He thinks it's funny." She giggled. "Plus his willpower is immense. He can just shut down any impulses he doesn't find useful at any time."

The old man sighed. "There are…inherent dangers. It's nothing you need to worry about kid. Watch out for my grandson will you? I like what I've seen of him so far, but he's kind of dense sometimes." He winked at Callie, who had been letting me have my goodbye. "You've got your work cut out for you. I wish you luck."

"She can handle him." My mother snickered. "She reminds me of mom. Speaking of which, we need to go, you know how pissed she'll be if she finds out you're late. She and grandpa will be watching."

He sighed and nodded, and I blinked as they left. Grandpa…The Red Revenant was going to be watching the opening banquet live? That was intimidating.

I knew the gods would have an eye out, but to know that he'd be actively spying starting right away was kind of scary. And that my grandmother was watching too? The monstrous talent born with a mirror soul? That was a lot to take in.

Zeke clapped a hand on my shoulder. "I get where your head is at kid." He said bluntly. "But don't even think about it. Nothing you can do about who looks down from above, so just put it out of your head and let's get going."

That was a fair point. The gods could do anything they wanted. Spending my time worried that some distant deity was watching everything I did sounded like a good way to live in a state of constant anxiety. Taking a deep breath, I smiled as Callie stepped up beside me and wound her arm around mine. "You good?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah, just thinking too much." I winked at her. "That's my curse you know. How slow and methodical I am when doing things."

She giggled, rolling her eyes at my obviously ironic statement. I tended to go with my gut most of the time. I didn't have any regrets about how I handled most things, but I knew myself well enough to know that introspection aside, I tended to run on instinct. I wondered how much of that was recursion, how much of it was my fatewalker Path, and how much was a combination of the two.

With everything sorted out, we walked around to the slightly medieval looking portion of the building that reflected the Empire. We'd be entering through this side, since the WCP didn't have their own presence on Tricorn.

When we reached the door, a pair of hulking men in dark suits of armor waved us through, and we were stopped at a large double door. The doors opened slowly, and a thin, regal looking guy with pointed ears showing he was an elf, took a deep breath and called. "Shane Wyndham, known as Solomon, son of Elijah Wyndham, ward of Janus, representative of the youngest generation of the Wish Curse Palace."

I glanced up to see that Zeke was wearing a mask and robe I hadn't seen him put on. He nodded to me, and we all followed him down the luxurious purple velvet to a small gathering where I recognized one person. Pret.

An older man, visibly in his later thirties, which meant he must be ANCIENT or had ranked up very slowly, locked cold green eyes on me. "Ah. Shane. I've heard so much about you. I appreciate you taking the time to meet with us this evening." He held out a hand, and I realized that like my grandpa (it was kind of hard not to think of him as Nick given how approachable he was) this guy had no apparent Impact.

Whatever they were doing to hide it worked a lot better than just clamping down on a soul like I did. I took his hand, shaking it firmly. "Happy to help. We all need to do our part with this war coming, right?"

"Quite so." He said with a smile that made me feel like he was humoring me. I remembered what Zeke had said, this guy was an ambitious dick who prioritized gains over everything. It was probably the reason Aidan sent him. He'd work the hardest to dig out the most benefits, and wishes were even more valuable during the lead up to a war. "So, I take it you'll be representing our E-rank contingent?"

I nodded. "I will. Who is going to be representing us in the other ranks?"

"Well, first of course is Mr. Birchus for D-rank." He said proudly. "Pretseltsen is my adopted son. He showed such immense talent as a child that I decided to take him in myself, and he hasn't disappointed me so far."

A tall, sallow man with sunken eyes and yellowing teeth grinned at me as he cut in. "And for C-rank my daughter will be our representative." He gestured to his side where I saw…well she was hard to describe. Silvery hair, pale, large dark eyes, and legitimately the most motionless person I'd ever seen.

"Craygan." Zeke sneered. "Aiden sent you to make sure his daddy doesn't sell us all for a steak dinner I take it?"

Harrison stiffened, but didn't say anything, which was weird. He was an S-ranker, so he shouldn't be scared of Zeke, which meant either he was scared of my dad (unlikely, he was also A-rank) or my paternal grandfather. He didn't seem like the type who would stay his tongue for any reason but fear.

Craygen, the pale guy, just chuckled. "I see you've finally joined us in A-rank. You certainly took your time."

"The more stable and concrete your chronicle, the faster you advance in A-rank. Means less Authoring to do." Zeke said serenely. "Don't worry Cray, I can still kick your ass. Your daughter is C-rank already though? I have to admit that's impressive."

The girl dipped her head, a movement that made me jump out of sheer surprise given her stillness up until that point. "It as an honor to hear your praise." She said in a voice flatter than a sheet of glass. "I am Felicity. I hope we can work well together." Her cold, emotionless voice made me shudder a little.

Zeke's eyes narrowed at the man. "I see you're as good a father as you are a human being. Overcooked that one a little, didn't you?"

"She still functions." Said Craygen with a shrug. "My training just smoothed out some of the rough edges. Didn't it darling?"

"Yes father." She responded mechanically. "I have reached my optimal state. I hope to bring our family honor in the games. Victory for House Wyndham." Despite her words being passionate and inspired, her voice remained flat and emotionless.

Zeke was glaring at the man like he wanted to rip him in half, and I was pretty sure I was missing something important. Sadly I didn't have time to consider it because the herald at one of the other sets of doors boomed out an announcement.

"Nicholas Anders, Radiant Pope of the Red Revenant Church, his daughter Sasha, the Star Queen, and granddaughter, Lady Chelsea Anders." It occurred to me that despite my sister and my grandfather using the Anders name, my mother didn't.

I might have heard it once and forgotten about it, but by and large she just went by her first name. Just one more thing about my family to keep me up at night. When the announcement ended I joined Zeke in moving away from my relatives. We needed to get a read on the other attendees before the games. Time to mingle.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Callie and the others headed over to meet up with my mom and Chelsea now that they were here, but I stayed back, wanting talk to Zeke about something important.

"Well that guy was a dick." I said as we wandered away from the group. "Who is he exactly?" I could see the tension in Zeke as we headed for a small alcove without any people in it. He seemed angrier than I'd seen him in a long time, excepting maybe during his fight with the Duke.

When I spoke, he stilled for an almost imperceptible moment and then the anger and tension melted away. "Craygen Norquill." He said in a suddenly relaxed and casual voice. I knew it wasn't real though. My uncle was on a Path of Masks, or something like it. Hiding his true feelings was hardly beyond him.

"Who is…" I trailed off leaving my thought hanging for him to finish.

He sighed, and I felt some of that anger come back. "A duplicitous little troll." He said bluntly. "He's loyal as hell to Aiden, which I suppose could be considered a redeeming quality, but otherwise he'd cut your hamstrings with a rusty box knife for a piece of candy he was planning to throw away. He's one of the most vindictive individuals I've ever met."

"And his daughter?" I asked gently. "I could tell something bad happened to her. What did he do?"

Pausing, he seemed to take some time to think about how to phrase it. "You know how recursion pushed people constantly? How it takes a certain kind of person to be able to ignore that?" I nodded. "Well, that spiritual toughness is often assumed to be inherent. Something you can't train. That's incorrect. You CAN train it, you just shouldn't."

"What?" I said, confused. "But recursion is extremely dangerous. Callie told me that some people who reach high ranks become hollow shells of themselves, overwhelmed by their own recursion."

He waggled a hand. "It's happened, but it's very rare past D-rank. The nature of a Solid Path requires a sense of self. But putting that aside, you're ignoring what recursion IS, and why we have it. Come on, you have to be able to figure this out. What is recursion, like how would you define it?"

"It's the emotional seepage from stats." I shrugged. "Impact and stats are cyclical. You can't have too much Impact without a solid foundation of stats to hold it up, and you can't have too many stats without the Impact to hold it together. But the soul is only so big, the rest of your being has to be made up of something. That thing is stats, and the image of you from the renown they're made of bleeds into you and changes you."

That got a nod. "Close enough. But has it ever occurred to you why we don't have some way of preventing that bleedout? Someone at some point could have come up with a way to prevent it. Drain out the image, filter it, whatever. Hell, someone could have wished for that. Why didn't they?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe they didn't consider it. People aren't really designed to question things they think are unequivocal fact."

"Which is the whole point." He said grimly. "What people aren't designed to do. We NEED recursion. It insulates us from the alienness of our own changing nature. The whims of the legends that make us up help us change and grow into something more than human. As long as you have the grit to prevent yourself from being swept away, the process of recursion is vital to remaining sane as a high level Ascendant."

Grimacing, I looked back to where Felicity stood. "So the way you train that resistance to recursion is…"

"Basically?" He said with a wince. "By exposing someone to conflicting types of recursion at maximum volume for long periods of time. There are Skills that can mimic the effects of recursion, though they're usually less subtle."

My face went pale. "Is that as horrible as it sounds?"

"Imagine someone with much more power than you compelled you, with more strength than you could resist, to feel angry. They push your rage to the point where it should shatter your mind. But then they use the same type of power at the same scale to force you to feel at peace. Then they just leave you there. The conflicting drives essentially grind away the ability to react to that kind of stimuli through repeated torturous exposure."

"And he did that to his own daughter?" I asked in outrage. "That's fucking monstrous. How is someone like that Aiden's second in command? He's a monster."

Zeke sighed heavily, bringing me out a side door onto a balcony and gesturing for me to sit on a stone bench. "I think you've got a lot of mistaken ideas about the WCP, Shane. We're not good guys. Some of us are decent enough company, some of us are monsters. But we don't have much use for morality. You must have seen that?"

"I mean…" I trailed off. "I know Abel and Mel can be cutthroat, and you've got your brutal side. But I think you're all good people at heart."

He shrugged. "Maybe they are. I'm not." I opened my mouth to retort and he held up a hand with a laugh. "I'm not fishing for reassurance, Shane. I'm not a 'good' person. I don't even want to be one. The concepts of good and evil are nebulous and mostly meaningless to me. I consider myself loyal, and that's important to me, but I have no illusions about my moral compass."

"But that's…" I was stumped. I'd had some small inkling that my uncle didn't really care much about rules. But how do you respond to someone you care about informing you they're amoral.

"Normal." He said bluntly. "It's how most high ranking Ascendants are. You don't usually make it far in our world without certainty of action, and certainty of action doesn't pair well with morality. Good people are not often completely sure of their path. They question, they waver, they see things from other points of view."

I slumped back. "So Aiden is…what? Evil? The whole WCP is just a nest of vipers that only care about themselves? What is the point then? Why do I even want to be the Wishmaster?"

"Not evil." He corrected. "Just ruthless. Maybe to some they're the same. As for what the point is…I'm not honestly sure. Power for the sake of power is a tune I've danced to for most of my life. For myself, for my loved ones, I get stronger. To advance my goals."

Throwing my hands up, I growled. "But I'm not like that! I care about people. Not just my people, though obviously them to, but people as a whole. I want to help them, make things better."

"I know you do." He said with a fond chuckle. "In fact, I suspect that Eli wanted that for you. Sasha is…maybe the most empathetic Ascendant I've ever met. Eli loved that in her. Loved her kindness. It was so different from what he grew up with, from what he saw in everyone else. He tried to be like that for a while. For her. But he couldn't do it."

That wasn't something I could really wrap my head around. My dad was a cold bastard, I know he hadn't always been, that he'd been different once upon a time. Had that all been for my mom? Would I do that for Callie? If I was a monster, would I try to change for her?

But then…hadn't I? How many times had I been at the edge of doing something cruel or wrong or even just easy and stepped back because of her. Because of the example she set for me?

"I think that's why he did it, you know." He said with a sad little laugh. "Left you on Callus. Of all places. He wanted you to grow up to be like her. He couldn't be there because you were a candidate, but I think that actually suited him. You're so much better off as the person you are than you would have been with him, and he always knew it."

I wanted to argue. To lash out. To tell him that was a cop-out and that my dad was just too lazy and uncaring to try. But…I thought back to the Ruined Soul Temple. To the version of myself that I might have been if I'd been raised by my father. Maybe he was right.

Not that it mattered in the long run. I was still angry at him. But knowing what the WCP really was made a difference. Because I could see how that would have poisoned my dad just like he was afraid it would poison me. I knew he'd grown up the same way I had, away from the family, but the place you were left clearly had a big impact on who you became.

Zeke had already told me who he was, and the place my dad grew up had shaped them both. I'd seen the harsh side of the empire myself. All of it just made me so fucking ANGRY.

Because it just never stopped. People hurting people because people hurt them. Without even meaning to. I was just so fucking sick of it. Sick of thinking about how my parents broke me, and now how their parents broke them. Sick of the WCP and its callousness and the gods and their casual cruelty.

Sick of seeing people like Satala and Yvette suffer for the sins of implacable figures so high and distant they might as well be stars.

But most of all I was sick of me being too weak to do anything about it. I'd promised myself that I'd become the Wishmaster, to change this ridiculous way of raising children, but that wouldn't be enough. I needed more. Needed to go further. I wasn't just going to become the Wishmaster, I was going to become a fucking GOD.

I was going to make this world a better, kinder place, for Callie. For my own kids when I had them. For my mom who had to give up her child, for my dad who never saw me because he was afraid he'd poison me just by being in my life. For my sister, who grew up alone and isolated.

And most of all…for me. So I could look around and see a world I was proud of. Because what was being an Ascendant if it wasn't forcing the world to bend to your will. So many people had shown me that through action, and it was finally sinking in. And deep down, somewhere in my soul I could barely feel, I felt something click.

My Path shifted, just a bit. Not enough to change the Skill, but enough to refocus it on what I really needed. I had a feeling I wouldn't really understand the significance of that for a long while, but that was fine. I had plenty of time to figure it out.

We'd been sitting in silence for a while, since he'd mentioned my dad, and when I finally stood, Zeke seemed almost surprised. "We should go back inside." I said, my voice charged with surety and purpose. "I need to learn more about the other players in the games. You'll have to point them out."

That was my next move. I had my Path, and even if it had shifted a bit I still just needed to walk it. One step at a time, I had to move forward, had to find my way. Because I could see it now. My future. A god with my friends and family around me, safe and happy and free from all this nonsense. I knew exactly where I was headed, and I couldn't get there fast enough.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Stepping back into the building felt…different. Not the building itself, obviously, I'd been in there five minutes ago, but my own perception of it. I felt stronger, more confident. Which was nuts because I'd just essentially committed myself to taking over the universe. Or at least like…a seventh of it.

We found my mom and sister standing with my grandfather within seconds. As I approached, Callie stepped toward me and reached up to adjust my cloak on my shoulders, using the distraction as an excuse to ask me mentally. 'Are you alright? I felt something…strange. The bond shifted a little. You feel different now.'

'I am different now.' I responded cheerfully into her mind. 'But not in a bad way. I had a nice talk with Zeke, and it cleared some things up for me. About myself, and my family, and what I should be aiming for. Now, what exactly is going on here?' I gestured to the small gathering, who were currently huddled around Bethy as she chattered breathlessly to my grandfather.

"And daddy told him that if he didn't give my brother back, he was going to rip off his face and staple it to our front door." She said happily. "Which is silly because our front door is huge and that would be so ugly and unbalanced. Don't you think?"

The old man (though it was weird to think of him that when when he looked to be in his early twenties) nodded in consideration. "Most likely. Decorating with human body parts is more trouble than it's worth. It's disgusting and the upkeep is a nightmare. I remember the Black Sorrow Cult Arch-Bishops went through a phase where they would mount the tongues of their enemies on a necklace. The repairs took up hours every day."

"Daddy." Said my mother sweetly. "This is a banquet, perhaps speaking of disembodied tongue necklaces isn't proper dinner conversation." I don't think I'd ever heard her call him that, but it was clear from her tone that it was a term she only used when she was annoyed.

He snorted. "Bah. You and your mother are both the same. Never let me have any fun."

"No daddy." She said with an eye roll. "We just care about what's appropriate in social settings. Not all of us are Popes. But I'll be sure to tell mom that you have such a low opinion of her sense of humor. I'm sure she'll be thrilled."

His previously relaxed face went pale and tense. "Now I…well that is to say. Let's not be so hasty pumpkin. You wouldn't want to get your old man in trouble now would you? I came all this way to this dumpster continent to see my precious daughter and granddaughter, doesn't that buy me a bit of leeway." He turned to the man standing next to. "Andrew, help me out here."

Andrew turned to him in amusement and I was struck by how powerful he seemed, a hulking dark skinned man with a goatee wearing silver plate armor with gold accents. He had kind brown eyes and a wide bright smile. He shook his head with a chuckle. "Not my place, sir."

"Oh, Solomon!" My mother said cheerfully. It's good to see you. Thank you again for being such a good friend to my daughter. "This is Andrew Kraymore. He's a Saint of the Red Revenant Church. Military branch, not Clergy. Similar to how your friend Gabriel is a Crusader, or rather, a Guardian now as opposed to a Minister or Bishop, which is the equivalent in the clergy."

Andrew nodded to me cheerfully. "Well met, young man. I'm grateful for your support of the young mistress. And your friendship to young Gabriel. He's a promising talent for our Order. The Radiant Order might not be the oldest of the military branches of the Church, but we're among the most accomplished, and I foresee big things for him in our ranks."

Bethy squealed happily. "Oh Gabe did you hear! Your boss likes you! That's so exciting. Daddy says a good relationship with subordinates is key, because otherwise you'll be tempted to just eat them when they annoy you."

"Don't be silly." Said Andrew kindly. "It's been decades since I've eaten a subordinate. You have nothing to worry about." His voice was so earnest it took a second for it to be clear he was joking. Gabe's face went white with terror, until the older man's sincere face cracked and he started letting out guffaws of laughter.

The rest of us laughed along, amused at my friend's gullability. Bethy bumped his shoulder with hers. "I like him. I think you're in good hands."

"So." I interrupted, sad to see the good humor end but needing to focus. "Sir Kraymore, I hope that's the right form of address. You're the Pope's right hand for this event? Does that mean you'll be taking part in the debriefing?"

He nodded, the good humor melting from his face. "I will. It's going to be quite the conclave this time. We have much to discuss. Will you be participating in the games?"

"Of course." I said confidently. "I'm representing the E-rank of the Wish Curse Palace. Will Gabe be the one you're fielding for your own competitor or will Chelsea be the one to take the field." Fighting my sister sounded annoying, but with mom's training I hoped I could learn to somewhat counter her purifying flame.

Chelsea pulled herself up straighter. "Ill be the one entering, thank you very much. And don't think I'll go easy on you just because I like Callie so much. You're going down you big ape."

I sniffled, wiping at my mask dramatically where eyes would be on my face. "Look Cal, she's learning to trash talk. She's so bad at it, but the fact that she's trying is enough to make me well up a bit. Hopefully she's better at whatever these games are than she is talking smack."

My sister pouted at me, and everyone around us laughed. We were cut off by the booming voice of the announcement, and we all turned to grimace at the entrants for obvious reasons. "Announcing the arrival of his excellence, the Deathwish Pope of the Black sorrow cult, as well as his granddaughter Vivian Blackwater, and his personal valet The Black Knight." Three figures stepped through the door, and every person in the room turned to look.

The Deathwish Pope was a tall imposing man in dark robes that tattered around the edges. His face was covered by what appeared to be an actual skull, sawed off at the face and with nothing below the jaw. Despite so many of his features being covered and not being able to feel an ounce of Impact off the man, I could feel his power from where I was standing. Nothing mystical or stat related, just a palpable force of personality.

The girl at his side was pale and regal, with shimmering dark hair cut off at her forehead in a sharp set of bangs, otherwise falling to her waist. She had dark blue lipstick on that set off her blue eyes and a black and blue flower in her hair that went with her black and blue ballgown, and her expression was predatory as she scanned the room.

Finally, the last member of their party was…a monster. A towering suit of black armor, over nine feet if I didn't miss my guess, and probably half that wide at the shoulders. His eyes burned a malevolent red through the slits in his helm, the only thing about him visible through the thick armor.

"Deathwish." Hissed my grandfather angrily. "Of course she would send him. Vindictive bitch."

I wanted to ask more about that, but my sister turned to me quickly as they entered. "They'll come over here first. This is important. Do NOT underestimate Vivian. She likes to play the holy maiden, and never has a bad word to say about anyone. She has zero temper, but she calculates everything you say to her like a tab, and she WILL pay back insults. She's a fucking psycho, even though she doesn't seem like it. Be careful."

Sure enough, the party of three and several hangers on that hadn't merited the introduction made their way over to us. The Deathwish Pope smiled under his skull mask at my grandfather. "Nicholas." He said cheerfully in a raspy voice. "So good to see you."

"Marcus." Said the old man flatly. "I wish I could say the same, but I try not to be an unbelievable hypocrite every time I open my mouth. Different strokes for different folks, you know?"

I felt a slight shift in the air, and for a second I was confused, until a hand reached out and settled on Marcus's shoulder. "Now let's not do anything rash, moron." Said Arble, smiling tightly at the robed figure. "Unveiling yourself like that would kill quite a few of our young ones here, and we aren't in a position to waste resources like that, are we?"

"Arble of Aramore." Said the Pope tightly. "Are you interfering in the business of the Black Sorrow Cult?"

Another man stepped out of the crowd behind Arble, baring his teeth at the dark robed figure. "No. I am. Why, you got a fucking problem with that?" The tall man with long dark hair and a closely trimmed goatee was wearing a dark suit with a red tie and a cloak fastened around his neck by a series of gold chains. I was briefly confused who it was, until I recognized the glowing red eyes and the sharpness of the smile. Bethy's father, Morgan Lark. The Vampire.

The Deathwish Pope froze, eyes locked on Lark, before breaking into a casual laugh. "Of course not. Only teasing an old friend. No need to get so serious. The independents certainly brought their best this time."

"Don't try to start a conversation with me like we're equals." Said Lark bluntly. "I'm done with you now. You can fuck off."

The robed figure stiffened, then decided it wasn't worth the trouble and spun, stalking off with all his followers in pursuit. My grandfather closed his eyes, exhaling with an almost ecstatic sigh. "That was nice. I'm glad I got to see that. Good to see you Morgan. Still fucking terrifying I see. I've been getting to know your charming progeny. She and my granddaughter have become fast friends."

The pale man sighed. "I know. I receive endless messages from her daily about all the friends she is making. She got her mothers enthusiasm."

"Good for her." Said Arble. "You're a morbid son of a bitch. Anyone heard from the other attendees yet? I know three of the parties have shown up, but I'm too old to be sitting around this fancy young people party. My bones ache, and I want to get back to my bookstore." His eyes fixed on me. "Speaking of which, how are you liking your purchase young man?"

"It's certainly been…illuminating." I said respectfully. "Having some trouble getting through it all, lots to unpack."

He snorted. "Alistair always did like craft his words carefully. Not that it limited the amount of them that he used, loved to hear himself talk, that one. But he was a big fan of embedding secondary meanings in everything he said for people to parse later."

"Honestly, that sounds kind of obnoxious." I admitted with a shrug. "Pretty glad I don't know anyone like that."

That surprised a laugh out of Arble. "I do like you, kid. I don't think many people make comments like that anymore, and more's the pity. That old bastard needs some humility in his life." He turned to Morgan. "See, I told you the kid has potential."

The Vampire shrugged. "He looks a bit like the old man. I mean, they all do, but him more than most. Anyway, I'm bored, I'm going to go pick at the snacks. Bethany?"

"Coming daddy!" She chirped, grabbing Gabe and Chelsea both and dragging them after her as she followed her father off to search for snacks. I just chuckled at the poleaxed looks on their faces. Better them than me.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

Meeting the Vampire was amazing, and seeing old Arble again was great, and I had a lot of questions…but they all fled my brain as the herald announced the next entrant. Or rather, started to, because I missed the actual words as I turned and stared in awe at the next entrant to the banquet.

A colossal man in shining red with black accents, a long crimson cape flowing behind him, strong jaw and long dark hair as familiar to me as my own, since I'd spent most of my formative years seeing them on posters and comic books. I spun to tug on Callie's arm, eyes wide and shocked as I hissed. "Oh my gods! That's Captain Cataclysm!"

"What?" She snorted as she turned. "No it's…holy shit it is!" We both watched in thrilled amazement as one of the most well known heroes in the entire Conglomerate stepped into the room.

My sister raised an eyebrow. "Wait…who?"

We both spun to gape at her. "Captain Cataclysm?" I said in outrage. "The Crimson Comet? The Man of Forever? The single most famous hero in Conglomerate history barring the Unity himself? His battle against Doctor Darkdevil was only the greatest fight to ever be fought."

"Um, excuse me." Snapped Callie. "I think you meant that it was pathetically inferior to his fight against Eternia. They put out a SUN."

Benny rolled his eyes. "Oh gods, there's two of them. You can't possibly be as big a comic nerd as he is." He sighed in defeat. "Perfect for each other, I swear. But I'm surprised this hasn't come up before."

Callie blushed. "I…I don't like to talk about my collection. People make fun of me. Like Shane's collection of novelty Nightstrike mugs. It's lame."

"Those mugs are an INVESTMENT." I repeated. "There's nothing lame about making responsible fiscal choices to prepare for your future." Benny opened his mouth, clearly about to mock me mercilessly, but I just held up my hand. "Yeah, I know, I heard it as the words were coming out of my mouth. Shut up."

My sister giggled at my obvious lameness as she nodded to the rest of the party. "I admit I don't know much about the Unity's heavy hitters. Do you recognize any of the others?"

To my surprise, it was Benny who answered. "That's Sam Savage." He pointed to the shorter man I'd almost missed in Captain Cataclysm's shadow. "My dad used to watch his movies as a kid. He's a genius detective with amazing stealth powers. He's kind of gone out of fashion, because his coat and hat look is a bit dated, but he was really big back in the day."

"And the woman with them is Daystar." I finished, gesturing to the smiling blonde lady who didn't look much older than us. Her bright blue eyes shone with warmth and reassurance, and she practically glowed with kindness. Wait…no, I activated my Eye of Revelation and she was ACTUALLY glowing with kindness. That was weird.

Callie gasped. "Oh, my god it is! I was so distracted by the captain I almost missed her. I used to watch her cartoons as a little girl. I had a poster of her fight with Baron Behemoth up in my room for years when I was a kid."

Chelsea raised an eyebrow at us, and I just chuckled. "The mythos for heroes and villains is different than normal high rankers. Actually, I don't think I've seen many of those kinds of advertisements or media since becoming an Ascendant. But for mortals, especially younger ones, our media is stratified into two tiers. There's popular local heroes, and then there's 'the greats'."

"These are people we grew up watching on scan boxes and reading about in comic books." Callie agreed. "Like…heroes in our area were somewhat idolized, I even got some of that myself, but it's not the same thing at all. These were our idols."

Benny shrugged. "They're right. I never got super into the lore like these two apparently did, but like I said, my dad grew up on Sam Savage movies."

Which I now realized was the Conglomerate's purpose. I'd always known that besides the local stuff that seemed to be mostly stratified, the big names got a slice of the pie too. It was still amazing to see them here in person. I cleared my throat. "So Celine, you know anything about the people who got sent by the Fairieland? My mom said it was a Princess."

Celine nodded. "I've been contacting some of my family members trying to learn more about the delegation. Princess Levinia Darksparrow is the S-ranker in attendance. She's one of the Queen's favorite grandchildren. Her mother Valeria is one of the eldest princesses. Third in line for the throne, I believe."

"Aren't gods immortal?" I asked in confusion. "How would they even inherit?"

My mom cut in with a chuckle. "The Queen has been considering passing down the title. The WCP has shown how effective a tool it can be for the title to pass on. It's been a contentious debate for centuries actually, but support has been slowly swinging that way. In the meantime they treat distance from the throne as a social construct to determine political power."

"The heir, Prince Valyard, is the second most powerful person in the Fairieland." She said proudly. "I think he's even one of the top five strongest S-rankers."

My grandfather nodded. "Third." He said bluntly. "After Lark and Moonlight. Valyard is nothing to sneeze at. I've seen him fight. Almost surprised Layla didn't send him personally. But with the war coming she might have deployed him to a trouble spot to deal with issues. The Fairieland is isolated, which means there's a good chance they'll be getting it worse than most places."

It took me a second to realize that Layla must be the Queen's name. I'd never heard her referred to as anything but the Queen, just like I'd never heard anyone call the Emperor by name. It made sense that someone who trained under the Red Revenant like my grandpa would know her name though.

As if summoned, the herald called out another party. "Announcing her highness, Princess Levinia Darksparrow, and her knight, Edward Banesear, Duke of Ill Fortune. Accompanying them, their son, Baron Saylan Denroth."

We all turned to watch them come in, and I was pretty sure I spoke for everyone when I say I was blown away. Beauty is an integral part of the fae legend, especially for high court fae. I'd never considered exactly how much that would affect years of Ascendant children, but apparently, it was a lot.

All three of the people who entered were absurdly good looking. Symmetrical features, bright eyes, in incredible physical shape. I mean, Ascendants in general tended to get better looking over time as they were idealized, but these people were next level attractive.

My mom snorted. "Show offs." She said with a smirk. "Those are fae crafted clothes made to highlight their features." She said in explanation when we looked confused. "It's an extension of formation crafting, and it's something that only the fae are really vain enough to bother with. Don't get me wrong, they'll all very attractive, but they're thumbing the scales right now."

Bethy looked intrigued. "That's so cool. I wonder if I can learn how to do that? Maybe I could adapt it to some kind of stealth clothes. I'd just be like, whoosh." She waved both hands in front of herself. "Then disappear, and people would be like 'oh no, where's Bethy?' Wouldn't that be so cool?"

My mom laughed at her enthusiasm. "I'll talk to Levi, maybe she could give you lessons. Your dad doesn't have the best relationship with the fae, though devils usually take to him well enough."

"Daddy says fairies taste delicious, but devils are too spicy. He ate one of their princes once and it gave him heartburn" She said wisely.

My mom glanced at me. "I see now why you keep her around, she's fun."

"Reminds me of her mother." My grandfather said with a chuckle. At our surprised looks, he just raised an eyebrow. "What? I told you I knew Lark. I've met Delilah before. She's a lot of fun to spend time with, if somewhat more violent than most people prefer. She and Celia get along splendidly. Cece's family situation makes her comfortable with crazy violent people."
My mom snorted. "I'm telling her you said that for sure. Don't bother trying to convince me otherwise."

"Please." Laughed the old man. "Cece knows I think her family are violent lunatics, at least on her mother's side. That ship has sailed. In any case, I'm going to go talk to Levinia. I want to make some positive inroads with at least one of the factions before the games. Andrew will stick with you and Chelsea, but otherwise enjoy yourselves." He ruffled her hair, ignoring her scowl as she batted at his hands, and then strolled off.

My mom rolled her eyes fondly. "That old man can never sit still. Speaking of which, Shane, I was hoping to talk to you." Her eyes flicked to Zeke. "Mind masking our conversation for us?"

He nodded easily. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a ball of clay, and with a series of movements so deft I could barely track them, made a full sized mask. He carved in a few symbols, then flicked it up into the air, where it caught, freezing in space, and a sort of environmental disturbance wrapped around me and mom.

"I didn't know he could do that." I said in an impressed tone.

She shrugged. "It's not something that's useful outside of very specific circumstances. It's temporary, very small scale, and all it manages is Perception. If this place blew up we'd still take the hit. Good news is we're covered by his Path, so unless there's an S-ranker or a high A-ranker with a Path specifically geared towards Perception and spying, we should be fine.Also he can only do it when he has open mask slots. He broke a bunch in his fight with that Duke and hasn't replaced them yet."

"Fair. Still cool though." I chuckled. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Your training." She said bluntly. "I was serious about teaching you to apply your flames better. Your Mephistopheles form has a lot of potential. Hell, they all do, but I'm not geared to help with most of them. We were going to start today, but time got away from me. We can begin work after the banquet. You might have to go without a bit of sleep, but I'm sure that won't be a problem for you after your experiences on Stratholme."

I shuddered. "Yeah…I can handle that. Are you sure you're the best person to teach me though? Your purification flame isn't exactly the best suited for my combat style, is it?"

"Nope." She said cheerfully. "But my other ability will be pretty well suited to coaching that form. You remember I have two, right? My martial art ability, Stellar Flame Fist, has several forms that are suited to different uses of fire. I'm not the Rainbow Pope or anything, but I've got some versatility that will probably help with the training."

Her comment about the Rainbow Pope reminded me to look into him. I'd heard interesting things, including that he collected different types of fire in exchange for resources at a place called the Promethean Library. Seemed like it might be a neat place to visit.

In any case, I agreed to her help, and she gave me a warm smile. "Excellent. After the banquet, you can head to my building, bring Calliope if you like. I'm sure we could help her refine her technique as well if she's interested." Gesturing to Zeke, he let the mas turn to dust as the shroud around us rescinded, and then we spread out to mingle. It was going to be a long night.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The rest of the banquet was uneventful. We were too small potatoes to get face time with any of the other representatives really. My grandpa greeted them, but since he wasn't admitting to BEING my grandpa right now, that didn't help me or my friends much, and even Chelsea didn't warrant an introduction to any of them except Princess Levinia.

No, the most interesting thing to happen was after the banquet when Callie and I headed to my mom's place with Chelsea. We were taken to a large reinforced training area, and Callie sat out the first lesson so I could get a feel for my training.

Mom had me change into a rough spun set of long sleeved, loose fitting clothes to train in, to match the outfit she was already dressed in. The training room had its own changing area, and when I came out, she was waiting in a sort of meditative pose. "Alright." She said. "First thing I need is to see what you can do up close. Trigger your Mephistopheles form."

I did so without question, my hair consumed in black flame and my body filling with strength. I whirled my staff in slow circles, getting ready to attack…but I hesitated.

My mother smiled warmly. "Shane. Honey. I love you, but you don't need to worry about hurting me. If you combined every attack you've ever made together into a single blow and directed it into my exposed eyeball, I wouldn't even tear up. It's sweet that you're concerned, but honestly it's almost absurd."

Callie burst out into giggles. "It's not that. He's just not sure he can bring himself to attack his mommy."

"That is a gross oversimplification!" I snapped. Then I trailed off. "And not how I would phrase it."

My mom chuckled at me. "It's sweet. But like I said honey, don't think of it as an attack. You're incapable of harming me. This is just training, and between my control of my power and your lack of threat, this is the safest activity you've ever been involved in. For both parties."

Intellectually I knew that. But this was my mom. Absent or not, she was one of my earliest memories, and attacking her just felt wrong. I shook that off though. She was right. She was so much stronger than me that worrying about harming her might as well be literal delusion. This wasn't an attack, it was just training. I trained with people I cared about all the time. Like Callie.

Shifting my stance, I positioned myself firmly, then thrust out with the staff, twisting and extending my upper body as the end of the weapon smashed into her face with an explosion of dark fire.

The flames cleared, and she was standing there unharmed, warm smile still in place, not a hair out of position. "Ok." She said with a chuckle. "Not bad, but I suspect you can do better than that. Come on, I want you to make a serious effort. I need to see where your limits are to bring you past them."
With that first strike out of the way, I felt more confident in the training. I blurred forward, thrusts and smashes hitting her from every angle. She didn't even bother to block, and my most powerful hits didn't phase her. Looking closely I was pretty sure she was actually shifting minutely with the impacts, and it took me a minute to figure out that she was trying to keep my staff from breaking, which was somewhat intimidating.

Still, I unleashed a series of my most devastating strikes, and only stopped when she held up a hand. "Not bad." She said calmly. "I can tell your skill is boosting your blows quite a bit, and it's Path empowered. I'd put that at…twenty thousand Might maybe? Which combined with your Impact is nothing to sneeze at in E-rank."

I could hear the but coming. "But…" I said leadingly. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Well, several things." She admitted. "Your staff form is brutish and simplistic, but I'm not a staff user and can't do much for that. But your application of power is too focused. Let me ask you a question, what is Might?"

I answered automatically. "A measure of the physical force an ability or Skill can bring to bear. The side effect improves your physical strength." She seemed to be waiting for me to continue, and I wracked my brain for more. "It lets you impart more force."

Her face lit up. "And what is force?" She asked. "Scientifically speaking. Your educational downloads had to have covered this."

"Force equals mass times acceleration." I quoted easily. "Callus wasn't THAT backwater."

She just chuckled. "Now, barring certain temporary abilities you can stockpile, you can't really change your mass. So how can you generate more force?"

"Acceleration." I shrugged. "I need to move faster. Maybe I could create a speed form, then I-" I froze. Because…I had a speed form. Or rather, I had a Might form. Mephistopheles was about pinpoint power output. I could unleash blasts of powerful force from my staff. I'd been using that to make attacks, but force could be applied in plenty of ways.

Stepping back, I wound up and took a running start, passing my mom completely, I planted my staff on the ground like a pole vaulter, pushing off and channeling a large blast of energy from the end touching the floor, hurling me up into the air.

As I came to the top of my arc, I considered my form. I could attack with my staff, but my body was the tool with Mephistopheles. That was how forms worked. Staff forms could contain more than staff blows. I activated Ripple Running, and when I landed let my knees bend, pushing off and channeling the burst of power through my feet this time.

I exploded off the skill platform (which admittedly shattered as I came off) and flashed down towards my mom.

Leaning forward, I sent myself into a whirling series of front flips to build up speed, bringing my staff up and around in the most devastating smash I could, unleashing a massive blast of black flame as smashed into her…or trying to.

When the dust cleared, she'd caught the blow easily and was holding my entire body in the air. She let me drop, chuckling. "Excellent. That was exactly where I wanted your head to go. Sorry I couldn't let that attack land. That much force would have shattered your weapon if it had hit me head on, and I know it's new."

"Fair enough." I laughed. "Any notes? The enhanced mobility is good, but I'm sure there's more I could be doing."

She grinned at me. "Of course. I'm going to be teaching you some of the moves of my Stellar Flame Fist. Once you learn them bare handed you can apply those principles to your staff art. Not just this form either. You'll be taking a big step in manipulating flame in general."

That did sound really cool, so I nodded, stashing my staff in my ring so I could focus on throwing hands.

"Now, the Stellar Flame Fist is made up of multiple techniques and stances, and I'm not teaching you all of them." She said solemnly. "It would take too long, and be counterproductive besides. In fact, I'm trying to avoid you learning the Skill, because it'll be far too complex for you to integrate into your existing Skillset. So I'm only teaching you three of the stances. The ones that I think will be most helpful."

I frowned. "But if I don't learn the Skill will I still be able to do the moves?"

"Of course." She said confidently. "The Stellar Flame Fist is a martial art dedicated to the manipulation of fire. My dad's purification flame, your black flame, it doesn't matter what you're using to shape it, the actual stances themselves work the same. Besides, earning this Skill wouldn't be so easy. I doubt we'd have time for you to pick it up, considering it's the Skill that earned me my title."

I watched as she took a firm stance. "First attack is one that I think will benefit you in terms of combat damage. Your flames are powerful, but you just pour more energy or multiply the destruction. You don't do anything with them shape wise. Can you call them and hold them in front of you?"

Holding out my hands, I pulled on Mephistopheles. It was surprisingly hard without the staff, my brain wanted to fight the energy. But I triggered Piece of Mind, and was able to focus one of my parallels on keeping up the image of staff training. "Yeah, I got it." I grunted.
"Perfect." She beamed. "Now, for this particular attack, the shape we use is simple. Just pack as much fire as you can as tightly as you can. I want you to imagine the flames are a star, and you're condensing it down until not a single drop of force could fit in there without detonating the sphere."

I nodded, focusing the flames down. I had to activate another parallel to hold it, because Mephistopheles was NOT designed for prolonged attacks. I felt the strain in my soul as one version of my kept a staff framework in mind, one of me condensed the fire, and one produced more flame.

My mother watched calmly, and when I finished, she smiled in approval. "Now, aiming that attack at me. I want you to punch it. Imagine your fist is providing that list little spark of force, setting off the explosion, but the force needs to travel through the sphere and burst out the other side, letting the power escape that way. This attack is called Cosmic Collapse."

I felt a surge of amusement through the bond from Callie, at the fact that my mother and I had a similar dramatic naming sense, but I ignored it.

Exhaling slowly, I left the bright sphere of power in the air as I hauled back and punched it, almost unthinkingly triggering Mercy Kill when I punched it to give it that little extra bit of kick as it detonated.

A massive explosion of black flame erupted from my fist, a wedge of dark flame consuming the area my mom was standing in with a cone shaped torrent of fire. Some part of me panicked a bit at the image, but I forced it down. My mom was fine, I couldn't hurt her. But that had been…holy shit that had been a BIG attack.

As it cleared, I found her grinning at me brightly. "Perfect!" She squealed happily. "Did you put a little extra sauce on that one? I was expecting it to be thirty five or forty thousand Might worth of force. That was closer to fifty."

"Uh, yeah." I said with a cough. "I used one of my finishers. Mercy Kill."

With a beaming smile, she clapped me on the shoulder. "Perfect. That was exactly what we wanted. We'll practice that until you can use it on command, then you can try to channel it through your staff. I picked that one because it should work even better with the staff than the fist because of the way the force ruptures the opposite side of the bubble."

"Yeah, I can see how it would." I said with a laugh. "But what about the other two, you said we'd be learning three." I was pumped, this training was way more fun than I'd been expecting. My mom was a much better teacher than Zeke or Abel.

Focusing back up, she nodded. "Good point. You can practice that after I teach you the next one. Since we talked about momentum and acceleration, the next one should be easy enough to learn." She cracked her neck, eyes blazing with excitement. "This next move is one of my versatile and has gotten me out of quite a few scrapes. It should be particularly compatible with your black flames. I call it…the Supernova Step."

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The Supernova Step was…complex. While it was technically a method of shaping fire, it required mobilizing Fantasy in a way I hadn't really done before. While Might was the stat that gave Skills form, Fantasy was the one that gave them shape. It was a complicated and advanced application of stats that I hadn't seen before, and it took me a few tries to get it.


While Cosmic Collapse operated on pretty simple principles that the fire could accomplish on its own, my mother told me that when creating your own Skills, it helped to give them a backstory. Utilizing recursion could help them stabilize without so much soul strain.


Fantasy, therefore, would be incredibly useful for my Skills going forward, and might even have a place in the ones I'd made already. Even without manually building Skills though, learning more about the stat would be helpful for my combat ability. My mom helped me learn a few visualization exercises to shape the Supernova Step, then had me practice them in order.


First step. Power. The supernova part of the name came from this. A star exploding and propelling you forward with great speed. Secondly the image of a shooting star, for propulsion, pushing me from spot to spot. And finally a constellation, providing a variety of possible landing points to choose from, in a stable and controlled fashion. I had to use Piece of Mind to shape the various parts of the Step.


That would have been impossible, even with parallels, if it wasn't for Callie. While my mother didn't want to teach me the Skill for Stellar Flame Fist, I did manage to learn Minor Fire Manipulation Mastery.


Callie's absurd Fantasy and experience with Shadow Manipulation helped me capture that feeling, and seeing the new application of Fantasy and her Manipulation Skill gave her a ton of ideas for ways to progress her own combat abilities, especially given how well hers synergized with her Path.


Pulling on my fiancee's Fantasy stat and her experience manipulating energy, I was able to accomplish the task my mother set me after about an hour.


Standing up, I held the images of what I wanted in my head, then pushed off. There was an explosion of flames under my feet, and I felt myself flash forward, nearly vanishing from the speed. Once I hit, I bounced off, and I could see in my head the constellation of nearby spaces that I could travel to and from easily.


As I sailed across the intervening space, it occurred to me what my mom was doing. She wasn't teaching me her style of techniques. She was teaching how to MAKE techniques. Maybe not forms like I usually did, but ways of utilizing them in unique ways that would make them more effective.


Learning to make Skills was a big deal, but learning to use those Skills was just as important. I stopped, panting and doubled over. My head was aching from learning that, but I knew that it was going to be a useful and powerful ability. Once I tweaked it.


"I don't think that shape is for me." I wheezed. "The star stuff isn't really… it doesn't fit." I trailed off, looking at her smile. "But you knew that. It's why you had me learn it."


She shrugged. "It'll be useful if you're ever in an emergency with no other way out, but I suspected something a bit more fine tuned would be needed. Cosmic Collapse shares a lot of themes with your current form. Destruction and annihilation and all that. Supernova Step is a mobility technique and not one suited to you."


I sat back down. "Hold off on the last technique." I said as I closed my eyes. "I'm going to try doing this myself."


Centering my mind, I considered the problem at hand. The Supernova Step was a technique, which was a way of shaping power output. Techniques weren't just moves, they were mobilizing the power of recursion to help stabilize a Skill and utilize the power in a more efficient way.


Cosmic Collapse had an aspect of it, but I hadn't even noticed because so much of the shape was built around the obvious destructive image I'd been given and that fit so well with Mephistopheles. That was what my mom meant about it being so well suited, and why she'd picked it for me.


This though…this wasn't a natural function of the form. I was trying to figure out a shape that would suit me for a movement technique and I couldn't quite get it.


Part of that was my desire to stack a bunch of imagery into it like my mom had, but that was wrong. My mom was an A-ranker with tons of experience. Mine should be more reasonable. I could always add to it later.


I considered what my form symbolized. Overwhelming force, power and destruction, or in another light…advancing. Moving forward without any obstacles. I stood, activating Piece of Mind, and then, I stepped. Black flame roared up under my feet as I nearly vanished, appearing in another spot, I pivoted, moving again.


Not just propulsion, I had to advance, I had to DESTROY the space between myself and my target. I moved and whirled and blurred and flashed, all of it to an imaginary score in my head, to the tune of my heart beat and crackling flames. A symphony of destruction. Mephisto's Waltz.


By the time I finished, I stood motionless, breath heaving, sweat pouring off me, but I was overjoyed. I'd felt that technique crystallize in my head. I knew I could use it again, and much more easily. I'd officially made my own movement technique, and I knew how to make more. I wondered if I could learn to use shaping when I made Skills, but even if not this training had been priceless.


My forms had been so…wasteful. Just explosive fountains of power that accomplished nothing but hurling energy at people. I hadn't been making a staff style, I'd been making a bunch of random transformations. This was what a real Martial Art was made of.


Across from me, my mother beamed, pride shining in her eyes. "That was…beautiful." She whispered happily. "I've never seen anyone learn to make a technique so quickly. More than just the soul, the mental requirements…your Focus isn't high enough for you to sidestep those difficulties so easily, yet you did." She blurred forward, wrapping me in a tight hug. "My baby is a genius!"


I laughed, exhausted, but I knew I wasn't. Piece of Mind allowed me to essentially stack my Focus in this particular category. It was insanely broken, because most people would have had difficulty sectioning off their brain to address different aspects of the process.


Still, it was really nice to have something I was uniquely suited to. Skill creation was cool, but I didn't have anyone to measure myself against. I didn't know how good or bad I was.


This though…even my mom thought I was talented. It was a heady thing. She ruffled my hair with a laugh, strolling away back to her spot about ten feet from me before resuming the lesson. "So, you got that easily enough. We have one last technique that you should have before the games. This one is going to be hard. I know you have a form for this, but there are a lot of stipulations on its use. I think it would be best if you created a defensive technique."


"I can't." I said immediately. "Mephistopheles is antithetical to defense. It's all overhwleming power and lethal force."


Callie, who was sitting off to the side watching, cleared her throat. "I might be able to help with that." She said with a wide smile. "I've been learning some of this stuff while you have, thank you so much by the way Sasha, I can't wait to test this out, but I think state of mind and point of view are key. You need to reframe your thinking. After all, the best defense is a good offense."


And at those words, my brain shifted and it clicked into place. My eyes went wide. "Nullification!" I said excitedly. "Instead of blocking, pouring out force to cancel force. Fighting fire with fire. That's perfect!"


I sat back down, closing my eyes as I tried to come up with a shape for the technique. I'd used two very basic shapes for the Waltz, though they had been incredibly well suited to the original intent of the Skill. I had no idea how much that mattered, but it seemed like it would be important, so it probably was.


So I thought about Mephistopheles. The demon, the dealmaker. This had been one of my first forms, and I tried not to consider how much that figure had in common with my old man or what it said about me that I'd picked him. Stories (despite their origins mostly being lost) about so many demons persisted. Why had I picked this one?


Mephistopheles had been bound in a circle. It was ostensibly for the protection of the man who sought to make a deal, but it had been its own form of assault, a pressure on the mind of the summoner. Was the circle perfect? Would it save him?


I focused on that imagery. One the circle and how its very presence as a deterrent was an oppression on its surroundings. "Attack me." I said, eyes still closed.


Callie, love of my life as she was, didn't even hesitate. A wave of shadows smashed down toward me. I released a pulse of energy, an oppressive circle of flame that smashed apart everything nearby, defending me with raw destruction.


"Circle of Damnation." I intoned as it washed away the threat. Saying it out loud made it feel more solid, though who could say if that was real or just imagined, or even if that mattered.


When I opened my eyes, I shrieked and fell over, ruining all my cool guy cred, because my mom was leaning over in my face, eyes bright and smile wide as she beamed at me. "Sweet Revenant!" I shrieked as I toppled onto my back. In the distance I heard Callie cackling, and chose to ignore her.


My mother looked sheepish. "Sorry about that." She winced, helping me up. "But you figured it out, huh?"


"I got it." I said with a nod. "I think I might rework Cosmic Collapse, too. Make something a bit more suited to my form. This is…this is really advanced stuff, isn't it?" I asked cautiously. "Am I even supposed to be learning this yet?"


She shrugged. "Shaping is pretty advanced, yes. It has a lot to do with how Domains form, actually. But don't worry. You're not forming an early one. Like I said that's not a good idea. This is just a way to practice. It's also a good way to learn to alter your Path, if you decide to do so. Especially after it solidifies it can be hard, but before you form your chronicle it's still possible."


That…I gaped at her. That information would be worth a king's ransom to a lot of other E-rankers. If this wasn't stuff I was supposed to be taught yet, did that make it like…trade secrets?


Whatever it was, it was priceless info to me. Especially the changing my Path part. I had a feeling that information would be damned useful soon. I'd considered possible ways to do that for a while now. My goetia staff art itself was a way of doing that in a sense. I stepped forward, wrapping my mom in a tight hug. "Thank you." I said quietly.


She squeezed me back, glowing with happiness, and then she let go. With a sigh of contentment, she turned to Callie. "Now, clearly Shane needs a bit of a rest from all this effort. How about I do some sparring with my future daughter-in-law." It was such a nice gesture, I couldn't help but be proud of her. I just wasn't sure why Callie was so terrified.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

While Callie sparred with my mom, I wandered off to find some wish targets. I decided since I was learning about techniques I would go ahead and ask around to get some Fantasy. Seventy more points put me at four thousand three hundred and twenty, which was nice, and by the time I got back from my search the two of them had finished their match.

My mom looked pleased with herself, and Callie mostly looked sulky, though she seemed to be hiding a small smile. Neither of them would tell me what happened, but I figured it must have been a productive training session, and I was glad they had time to do some bonding.

The next day was nominally a day off. I'd been planning to skip the C-ranked games, but I had a feeling we should see what Felicity could do. Not to mention some of the other factions, seeing what C-rankers from the various major influences had going for them definitely couldn't hurt, and I was pretty sure I could learn something. Which was why I found myself back at the inn with everyone meeting up before it was time to leave.

"Come on!" Shouted Bethy animatedly. "Why isn't everybody ready? Daddy says this might not be totally disappointing, which means it'll be awesome. He's such a grouch. He never compliments anything."

I snorted. "It occurs to me that any normal person who said that would have to worry about having their planet punched into the sun."

"Don't be silly." She giggled. "Daddy would never do that. It's totally off brand. He'd probably just drag it into a black hole. He would say 'Darkness and consumption are the only end for fools such as you'." She held her arm up in front of her face and squinted as she spoke in a morose and growling tone that actually did sound kind of like Lark.

I raised a brow. "He didn't seem all that formal and edgy yesterday though."

"Oh he doesn't usually bother when he's talking to cultists." She shrugged. "He says they don't even notice the effort because they default to morbid formality. He's not a fan. I think he was in a good mood about getting to talk down to one of Black Sorrows popes. They usually avoid him."

I supposed it had been a fairly private conversation. I'd been kind of overwhelmed by his presence and hadn't been paying much attention at the time.

Speaking of which, I turned to my mom. "Hey, what's the deal with gramps and Lark anyway? They both have no aura at all. I can't sense a single point of Impact from them. I get that S-rankers have high levels of control, but why would they use it all the time?"

"Because they pretty much have to." She said with a grimace. "Most Ascendants have…well I suppose you would call it generic Impact. Once you hit S-rank and your Chronicle becomes a Saga, Impact is more personalized. At least later on. The first half of S-rank is spent converting your Impact, and then using that momentum to become a Demigod."
That was another piece of fascinating information about S-rank. I know it involved Domains, too, so I could only guess that Impact conversion was part of the process for forming a proper Domain. Still, that didn't explain much. "Ok, but why does that mean they have to stay suppressed?"

"Saturated Impact can have unusual effects on lower level Ascendants." She shrugged. "It can cause damage to their Path with enough exposure. Any S-ranker who has reached Demigod especially can be a corrupting influence. They keep themselves buttoned up most of the time. It doesn't affect B-rankers, since the Chronicle insulates them, but anyone below that is at risk."

I whistled. If S-rankers caused that sort of problem, I wondered what face time with an actual god would be like. They probably had their own method of suppressing themselves though.

My thoughts were cut off as Callie came blurring into the room, Jessie and Benny behind her. Abel and Mel were already here, Chelsea was with Gabe, Callen, and grandpa, and shockingly Cark and Cass were here with us. Mom had promised it would be safe for Cass to come watch, and she was going to be babysitting, which was why she was still here. She was picking up the siblings.

Now that everyone was here, we filed out into a shuttle mom had brought. She took a separate one to meet up with Chelsea and grandpa, and we all headed back to the Central Location.

The outside was the exact same, but on entry, I immediately realized the place had been redone for the games. It was impressive that they'd completely revamped the interior without any disturbance to the external building.

What was even more impressive was that the interior was packed with bustling stalls for food, games, and any number of entertainment. It wasn't time for the actual contest yet, so we wandered around and took in the festivities. I stopped to get a funnel cake, Callie and I got our portrait painted, and we bought shirts with Felicity's picture on them, because they were cheap and we wanted to be supportive.

By the time we met up with everyone again to enter the arena style seating they'd set up, everyone was much more relaxed. I smirked at Gabe as he, my sister, and Bethy showed up with their faces painted. Bethy and Chelsea as cats and Gabe like a wolf.

"You guys look great!" Callie chirped, her whole mood transformed by all the alone time and relaxation. "Shane, we need to get our faces painted."

I didn't honestly care about the painting, but I didn't want to ditch my mask. Luckily it wasn't a problem because it was game time. "Maybe later, hon." I said with a smile. "For now we need to find our seats." I glanced at my sister. "I assume you have a box we can sit in?"

We'd avoided coming together so as not to make it too obvious we were related, but since we were known associates of Chelsea at this point we were fine to hang out.

She nodded excitedly, dragging us up to the top of the seating where we stepped into a huge box. The interior was plush and well appointed, and to my surprise, my grandfather was standing in front of a large grill, flipping burgers and hot dogs. He grinned as he saw us. "Welcome!" he said cheerfully. "Anyone want a burger?"

I laughed as I stepped up next to him. "They do smell good. Do we have time before the games actually kick off?" I gestured to the row of chairs looking out a window over the huge arena. I grinned, seeing the rest of our party. Zeke had gone ahead and was trying to sleep while Cass talked Cark's ear off and my mom listened happily, clearly enjoying her time with the adorable kid. Grandpa saw me looking and seemed to get that I was confused about the lack of hurry.

"It'll be a while." He laughed. "They have to get everyone checked in, and then there's a big announcement phase where they name all the champions. There are about twenty of them, so it won't be quick."

I blinked at that. "Wait, I thought it was just the five factions? How are there so many people?"

"The five faction and WCP contestants are the major draw, but as you saw, the ceremony is a huge event. Anyone can sign up and try their luck. That's why there's such a huge outpouring of support. The food and games and all are to boost the profile of the event. The factions didn't even pay for most of this, at least not leadership. Subfactions and independents do most of the actual work for the setup, it's sort of an unspoken quid pro quo."

Abel stepped up next to me, taking a long, deep sniff. "Damn, that's some quality meat in those sausages. Big game right? I'm thinking something reptilian, smells swampy." I raised an eyebrow in surprise, but then I remembered Abel's former career.

"Not bad." Said my grandfather approvingly. "Vardian Gator-Dragon. The meat has a sort of natural spice to it, and a deep full bodied flavor. My wife hates the smell so I can never eat it at home. I personally think its a lovely aroma." He offered my mentor the long metallic fork he was holding. "You want to try turning them? The grill is shielded so it's perfectly safe."

Lighting up with enthusiasm, Abel nodded quickly. "Hell yeah. What are the burgers by the way? I'm less familiar with beef."

"Dreelox Snow Cow." He said proudly. "They're not actual cows, but a rare mutation of a high ranked deer beast that lives on Dreelox Seven. They're carnivorous, so hunting them is a huge pain even when they're born. I have a private reserve of the stuff that I break out for special occasions. Stasis chamber, you know. Reuniting with my grandkids seemed like as good a time as any."

Chelsea stepped up next to him as he flipped the burgers. "It smells great grandpa. I wish we could have more cookouts like that at home."

"Me too, sweetheart." He said with a laugh. "But your grandmother prefers higher cuisine, and you know she always gets what she wants. I swear, it breaks my heart having to eat those tiny little fancy portions. What's the point of making servings that small if you're just going to eat ten courses?"

I laughed along with the others at his sulking, but he didn't seem to mind. I also grinned at Callie, who was drooling over the sausages. I knew how much she loved draconic animal meat, and she was clearly excited for the food.

It meant a lot to get this downtime with the family. Seeing Chelsea, Benny, Callie, and Jessie all talking animatedly and getting along as we relaxed was wonderful. More than that, I felt so…at ease. Even Zeke had roused himself to come grab a burger, though he ate it in a few bites and went back over to nap. I guessed we'd taken for granted how much effort it took to remain constantly on alert. He deserved this down time as much as we did, if not more.

With an S-ranker watching over us there was no worries about safety, we could just enjoy the peace. We had a nice time, listening to grandpa chatter as he cooked and seeing Abel enjoy learning to handle a new type of food prep. Sadly, all good things must end, at around the third plate full of burgers and sausages Mom called us over.

"I know you don't care about the ceremony, but they're introducing the five faction contestants." She yelled from her seat by the window. The rest of us snagged our food of choice and a beverage before hurrying over to take a seat.

The seats at the window were padded, had cupholders, and were able to easily recline, which was fantastic, and we all settled in as mom tapped some kind of remote and enabled sound.

Looking out over the arena, I was shocked to see the sheer number of people they'd packed in. Not just from space expansion, but from the staggering of the seat, they'd packed them in nearly vertical so they could put another layer of benches down at the bottom, and every single one of them was stuffed to bursting with excited civilians.

Tricorn was much more populous than I expected, or all the factions had brought more people than I'd thought. Probably a bit of both. As we watched, the actual floor at the center of the arena had shifted into a forested region, with large floating screens over it to show the details of the interior. "And now for our final six contestants!" Boomed the announcer. "And then, ladies and gentlemen, we'll be getting underway!"

 

[Malcolm Tent]

There were dozens of people out in the central clearing of the forest. We could see them on the giant screen. The screens had been hopping from one person to the next, and currently, the image was fixed on Felicity. I winced as her empty symmetrical face appeared in the image, eyes flare and placid.

Knowing what had been done to her made it worse, somehow, seeing what she was. I imagine what it would be like to have your personality sanded down by conflicting compulsions until there was nothing left for recursion to latch onto.

"From the Wish Curse Palace." Boomed the voice as she appeared in front of us. "We have the daughter of Craygen Norquill, a second generation member of the Wyndham family through clan adoption, and one of the most talented young members of the WCP's ruling clan….Felicity Norquill!"

The detached girl, didn't show a flicker of emotion, just reached down to tug at her dress in an awkward curtsy.

I grimaced, knowing how angry Zeke was likely to be. The others hadn't met felicity, so when I turned to look at them I expected to see similar reactions…I did not expect to find Bethy staring out at the screen in horror. Pink tears ran down her cheeks as her reddening eyes locked on the image of the broken girl my family was using to participate in the contest.

Chelsea stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong? Bethy? What is it?"

In a motion too quick to track, Bethy spun and glared at me. Her eyes were harder than I'd ever seen them. "Did you know about this?" She hissed. "What are you going to do about it?"

Callie stepped between us, holding up her hands. "Whoa, Bethy what the hell? Shane barely knows that girl. What's gotten into you?" She glanced at the screen. "What's wrong with her?" She was staring at Felicity's image like she was trying to mine it for information.

"They broke her soul." Whispered a furious Bethy. "Just…polished all the human off of it. They turned her into a machine. I can TASTE it. I didn't even know that was possible. It's like someone cracked her open and ate out all the person, then put the shell back together with tape and glue."

Callie shot me a horrified look, and I nodded sadly. "Zeke told me. Apparently it's some kind of anti-recursion training. People don't use it because it's too dangerous."

"So?" My fiancee demanded. "How do we fix it? That's monstrous. We can't just let someone do that to a living person. Especially not your own family. Can't Zeke intervene? Maybe a wish could fix her."

Zeke sighed heavily, opening his eyes as he abandoned the pretense of sleep, easily able to hear us across a room. "I can't." He said sadly. "If it was just Norquill, I could make a case of it. I'm reasonably certain I could kill him. But Harrison is S-rank, and Norquill is Aiden's right hand. Even if I was willing to start a branch war over a stranger, Aiden would never tolerate it during the conclave. Hell, the old man might get involved."

"Not to mention that a wish to cure her might be difficult to arrange." My mother cut in. "We'd need someone to pay for it, and it wouldn't be cheap. Plus once she was detached from the Norquill family she'd need to join another branch."

I was getting annoyed. "And why is that?" I snapped. "Why would she need to join another branch? Why couldn't she just leave?"

"Because she's useful." Said Zeke simply. "Because she's been in close proximity to the first lieutenant of the current Wishmaster. Because she's strong and vulnerable and any Ascendant force worth their salt would snatch her up the second she was alone and crack her skull open to pry out any detail of the things she might know."

My mom gave a sad sigh. "You don't understand what it's like, Shane. Not really. Being personally strong isn't enough. You need to have friends. Connections. That's why the candidacy race is the way that it is. Being powerful and alone is just asking to get snatched up by someone stronger."

In the background, the Empire's contestant, an Earl named Malkyr, was paraded out, but I didn't care. The red haired noble could wait. "I don't want to accept that." I said angrily. "I don't want to just…leave her there."

Because I hadn't let myself think about it before, when Zeke had told me what happened to her. They'd been there, when we met her originally, but hadn't known the extent of the damage. None of us had. Now that I was looking at her again though, seeing that mannequin expression on her face, I realized I couldn't do it. I couldn't leave someone like that, and I was ashamed I'd needed to be hit in the face with it like this to make that call.

"Maybe daddy could help." Said Bethy after a moment. "I know it's complicated, but daddy doesn't care about that stuff. He could make them give her up."

Mom shook her head. "Not without cause." She said firmly. "If he wanted her as a thrall, or even to give her to you, maybe he'd be able to bully Harrison into giving her up, but he'd have to pay in blood for it."

"Wait…" I said slowly. "Pay in blood. What if he did?" They all turned to look at me. "Not literally, I mean what if he turned her. I know only Larks can be Vampires, but that's because he said so. Worst case can he adopt her into the clan? She's an adopted Wyndham already."

Bethy bit her lip. "That's…daddy doesn't ever do things like that. He hasn't turned another Vampire in centuries. My siblings and I were all born with our racial trait."

I turned to my grandfather. "Gramps? What about the Church? Do you have some way to fix her if you can find a pretense to take custody?" I didn't want to just give up on this. There had to be some way to help.

"Well…maybe." He admitted. "The Church has plenty of top notch mind healers. We've been at war with the Black Sorrow cult for years, and their Heartrippers are infamous. We've spent millennia learning to reconstruct the shattered remnants of the people their inhumane methods leave behind, and even then it can only be done under very specific circumstances."

I grimaced at the reminder of the assassins I'd dealt with back at the beginning of my journey.

Zeke cut in. "At the end of the day, helping her is all about leverage." He admitted. "We don't have it right now, because there are plenty of people stronger than us. But there are different kinds of power."

My eyes widened in dismay. "You mean…"

"That's right." He said with a wry grin. "Politics. Aiden is the current Wishmaster, but he's in the process of stepping down. He might not care, but even if he does, the old man is the real power in the family. If you can prove yourself as a relevant up and comer you could petition to have her transferred to Malachai's branch. It's not like she's an actual Wyndham with the wish ability. She's an outer clan member. A promising candidate would have more than enough sway to affect things, especially if you pick your timing."

Callie grinned. "You mean bring it up during the interrogation so the decision is under the scrutiny of all the representatives?"

"Not exactly." Said my uncle with a shrug. "To get that leverage you need to provide that proof. Which means you need to make waves and possibly even pull out a victory in the E-rank games. That's a serious contribution to the family, and there's a reward. You could ask for Felicity to be transferred to you as a bodyguard. You don't have any C-rankers in your entourage yet. And the leverage you'd earn bringing home a win would be more than enough to pay for that kind of protection."

Bethy seemed to be cheered. "That would be amazing!" She said excitedly, switching from scary menacing Bethy to chirping cheerful Bethy so quickly I got whiplash. "We could totally save her and help her feel better! Then when I get stronger I can eat her dad!"

Strangely, I was pretty much fine with that logic. As was Callie, mostly because she probably saw Felicity as a cautionary tale of how she might have ended up if her dad had the option. I could see Paul Reynolds using a training method like that, and the concept of it infuriated me. Part of me wanted to challenge him to a fight as soon as we got back to Callus, but Callie didn't need me fighting her battles. She was tougher than I was at this point. She'd break Midknight in half.

Shockingly, despite sympathizing with Felicity, I didn't sense the same anger I'd felt for her that I usually did when her father came up. I gripped her hand, sending my curiosity along the bond. One of the best parts of the bond was the ability to have wordless conversations through emotion much faster than even telepathy could let us communicate.

There was a whirl of emotions as we traded back and forth, and I froze as I understood the reason she felt so…centered.

It was me. Not that I'd magically fixed her anger towards her dad, she still hated him. But more that she didn't feel so alone. We were getting married, and we were going to be a family. After running away Callie and her mom were never quite the same. They loved each other, but there was still a distance there.

Now she had me, and that put some distance between her and the pain. Hell, I felt the same way. I was still a bit angry at my dad for what he did, but I couldn't really be furious. Everything he'd done had turned out well for me. I'd still probably punch him the throat when I saw him, but that was all I really felt the need for. It was hard to resent someone for being responsible for all the happiness in your life, even if the lead up sucked.

I pulled her against me, feeling the love and warmth through our connection. More than that though, I felt her pride. The fact that I was so set on helping Felicity made her so happy, and I was proud to be with someone who pushed me to be better.

Sighing, we settled in to watch the C-rank games. Aside from learning more about Felicity before we traveled with her (hopefully) I also wanted to get a baseline for what the games entailed before participating. They had been doing intros as we talked, introducing a hooded figure with green clawed hands as Devnay of the Black Sorrow Cult, a tall red haired woman with golden eyes as Ellisara of the Church of the Red Revenant, and a silver haired male elf as Rorik of the Fairyland.

They were currently introducing the final C-ranker, a caped man named Aftershock with dark skin and long braided hair. Once they announced him, they filled everyone in on the rules. "Now, as some of you may know, this stage is called the forest of mystery. In various places throughout these woods, tokens are hidden. One must gather ten tokens to pass the stage, but there are only thirty tokens total."

The trees were colossal on the screen, metallic blue bark towering over the contestants. It was strange, because the arena wasn't that big, but it seemed like the contestants had shrunk relative to the rest of us when entering, or there was a spatial distortion around the woods. Everyone stared around the misty forest cautiously, waiting for the go signal.

After a minute or two of prep and a few more explanations, the announcer had everyone get in position. "Well, now that we all know what we need to do, it's time for the first round of the conclave games to begin. Contestants…start!"

 

[Malcolm Tent]

As soon as the announcer called the match to order, the various people on the screen blurred away from each other. No one had started with a token, so there was no point in attacking anyone else at this point. Any violence would just be slowing down the ones who were serious about scoring points.

Of course, common sense was far from common, and at least two people hadn't gone far, waiting beside some trees to attack stragglers.

What WAS surprising was that one of the two attacked was a faction representative. Rorik the elf was strolling amiably through the woods with a calm smile on his face when he encounter one of the first of the straggler hunters.

"Oh." he said in cheerful surprise. "Hello, new friends. What can I help you with today?"

A massive towering robed figure emerged from the shadow of a tree, or at least it looked like that for a second. After a brief pause the robes fluttered and two figures emerged, the robes somehow shrinking to accommodate the changing size of the remaining form. Had they been standing on each other's shoulders?

"You're the best the Fairieland can offer?" Sneered the figure on the right, a tall burly man with silver dog ears on top of his his head and long black hair. "Three of us was overkill."

The second unrobed figure was a silver haired girl with black dog ears. She was tiny and looked a little frail, but I could tell she was dangerous. She was an uncompromising warrior. Or she would have been, if she hadn't been staring at Rorik with a light blush on her cheeks.

"Sandy!" Snapped the taller man. "He's the enemy. We need to take him out. Now!"

At the word, the robed figure hurled its hands forward…and collapsed. Not like it fell on the ground, but like someone had diced it into pieces. Blood spurted, the hot liquid steaming the air briefly as the two combatants whirled to stare at their third in horror.

"Oh, bother." Rorik said sadly. "I do wish he hadn't done that. My friends can be ever so sensitive about threats." Holding out a hand, I saw a small silver arachnid float down to land on his outstretched palm. From behind it trailed a single strand of silk, and my eyes widened as I spotted a fucking forest of shimmering silken threads surrounding the dog eared people.

Focusing, I could especially see them around where the robed figure had been, the shimmering threads coated in wet blood making a much more eyecatching picture.

"Please don't hurt us!" Pleaded the big man. "We'll surrender. We're no threat to you. We're so sorry." His eyes were wide with panic as he stared at the remains of his friend…and I couldn't blame him. These were C-rankers. Variance in stats aside, being able to mince a C-ranker just from the force oh his own movements was terrifying."
Rorik gave a sad chuckle. "I'd like to help, but it isn't really up to me. My friends have already set the trap. You might survive, but that depends how long you can stand perfectly still. Good luck." He waved warmly, then turned and walked off in another direction, leaving the two figures frozen in abject terror.

Across the arena, Felicity had been one of the first to discover a token. She picked it up, studied it, and then slipped it into her spacial ring. Turning in another direction, I was pretty sure she was going to look for another one, but she stopped abruptly, skipping back gracefully to avoid a wall of white hot flames.

"Pretty fast for a puppet." Said a lazy voice from the mist as a familiar red haired man emerged. Malkyr the Earl had apparently been right on her heels. "Your creator must be proud."

Felicity gave a mechanical laugh that didn't disrupt her expression at all (which was creepy). "You are mistaken. I am no puppet. I am a human person. I find your absurdist humor most entertaining."

He winced. "Wow that's creepy. You're offputting as hell, you know that? You might have been born a human, but there's no person left in there. Not really. Hand over the token and I won't bother putting you out of your misery." His hands extended and a pair of living flame molded weapons appeared in his palms.

A rush of flames expanded, forming more than weapons, they condensed into full physical bodies. Human bodies.

"Cinder Centurion." Said Felicity blandly. "A powerful commander variant job involving dangerous fire Skills. That is very interesting. Please remove yourself from my way lest I be forced to do you harm. You may demonstrate your interesting Job for others in the area. Those you might actually defeat."

Malkyr clearly didn't think talking was worth the time though, because he blitzed forward, all his fire doubles spreading out to surround Felicity.

One of them got too close, and she gingerly reached out and flicked it. There was a crisp cracking, and a series of faults began to form in the fire. She flicked again and this time the air cracked, then tapped her toe and the ground did the same, reaching down the picked up a series of shards, mixing them together. Her hands flew, piecing together a stained glass window from the browns, blues (the air was light blue) and reds.

Once it was done, she held up a tiny handheld circle of glass shards. On the giant screen I could see it was a stained glass picture of a volcano. The window flashed and a torrent of lava burst out of it like a fire house, tearing through dozens of trees and forcing the fire bug and all his little flame clones back.

He glared at her over the field of lava. "I don't know what the fuck that was. But I can assure you it won't work next time." He glanced around with a curse. "That fucking holy roller is coming. Count yourself lucky."

Felicity waved goodbye as he turned to leave, renewing her trek through the forest. Above it all, we sat watching from our box, and I was blown away by some of the power on display. "Hey ma." I called to my mother from a few seats down. "Was that fire thing a technique or just a really specific ability or Skill."

"He's imperial, so probably the latter. The Job system tends to create lots of niche subskills more easily. Techniques are more common in heroic cultivation."

I nodded absently, returning my attention to the games as someone stumbled upon the dog eared siblings. "Well now." Hissed a sibilant voice from beneath Devnay's robe. The C-rank champion from the Black Sorrow cult sounded positively gleeful. "Look what someone has caught in their web."

His clawed green hands slithered out, and he flicked a few of the barely visible threads. The siblings groaned as the vibrations tightened the strings, the razor sharp strands digging into their flesh and drawing blood.

"Please." Pleaded the brother. "There's no need to do this. We don't have any problems with you."

Devnay chuckled. "I'll be sure to remember that as I'm enjoying your deaths." His hands blurrd out, plucking a dozen strings in a symphony of twangs that blended into a surprisingly melodic composition as the strands started to tighten. Before they could tighten too much though, Devnay's claws hit a pair of threads and rebounded explosively, fingers cracking and blood fountaining out.

He dashed back, and the caped form of Aftershock stepped from the shadows on the opposite side of the clearing. "There's no need for such cruelty." He said reproachfully. "These poor people are helpless. To kill them simply for enjoyment would be an abominable act."

"One of the attention seekers." Drawled the Cardinal of the Black Sorrow cult hypocritically. "Are you sure you want to stick your nose into my business?"

Aftershock just smiled, reaching out to flick one of the threads nearest to him. The spider silk began to hum loudly, somehow skipping the tied up siblings, increasing in volume consistently until there was a twang and a snap and the threads exploded towards Devnay.

Snorting, the green clawed man let out a roar and belched a torrent of flames at the explosion of energy. The fire hit the force and blew up, scattering the silk and flames in all directions. The siblings took the opportunity to run away, calling their thanks to the caped hero as they retreated into the distance.

I was personally just kind of blown away. That had been some sort of vibration manipulation, and he'd completely avoided hurting the innocents when he'd done it. I was guessing that was Perception and Focus. Impressive either way though.

Devnay was snarling at the other man, his robe torn away to reveal a heavily muscled man with green scales and a reptilian face. Behind his back a pair of large wings were folded around him protectively. My mom whistled. "Wyrmkin." She said appreciatively. "That's pretty impressive. Don't see a lot of Wyrms willing to take human form."

Wyrms were a lesser cousin of dragons, sort of like wyverns, but way more impressive. I'd heard recently about animals taking humanoid form, but this was the first time I'd seen one.

Their fight seemed to be just starting, but I decided to focus back on Felicity, since she would probably be traveling with us. I found her standing in front of Rorik, looking as blank as ever as he smiled pleasantly. "Ah, I don't suppose you would turn over those tokens to me?" He asked wryly. "I realize it's an inconvenience but it would be ever so helpful."

Felicity shook her head. "My apologies." She said tonelessly. "I'm afraid I require these to accomplish my goals. I see you've claimed one for yourself. Might I impose upon you to lend it to me?"

"I'm afraid not." The affable elf said, his face smoothing out into a cold mask of neutrality. "I'll have to relieve you of yours the hard way then."

Felicity held up a brightly colored disk (the volcano image she'd made earlier) and said bluntly. "That is a shame. Please try not to die. You are a very polite person, and I find speaking to you enjoyable." A volcanic eruption, roughly five times the size of the earlier one, consumed the air between them as it raced toward Rorik.

With a lazy flick of his fingers, Rorik called a dozen more of those silver spiders from the trees around them. The speedy arachnids flashed out so quickly they were barely visible and wrapped the eruption in glittering silver silk, cocooning the lava midair. As it approached Rorik, it came to a halt about a foot from him, restrained by ropes of silk from coming closer.

"That was mildly impressive." He admitted, his amiable mask back in place. "Some kind of image creation power?"

Felicity shook her head. "Not at all. I was simply practicing my Glazing, the creation of stained glass." Reaching out, she flicked one of the nearby strands. There was a cracking sound and the silk all collapsed, dissolving into an ocean of silvery glass shards which were propelled outward by the expanding heat of the lava.

Rorik cursed, dodging the rain of shards and molten rock and landing on a tree above the clearing. I could see the silvery spiders gathering on the tree he landed on, getting ready for whatever the next attack would be.

Seemingly uncaring, Felicity leaned down to pick up some of the white shards, breaking some of the lava and air to find more colored shards she began to assemble.

Her hands blurred through the assembly process, and when she was done, she held up a terrifying image of a massive silver armored lava golem with six arms. As it stepped from the glass and gained physical form, I had to chuckle at Rorik's expression. Yeah, I was pretty sure Felicity would be a useful friend to have.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"Ok." I finally said with exasperation. "What the actual fuck is her power?" Looking at Zeke down the line of chairs, I briefly noticed my mom wince at the language, and admittedly had to hide a small chuckle.

She knew that despite us getting along better, I was an adult, and the time for things like calling me out on my language had passed. I wasn't a child so I wouldn't poke her about it, but I also wasn't planning to tone it down. I was who I was.

Zeke, who knew I'd been talking to him, hummed in contemplation. "Glazing is the art of constructing stained glass windows. It looks like she made a unique Skill that uses it as a base, possibly with some elemental manipulation Skills mixed in to enable her to use it on the fly. It's a novel approach, most crafting related unique Skills use Enchanting as a mechanism. It's not as devastating in real time, but it gives you way more flexibility. It was a particularly bad idea in this case, though I guess they assumed it wouldn't matter."

"Why was it such a bad idea?" I asked cautiously. "She seemed pretty effective in combat."

He opened his mouth, then grimaced in annoyance. After a second of rewording, he answered. "You remember." He said slowly. "What I told you about the difficulties of forming a Chronicle?"

He was bound by the geass, presumably because I was now making decent progress towards a Chronicle and that was my next step. I was still a ways off, though, I needed to fix all of my Ski- and then I got what he was saying. I wished I hadn't.

I'd thought I couldn't get any angrier about what had been done to someone who was, at least be adoption, probably some kind of cousin. I'd been wrong. Because her dad hadn't just destroyed her sense of self. He'd done it in such a way that he'd basically crippled her. At least as far as I could tell.

Felicity was doing what I was doing, holding together a lot of poorly made Skills with a powerful soul. In a normal person that might have made for some instability, but not too much. Like me though, Felicity had a complicated and many faceted unique Skill made by jamming a bunch of Skills together to make something special.

I had my book and my divination abilities to help guide me in fixing my Skills before forming my Chronicle, but based on what I knew of how it work, it was based on a Solid Path Skill, which you needed to reach C-rank. If Felicity's Solid Path was Glazing, and her skill was a broken barely functional mess, she wouldn't survive forming her Chronicle.

It wasn't an issue for me because I had warning, and I was sure Zeke would have found a way to tip me off even if I hadn't found out on my own, but it would be a problem for her. Which meant her dad had knowingly done this to her while being completely aware that he was essentially making a permanent C-ranker or a corpse, and he hadn't cared. I REALLY wanted to kick his ass.
My mom had been watching the exchange and nodded sadly. "There's a reason that people don't usually get far with Unique Skills. The way you do things isn't exactly repeatable by the masses. And even your way isn't sustainable. Pushing her into what she's done…I never liked Craygen, but I didn't expect even that little weasel to take things this far." She glanced at me and then at Chelsea. "As a parent, I wish I could put him down for this."

Apparently it wasn't just me. But the bastard was protected by his boss, so we needed to do this in a more roundabout fashion. I had to win the E-ranked games To that end, I focused back on the C-ranked competition to get a better idea of what I should expect.

Looking at it from the outside, one thing stuck out. The quality of their powers. Rorik's control of his spiders, Felicity's Glazing, and that crazy flame legion Malkyr had used. All of them were so much more complex than the things I did, not to mention weightier and more deadly in terms of Impact.

It just seemed like a whole other dimension of combat, one that I was just now starting to enter with my new techniques. Seeing them operate like this, it highlighted how amateurish me and all the other E-rankers were in comparison.

The only exception was probably Abel. Looking back, I realized he'd been using techniques for quite some time. The Cicada Stacking Step was one of his go-to's and it was his own creation. A way to apply his spatial lubrication in a unique way to massively increase his own ability in combat. I'd never even really considered how he'd achieved that before my lessons with mom.

Below us I watched with bated breath as Ellisara stumbled upon Malkyr after all, despite his attempt to avoid her. The tall, red haired warriors created a striking image, Malkyr in a set of dark leather legion armor with shining silver studs, while Ellisara stood in gleaming golden plate with onyx inlays. The church warrior had a huge gold and onyx mace propped up on her shoulder, and she smiled confidently at the Earl.

"Damn it." He snapped. "I really didn't want to do this. Wasn't it bad enough you left to go join the church Ellie? You had to hunt me down and knock me out of the running personally?"

She just shrugged. "Sorry little brother. Take it as a compliment. If I didn't respect your abilities I wouldn't have singled you out. Hells, you're half the reason I volunteered for this. If my kid brother is taking the world stage, I have to make sure he's ready. What's the matter, didn't you miss me?"

I blinked, looking over at my mom. "Did…did you know they were related?" I asked in astonishment. "Because I didn't even consider that. Sure they're both redheads, but what are the odds?"

"Pretty good." My mother said with a smile. "Like she said, she did it on purpose. But yes, I knew. Ellisara is one of my dad's subordinates, obviously."
My grandfather nodded. "Ellie is a very talented fire user. Her mother is a devout believer in the Revenant, and Ellie inherited that piety. She left the Empire to join one of our academies as a girl and quickly proved herself to be a skillful combatant. In point of fact, much like yourself, Ellie has participated in one on one training with your mother."

Mom beamed. "She's such a darling girl, and a wonderful student. She's much more suited to my Stellar Flame Fist than you are dear. Watch closely, maybe you can learn some things."

Malkyr, eyes blazing with rage, had called up his flame legion when we were talking. "I'm not scared of you!" He hissed at his sister. "Just because you were always dad's favorite doesn't mean you're stronger than I am. I've been training hard for this."

Grinning widely, Ellisara cheered for him. "That's the spirit little brother! You can do this!" Then she vanished in an explosion of flame.

I'd had to adapt that move, but I could see the shape of it easily enough. Supernova Step. She reappeared behind the Earl with a cry of triumph, bringing her massive mace smashing around at his ribs.

There was a blurring of heat as the flame forms of the legionnaires blurred, and all of them were absorbed into Malkyr in a dizzying warping of space. Malkyr, who had shifted into a full body fire form, became more solid and defined, the blazing shield he wielded coming up to interpose itself between mace and body.

Cosmic Collapse was channeled through the smash, and the was a blast of power that sent Malkyr skidding back, his feet carving melted trenched in the forest floor for twenty feet before he skidded to a stop.

"Well done!" Ellisara crowed cheerfully. "I was worried I'd have to hold back during this fight, but you've applied your talents superbly. I suppose if you're going to meet me in your strongest form, I should return the favor." Her smile was beatific as flames exploded around her, creating a sphere of starfire around her body so bright it nearly blocked her from view.

Malkyr stepped back, but she didn't come after him, she stayed where she was, unmoving for a moment, as she gathered herself, and then the flame coming off her (which I was pretty sure was just ambient fire energy and that she'd done a similar flame transformation to her brother, and then she started to gather it up.

Slowly, surely, she condensed her flames, packing them down and condensing them until they returned to her normal shape, leaving a glowing blue figure of living flame. She exploded out into another Supernova Step, but I barely caught this one. I only figured it out because Malkyr managed to shield smash her fist (the mace was gone, presumably too fragile to take the heat) and bleed off some of the energy.

Some, because he still went flying backwards smashing through about a dozen trees before hitting the ground. My mother beamed. "They don't call me the Star Queen for nothing." She bragged. " My Sunsmasher Body is my signature move. Not only does it grant incredible strength, it's designed to amplify all my techniques." She winked at me. "Like mother like son, I suppose. I told you I was uniquely suited to help you train your combat forms."

I smiled absently at her, but my eyes were mostly locked on the blazing blue form of Ellisara. "She made Stellar Flame Fist her Solid Path?" I said in surprise. "I can see why it's made you so feared."

My admiration of the powerful martial art my mom had made was interrupted by Malkyr staggering to his feet, face a rictus of fury. "It's not FAR!" He howled in outrage. "All I do is train! I study tactics, refine my fire manipulation Skills, and push myself to my limits." As he spoke, the space behind him caught fire, first dozens, then hundreds of flame legionnaires appeared, all of them condensing into his body.

The heat around him spiked, warping the vision of everyone in the audience as he fed his legionnaires into his body to strengthen himself.

Ellisara shook her head sadly. "You've come so far little brother, learned so much, but you haven't learned the most important lesson of all. Life can be a lot of things, brutal, beautiful, kind, or cruel. But regardless of good or ill-"

She stepped forward in another Supernova Step, this time blurring through a series of disparate locations along a constellation meant to confuse the senses. Appearing behind him, she brought her fist around into the back of his head with an explosion of cascading blue flame. "But it's never fair."

She watched him sadly as he toppled forward, flames fading as he landed on his face. My mom nodded in approval. "Constellation Cascade." She said in explanation. "Channels a bunch of Cosmic Collapse strikes into the Supernova Step to stack the power. Not my strongest technique, but it's a solid finisher, especially with the Sunsmasher Body active."

As I stared down at the Empire representative passed out on the ground, I stood up and looked to the others. "I've seen what most of the big leaguers have brought to the table. I get why it was important for me to be here. But not…I've got to go. I have training to do. If I'm going to beat people like this I can't afford to waste any more time."

My mom and grandpa smiled at me approvingly, and Zeke nodded. Callie followed me out, determined to help how she could, even if she wouldn't be involved. I was planning to skip the D-rank games, even if I'd ask Callie to go to support Callen with the others. I had to get up to speed before it was my turn. If I was going to win this I'd need as much training as I could get.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The next two days were a blur of training. Aside from getting my wishes in (I'd gotten all one hundred forty points in Fantasy) , Callie and I spent the rest of the C-ranked games and all of the D-ranked preparing. I taught her what I could about techniques, and my mom came back and weighed in a few times when she was free, and she used it to push me harder to perfect my own.


It quickly became apparent that despite my talent for it, my grasp on techniques was rudimentary. I could only combine a few complimentary pieces of imagery with the Fantasy I had, but Callie had substantially more.


Over the course of the first day, she managed to create her own movement technique that she called the Shadowed Glide, which enabled her to take on shadow attributes to move without actually entering the shadows, enhancing her movement speed in normal combat by several times.


During the D-ranked games I trained for about half the day, though Callie made me take breaks to recover, reminding me that if I ran myself into the ground we'd lose anyway, and that recovery was part of training.


Finally, the day of the E-ranked games arrived, and I prepared myself to head over to the Central Location. Zeke was escorting me, and Chelsea would be going with mom, while my grandfather brought all my friends over to watch from the box. "So. You think you're ready?" Asked my uncle lazily.


"Who the hell knows." I laughed. "I did what I could, and if I can't hack it…well, I'll do my best. If I win this we can help Felicity right? You're making preparations or whatever?"


He nodded. "I called Malachai. He has the petition prepared. He says if you can take home the gold here he'll push it through. He has quite a few allies on the council, and even Aiden can't just overrule them. Not that he would bother."


"Nice to know grandpa is rooting for me." I chuckled. "What's he like, anyway? I'm sure you've met him plenty of times."


Zeke grimaced. "Malachai is…complicated. He's a charismatic and charming person, but under the jovial mannerisms he's one of the coldest people I've ever met. Eli gets flack for being ruthless, but he doesn't sugar coat it. Malachai…it's not exactly that he lies about who he is, more that he doesn't see any conflict being being genuinely friendly and doing terrible things. Long story short, he's a scary guy. You should steer clear."


I sighed. I'd figured it would be something like that. Given who my dad was and who had apparently been before rejoining his family… I wondered if my grandfather had pushed him toward that, or he became what he was to spite his dad. So many generations of family at odds.


We headed outside and climbed into a private shuttle. "Do you have any advice?" I asked hopefully. "I know you can't tell me anything too specific, but if you have any general tidbits of information to share…"


Zeke paused, thinking it over. "Don't get overwhelmed." He said bluntly. "This is no different from any other tournament or contest you've been in. It might feel that way, but it's an illusion. Ignore the audience and the stakes. Take one thing at a time. Make a plan and execute it, and you'll be fine."


That was good advice. I was already starting to spiral, this was a big deal, and not only did I not have backup, I'd have to fight my own sister.


We didn't speak any more on the way to the Central Location, and when we finally arrived Zeke passed me off to a couple of employees in dark suits who led me down into the belly of the arena. When I got there, I found a crowd of other people, and a teleporter opened a portal to the actual testing grounds, which we all filed through.


Once we reached the game zone, I froze, stopping to turn in circles and examine our new location. We stood on a mountain, or at least a giant rock spire. Below us stretched and endless blue sky, with fluffy clouds peppering the infinite cerulean expanse. The mountain was festooned with buildings, each with symbols and connected by a long winding road.


"Welcome competitors!" Said the familiar voice of the announcer. "To the path of excellence! While the outsiders are being given your names and affiliations, you will begin your journey with no idea of who might be a friend or ally."


As he spoke, a series of torches along the path began to light, leading up along the winding path to the top of the mountain. Oddly, the flames split off multiple times, showing several paths to the peak. "As you may have noted, this particular game will work differently to the two previous contests.


"Along this path are hundreds of temples. Each temple possesses a key. On the peak, there is a chest, and opening this chest requires twelve keys." I could hear excitement in the voice as it continued on. "Where this task differs is this. You will not only be competing with each other, you will be facing powerful guardian monsters who protect the keys."


The flames near one of the temples flared, revealing the silhouette of a hulking beast. "These guardians are of varying power, some will be weak, some will be unbearably strong. Some of the temples cannot be cleared by an individual, and so you'll need to select a teammate, but the chest can only be opened by one, and so whoever your teammates are, you will inevitably betray them.


"The task is simple. Select your teammates, gauge their trustworthiness, and work with them until the correct time to turn away. Alliances are necessary at time, but one must always remain alert for betrayal."


I fought not to roll my eyes. Subtle. They were clearly sowing discontent for once the war ended to prevent any of the alliances between factions from becoming too stable. Why that was I had no idea, but they were being really obvious about it. I shook off my annoyance and turned to look around, seeing if there was anyone besides Chelsea that I knew.


Several faces actually did stick out, some of my fellow Glade pact members were there, though none of the ones I knew very well. The Black Sorrow Cult representative girl that Chelsea warned me about was there, and Chelsea had a pair of girls I didn't recognize with her.


Strolling up to my sister, I gave her a cheerful wave. "Hey, are you looking for a teammate? Because I'm available, and I have many sterling qualities. I'm witty, urbane, and I'm very tall, so I can provide shade when it's too sunny and reach things on high shelves without needing to use a stool."


She rolled her eyes, then opened her mouth to say something back when a blonde girl with smouldering (literally, they soaked like banked coals were behind them) golden eyes glared up at me. "Wish Curse filth!" She snapped. "Stay away from our mistress." To my shock, a pair of downy white wings flared out behind her, and she reached down to draw a golden sword.


"Whoa!" Said Chelsea in a panic, stepping between me and the girl. "Holly, be cool. Shane is a friend of mine, he was just joking around. Shane this is Holly and Serah Hallah. They're representatives of the Seraphim Tower. They're a subordinate force of the Church."


I wondered why there hadn't been any C-rankers to help Ellisara or the others, but knowing Ascendant politics it was probably considered a sign of weakness to have someone lend aid outside of a team format. It would have made them look pathetic to try to fix the results.


Holding up both hands, I smiled disarmingly behind my mask (that kind of thing always comes out in the voice) "What she said. I was being sincere about wanting to cooperate, I was just being funny. I'm known to have a pretty great sense of humor. Also modesty, I'm very modest. Possibly the most modest man in existence."


The other angel (if there were devils I don't know why angels shocked me but they did) frowned at me suspiciously. "Tell us a joke." Her eyes and hair were both copper, and not as in red, as in the metal, her hair looked like really thin soft copper wire.


"I…what?" I stumbled. "That's not the kind of funny I mean, I meant like situationally funny."


Serah turned to Chelsea. "I do not like him. He does not know any jokes. He isn't amusing or modest at all, we should turn him away."

"Come on, you totally put me on the spot!" I protested. "What kind of person just has a repertoire of jokes lying around to toss out at a moment's notice. Real comedy is situational and topical, witty and biting observations made in the moment."


She stared back at me coldly. "False. Comedy is tested and refined. All amusing jokes should be at the fingertips of an amusing person in an instant. For instance, why did the chicken cross the road? Answer. To get to the other side. This is comedy." Despite her blank expression, I could sense a core of smugness in her words.


My sister pinched the bridge of her nose. "Serah, Shane was being ironic when he mentioned modesty, and hyperbolic about his comedic prowess. Serah is planning to become a comedian when she reaches D-rank."


"I am considered the funniest angel in the tower." She said sincerely. "I know many jokes. Perhaps, should you prove worthy, I may teach you."


Judging by the pained look on her sister's face, that wasn't any more accurate than it sounded, but I certainly wouldn't be the one to burst her bubble. Instead I just nodded meekly, and a small smile painted her face.


"So." I said leadingly. "Which direction do you want to go? I don't see any stable markers we can use for reference, but you can pick a direction and we'll head that way."


Holly, the golden haired and eyed angel (what I'd thought was blonde was a metallic burnished gold on closer study) pointed firmly to the left. "I believe this to be the best direction for us to make progress. I suspect we will meet might foes, even if SOME of us may not be able to pull our weight." Her jab was aimed at me.


That was fair, honestly. Your average candidate was useless in situations like this, because their retainers weren't around to help and we tended to have our stats very evenly distributed. In fact, I could see why they hadn't picked a Wyndham for the C-rank games at all, but an adopted clan member with a more combat oriented ability. Maybe that was why I'd gotten the position for E-rank.My second ability was a unique and powerful advantage against anything my own rank or lower.


Sighing at what would probably be a long trip, I followed Holly and the others up the mountain path, we took the left of the first fork, heading for an undisturbed temple.


As we walked, I slowly prepared myself. I knew Chelsea wouldn't turn on me, and if she was forced to later she'd at least tell me to my face before doing it. I didn't trust the feather duster sisters not to take a potshot at my back on their own, but Chelsea was there and in charge of them, and as my twin, I had faith in her.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We approached the first temple slowly. It was a massive black marble edifice with veins of gold that glowed dimly in the sun. Staring closely, it became clear that the glow was pulsing slowly, like the beat of a single, colossal heart pumping energy through the building. "Well that's certainly ominous." I said as I pointed it out to my sister.

"Awesome, a living building." She said without enthusiasm. "Maybe it's the guardian. I wonder if it can turn into some kind of monster?"

Serah nodded solemnly. "Truly a fearsome beast. A residence that can become a foe. One might almost call it a…werehouse." Her expression didn't change as she stared at the building, but she flicked her eyes quickly toward us to see if her joke had landed.

Holly groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Please stop. We already had a discussion about puns."

"Ah." Said the stoic commedienne. "But that was when my puns were still maturing. Now they're full groan." I snorted a little at that, I admit. Holly spun and glared at me murderously for encouraging her sister, and Chelsea tried to suffocate a smile while her retainer wasn't looking.

Despite being a little stiff, I actually found Serah kind of funny. Her deadpan delivery was charming in a way, and she had a lot of confidence in her jokes even if other people didn't find them amusing. I had a weakness for that sort of comedy, and I had to admit the stoic angel was already growing on me.

"Can we just get this over with?" Demanded Holly in annoyance. "Maybe if we're lucky whatever is in there will kill us all so we don't have to listen to my sister's puns anymore."

I chuckled, and we all prepared to enter the temple. The door was large and imposing, made of some kind of black volcanic rock that looked heavy and immovable. Closing my eyes, I shifted into my combat form. Mephistopheles came easier than ever, something about my new techniques making me feel more in tune with the form.

My hair blazed up into black flame, and I drew my staff, prepared for anything as we all moved forward. Holly took the lead, reaching up to shove the door open with a grinding screech as the rest of us prepared for an attack.

When nothing happened, I triggered Eye of Revelation, using it to scan the inside of the temple (as much as I could see anyway), but nothing was in view. With a confirming glance, we all moved silently through the door into the temple, and I continued my search for- I froze, something had moved.

"There's something moving along the ceiling." I warned. "It was moving too fast for me to track, so I didn't get a good look."

Holly nodded confidently. "I'll take care of the darkness so we can get a better look." She reached down and drew her golden sword, then held it above her head like a torch. A shimmering golden flame (like Mel's but more metallic somehow) erupted down the length of the blade as she spread her downy wings wide.

Golden hair and eyes erupted with the same shining blaze, and luminescence swallowed the temple, banishing the darkness and the shadows until there was nothing but pure revealing light. The radiance flooded the room, and within its scope I could see everything with crystal clarity…even if I wished I couldn't.

"No." I whispered in mounting dread. "It can't be." But as I stared up at the scaly, horned form of my deepest nightmares, I knew that it was. "It's a Wolfhornigator."

All three of them turned to stare at me. "What?" Asked my sister in a flat voice. "That can't possibly be the name of an actual creature." Thinking back, I realized Chelsea wasn't with us when we'd met the Wolfhornigators.

"I don't know their names." I snapped. "So I made one up, and it's extremely accurate. They're like a combination of wolves, alligators, and deer. Wolfhornigator. But I'm not sure how one got here, I thought they were extinct."

She blinked at me. "Really? Why?"

I…had no response. No one had mentioned it to me at any point, I'd just kind assumed based on where I met them. My bad. "Whatever, this is way bigger and scarier than the other ones I met anyway, probably because it's E-rank. It feels less insane though, I think the other ones were mutated by…actually I don't think I'm supposed to talk about that."

She nodded, knowing vaguely what I meant. "Doesn't matter. What can you tell us about them. Any special traits."

"Well they're highly venomous. That might have been a mutation, but I wouldn't bank on it." I said absently as I dug through my memories. Then I froze. "Oh. And also…" I turned around, realizing that though the entirety of the temple had been revealed, we'd been facing away from the front wall. Sure enough, a series of glaring monsters hung from the stonework. "They travel in packs."

Apparently that was the signal they'd been waiting for, because when we noticed them, the one behind us roared and the whole group pounded, heading right for us.

I didn't miss a beat. I executed Mephisto's Waltz, destroying the space between me and a spot out of their range, appearing in a blaze of black flame as I started to condense a sphere of dark fire for a Cosmic Collapse.

Holly and Serah took to the wing, streaking out of range of their attack as my sister disdainfully swung a fist at the one coming down on top of her. A colossal burst of white flame consumed the monster, and I had to blink to track it as it burst free from the combustion, screaming in pain and fear as it retreated back to the ceiling where it had come from.

The distraction was exactly what I needed as I finished readying my technique, and executed the Waltz again as I lashed out at the head of one of the nearest monsters, whose eyes were fixed on my twin.

It noticed me at the last second, its horned head jerking and mouth opening wide…just wide enough for the sphere at the end of my staff to slide easily inside before the butt of my weapon slammed into it and an eruption of concentrated black fire blew out the back of the monster's skull.

"Hah!" I shouted in exultation. "Whose chasing who now, you scaly fucks?" Which of course, drew the attention of all ten of the remaining monsters, and I swallowed hard as I realized that I should probably run.

I slipped back into the Waltz, flames licking my feet as I stepped along the constellation I'd kept from the original form of the technique. Each step took me somewhere new, and that was a good thing, because everywhere I landed there was a slavering monster hurling itself at me. Note to self: practice Cosmic Collapse more so I don't need so much prep time.

Luckily I wasn't here alone, and playing distraction enabled the others to get into position and start picking the damned things off. Holly had divebombed one of the ones I'd avoided, golden flaming sword singing through the air like a righteous battle hymn as she bisected the big bastard with a single swing, spinning off her landing to cleave another one in two as it tried to pounce on her.

Serah had produced a copper scythe from somewhere, and it too flickered with metallic flame of a color with her hair as she whirled it around, taking the arms and legs off a pair of the monsters that had leapt from the ceiling to try to bear her down to the ground.

I knew a lot of people sneered at the scythe as a weapon, but when you were dealing with Ascendants, even more than normal people, ANYTHING could be a weapon. I'd seen someone use a fucking mop as his main weapon, and it had been impressive. A giant long handled stick with a big sharp blade on the end was a cakewalk.

Serah had clearly trained extensively with her weapon, she used the staff portion as a prod to keep distance and hooked the blade around any exposed limbs, shearing through flesh and bone with casual indifference with both the inner and outer edges of her dual edged weapon.

Chelsea, meanwhile, had been mobbed by three of the monsters, and my sister had shifted from her normal jovial self to an arrogant combatant who casually batted aside strikes and smashed her enemies into burning chunks with her bare fists. I was almost positive she was using some kind of technique I didn't know, maybe one of moms or maybe her own, because her flames were behaving in an odd way I wouldn't have recognized before.

As I came to the end of my Waltz, I stopped on a chit, planting my feet and triggering Mornax. The leftover Wolfhornigators had been closing in on me at speed, and they didn't have time to slow down, smashing into my impervious form like falling stars.

I grinned widely as I heard cracks and screams from the shattering claws and bones of the monsters as they bounced harmlessly (harmless to me, they were harmed quite a bit) off my enhanced stone exterior. The distraction served its purpose, letting my teammates clean up their own opponents and turn their sights on mine.

My three were the last of the remaining ten, and with one foe each, they hardly stood a chance as they were all torn apart by angelic weapons and blinding white flame. I let Mornax drop after the last one was dead, with Chelsea finishing off the biggest and strongest, the one I assumed was some kind of alpha.

"Bite check." I called worriedly. "Anyone get bitten or scratched?" I'd been in my stone form so the claws hadn't penetrated, plus my armor didn't leave much skin exposed, so I was fine, but the others weren't nearly as impervious.

Chelsea grunted, a hand over the bend of her elbow. My sister was wearing a cuirass and and a pair of gauntlets maybe of dark leather with silver fittings that kind of matched her hair, but it wasn't full plate so it didn't cover her arms. Luckily, her purification flame was made for situations like this, even if it wasn't comfortable to use.

"I got nicked." She hissed through clenched teeth. "I'll be fine in a minute. This shit is NASTY. I feel like my blood is trying to eat through my veins and boiling at the same time."

Holly came strolling over excitedly. "We found the key!" She said, holding up a massive dark stone key with jagged looking teeth. "Are you alright, mistress?" Her deference to Chelsea still threw me, given what a prickly person she was when dealing with me, but I decided I was glad she had my twin's back.

"I'm fine." Said Chelsea in a much more even and less strained voice. Putting on an act for the troops I supposed. She glanced at the key. "Cheerful little piece of scrap, isn't it? Does everything have to look like it came out of a demon's nightmare? Just once, couldn't the thing we needed to get be a pretty baby blue color with a nice cloud motif?"

I cleared my throat, slightly defensive when I thought of my nightmarish armor and crown. "There's nothing wrong with ominous decor." I said stoically. "Maybe you just have bad taste. I think that key would be hideous with that color scheme."

"Because clearly you're an objective source." She sniped, eyes flickering over my outfit. She was grinning slightly, and I knew I'd helped take her mind off the pain for a bit.

I shrugged as we all turned and headed out, the bodies of the Wolfhornigators having dissolved into greasy green smoke. Some kind of summons probably. That was one down, we just needed to do this eleven more times. Joy.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We were all in a fairly good mood as we exited the first temple. Holly and Serah both seemed impressed with my capabilities, which would make combat easier going forward, and I was pretty impressed with the power my twin had shown. I'd seen her fight before in the Ruined Soul Temple, but either she'd been holding back or she'd been training hard since then.

This resulted in a lot of patting each other on the back, and high spirits…until we got to the next temple in the chain. The first sign that something was wrong was that the massive doors were propped open, and we all slowed down, preparing for a fight.

Sure enough, when we stopped in front of the building, I froze. "Someone is here." I said bluntly. My Danger Sense was pinging hard. Usually I had to tune it out because it mostly went off in battle and wasn't very specific, but in peaceful situations like this, when it tipped me off, it was invaluable for knowing when I might be attacked.

"What pretty birdies." Cooed a high pitched, slightly manic voice. "They're so beautiful and majestic. I want to pluck out all their feathers and make a coat."

A bass laugh that nearly rumbled the ground came next. "You and your fashion trends. But I suppose we could find a use for them. Once you've ripped off their wings we can set them to clean the forest temple. It's gotten a bit overgrown."

Three figures emerged from behind the surrounding columns, and just looking at them gave me the creeps. Tall, rangy figures with too long limbs, they had shaggy moss green hair and stag horns jutting from their heads. Their faces were covered in wooden masks, and the grain and warp of the wood formed the features of screaming people.

Their bodies were covered in clothes made of bark and moss, and their fingers were wickedly curved talons on dinner plate sized hands almost as big as their heads.

"Primal Silence Forest." Spat Holly angrily. "One of the S-rank clans. Your founder is the Primeval Pain Druid. With only a single S-ranker, are you really willing to anger our Seraphim Tower, with our three most high? Not even mentioning what the Radiant Pope would do to you if you damaged his granddaughter."

One of the figures laughed musically. "We're at war, little girl. The great ones don't have time for personal grudges. And this is a game. Sometimes people lose. Don't worry, we won't kill you."

"Even if you ask!" Jeered the one on the other side, whose voice was like nails on a chalkboard. The middle one must be the one with the deep voice. "It's always funny when they beg for death. They start out so defiant, but the hungry roots of the forest drain their will as sure as they drain the marrow from their bones!"

The middle one shook his head. "Don't be so aggressive Slairy, you'll scare them off." His bass rumble sounded more stable than the others, but something about his tone made it clear he was enjoying this just as much.

"You're going to make this a battle to the death?" I asked. "We could just go our own ways."

I readied myself to attack. I was pretty sure of their answer, even if I had to make the offer. Besides, they'd just threatened me and my sister. I had no issues putting these animals down for having the nerve to aim their madness at my family.

"Ye-" The one on the left started, but she didn't get a chance to finish because I triggered Pit of Despair on the ground beneath them and they all dropped into a pool of super fine dust. Grinning, I stepped forward, falling in myself, Mephisto's Waltz, coming to my call as my Dust Construction showed me the details of the pit.

Black flame exploded under my feet, propelling me forward even as the Cosmic Collapse started to build at the end of my staff. The Dust moved around me, pushing me forward even faster and parting for my flames.

Appearing behind the left most one who had been talking, I brought my staff up through the dust, smashing the Cosmic Collapse into the twisted mask.

An explosion of black flame tore a gouge out of the pit, exposing us all to air, and the two remaining members of the team leapt free with hisses of outrage…not that they remained hissing for long, since both of them had to meet the diving strikes of Holly and Serah, taken to the wing to tear into them while they were weak.

To my shock, the middle one, the male with the deep voice, reached out and grabbed the other, pushing off them and using the force to get clear of the attack and land on the ground.

Slamming his clawed hands into the earth, a pair of colossal black trees burst from the ground, their twisted black branches twining into giant claws, and darting toward the sisters, trying to rip them apart as their weapons shredded his teammate.

I suddenly realized why that attack had been so successful. I'd turned all the ground around them to Dust, and clearly these assholes used earth based Skills. Probably mixed with some kind of darkness based on the roots. By turning the ground to Dust that I controlled I'd cut them off from their source of power.

My immediate response was to try Pit of Despair again, but I quickly realized that the power he'd extended into the ground. My sucker punch had been super effective, but it wasn't going to work again.

"You'll pay for that." He rumbled, and I saw the screaming face on his wooden mask shift, becoming hateful and enraged.

I shrugged as I floated back to the surface, buoyed by the Dust, which solidified under my feet as I rose to the top. "Trying to take the moral high ground when you attacked us for no reason is a tough sell." I said mercilessly. "Also, thanks for the key." I held up the dark stone shape I'd snatched from the one I'd killed, who had still been clutching it after presumably taking it off the temple guardian.

There was a pretty good chance they were planning to use it to entice us into fighting, based on those tree claws they were pretty strong, and fighting the three of them together might have been tough. We'd gotten lucky.

"You think you've beaten me, then?" He said mockingly. "We told you earlier. The trees of the Primal Silence Forest grow fat on blood and bone." He gestured, and the claws dove forward, one digging deep to reach the body of the one I'd killed and one smashing down into the area below Holly and Serah where the pieces of their opponent had fallen.

There was an eerie howl as the sky begin to darken, clouds filling the sky above us as a cold wind whipped the air. Bloody lines began to crawl up the dark trees, twisting into symbols I didn't recognize. The same lines traced their way up the hands and forearms of the horned man. We all faced him grimly.

The man began to chant, and as he did the symbols brightened, becoming almost painful to look at. "And in the darkest shadowed glade, wait all the wild's jagged blades, the hungry teeth and claws of beasts, poised for the forest's crimson feast. All living things become their food, now victims of the Wild Wood."

As he spoke, the trees began to warp and change, jagged thorns bursting forth from the black wood, each glowing with a bloody light. As we watched, they began to shift and move in disturbing patterns, almost like.

"Great." Said my sister in annoyance. "Giant haunted chainsaw tree hands. Because that seems fair."

With a cry of primal victory, the horned man sent the clawed hands shooting up at the two flying members of our party. Chelsea roared with outrage and smashed out at them with a wave of purifying flame, but the power wasn't dense enough to cut through what I was pretty sure was an S-ranked Bloodline ability.

The flames withered a few thorns, but there was far too much of the bloody power imbued into the plants for her to overcome, after all, these trees were powered by the blood sacrifice of two E-rankers.

But she wasn't the only one with that particular gift. Or even the strongest. I let Mephistopheles fade away, and called for my newest form. Zagan.

My hair blazed up in blinding green flame, and I raised my staff, concentrating the fire in the same way I would for Cosmic Collapse. Of course, I had to use Piece of Mind to fix the imagery on the fly, because Zagan had no combat capability, at least not directly. This wasn't going to be a harmful attack.

I packed all the green flame into an orb of pure life force and purifying power, the mental image of a green life giving sun burning in my mind as I prepared the attack. Then I triggered an ability I hadn't used in a very long time. Double Trouble.

Vanishing, I reappeared behind the horned man, leaving an illusory image of me standing in my place, and I thrust the staff forward, aiming not just at him but at the hands that the angels were even now warding off with flaming weapons. I thrust my staff forward into the bubble, piercing it and smashing into the other side to release a wave of verdant fire.

This wasn't cosmic collapse, it was a new technique, and it needed a new name. It came to my lips without prompting as I unleashed the strike. "Life Nova." I declared loudly.

A wedge shaped wave of green flame streaked with silvery white tongues of fire consumed the area in front of me, the horned man, my teammates, and even my sister. But I wasn't worried at all. Life Nova was the power of life and purification. I felt it burn away the bloody madness of the primeval wood from the trees and from the horned man, even as it repaired and rejuvenated my teammates.

The man himself, who had been so infused with terrible power, toppled over, motionless and unconscious from having his crimson energy stripped away.

I stood in my strongest form, smiling brilliantly at the others, thrilled with what I'd done. Using Zagan felt GOOD. It didn't hurt, it only healed. Most fights were won by attacking, but I'd chosen another way for this, and everyone in the audience would have seen it. I was proud of that. It wasn't something I could do every time I fought, but I could feel pride through my bond with Callie too.

My sister beamed at me. "That was something else." She said with a happy laugh. "I feel so…giddy. Like all my tiredness, even the mental stuff, was wiped away."

The sisters nodded. "It's…amazing." Said Holly with wonder. "I feel like I just got home from a month long vacation where all my worries drifted away. And I feel so strong. Like I could take on the world."

I was beginning to think my Life Nova might have been more effective than expected in terms of rejuvenation. I'd aimed that at my allies, so the horned man wouldn't benefit, but I was going to have to look into exactly what that ability did, because it seemed like it was a big deal. Letting Zagan fade, I let myself feel the tiredness the energy laden form had kept at bay. "Glad you guys liked it, but that kicked my ass. I'm going to need a few minutes."

They didn't argue, despite their obvious jittery demeanor after the power boost. I appreciated it, I was exhausted. After twenty minutes or so, we got back on the road, heading for the next temple up. We had two keys now, only ten to go. I wondered what the mountain would throw at us next.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

"Should we be leaving him alive?" Frowned Holly as we moved on from the temple, leaving the horned man (whose name I still hadn't bothered to learn) behind. "I mean, we killed all his friends, if he comes after us…"

Aside from not wanting to stain my victory with his blood after showing how easily I crushed someone at that level, I had my reasons for leaving him alive, though. "Nope. He's not getting up for quite some time. Stashing him in the empty temple will make it more likely he gets through this alright, and I want to demonstrate our power."

Chelsea nodded. "It's not a bad idea. Showing we're so much stronger than he is that we didn't even need to hurt him to beat him is a hell of a statement." She grimaced. "That wasn't a pun." She clarified. "Or not an intentional one."

"Coward." Sniffed Serah stoically. "Intend your puns."

"Right." My sister said blandly. "Anyway, by overpowering him and leaving him alive, we show dominance. Plus assuming he doesn't wake up in time to follow us, outside the games he can't do anything. We're surrounded by powerful people, and trying to bring factions into it would be even stupider."

Left unsaid was that he represented an S-rank bloodline, and it would be even stupider to piss off an S-ranker for no reason. Zeke couldn't protect me from the Primal Pain Druid, and while I was sure my maternal grandfather would step in if an S-ranker was going to murder me and turn me into a screaming tree, I was equally sure most other people didn't know that, so it probably wasn't as big of a deterrent as I might hope.

Regardless, leaving him alive was the smart call. There were no real downsides, given he wouldn't be able to catch up to us before this ended. Hell, leaving him alive was enough of a favor he might not even try. He didn't strike me as one of those crazy prideful young master types like Pietro had been.

As we approached the next temple up, all of us stopped a little ways out. We'd learned our lesson before, and we needed to be careful going into a situation like this. "Hold on." I said putting up a hand. "I have an idea."

Reaching into my mind, I triggered an ability I hadn't used in ages. Shadow Clone. Another version of me appeared right next to me, and I used Piece of Mind, dropping a version of my brain into it. I had it trigger Eye of Revelation, and grinned as I was able to perceive…some of what I wanted.

The clone was an old stored attack Callie had given me at either F or G-rank, and was therefore absurdly fragile. If Eye of Revelation had placed any burden on the body it would have collapsed.

It gave me a nod, then took off for the temple to do a lap around it, identifying any possible traps or ambushed, not to mention making sure we were alone.

Not for the first time I wished I could tap into Callie's actual ability through the bond, but while Skills worked fine, ability sharing didn't seem viable at the point we were at in our connection. I paid close attention to the clone, up until a squirrel noticed it creeping around and chucked an acorn at it.

An E-ranked squirrel, throwing an E-ranked acorn. The clone was pulverized, vanishing in a shower of dust. "Damn. It died." I said with a grimace. "But it managed to get a decent look around. Nothing nearby, I say we open the door and then send another one in to scope out the inside."

With a nod, we crept closer, and Holly moved in to lever the door open. I closed my eyes, repeating my clone process, and then sent my clone inside. "So…" Said Holly after we'd been waiting a minute. "That fight was pretty intense."

Serah shook her head. "We had that fight in a temple. Not in tents."

"Why are you so fixated on bad puns right now?" Snapped Holly. "I miss the damned knock knock jokes. Though admittedly, it wasn't as bad as your mime phase. I don't think mimes even count as comedy."

The copper haired angel shrugged. "They make people laugh." She said flatly.

"One, that's a wildly optimistic take on mimes." Said her sister. "And two, that's a really broad definition of comedy. What's next, puppetry?" Serah's face seemed to somehow convey contemplation without changing her expression, and Holly closed her eyes in pained regret. "Oh, please don't become a puppeteer."

I raised my hand. "Seconded. I find puppets creepy for…personal reasons." I shuddered at the memory of Saint Aiden and his creepy brainwashing operation. Heartrippers still creeped me out, even at E-rank. "Anyway, you were saying something about the fight Holly?"

"Oh, right." She said, shaking her head to clear it. "I was just going to say maybe you're not as weak as I expected. I'm sure you know candidates aren't exactly known for personal power. You guys have a rep as being a liability without your hangers on. So…sorry." She shrugged. "I may have had a small attitude when you first joined up, but we're cool now." She stuck out her hand.

I shook it, nodding my acceptance of the apology. "I get it. You didn't leave me hanging in battle, so I don't mind a little snapping at the start." I froze. "One second, clone got something finally, and…now it's dead."

"What was it?" Asked my sister in concern. "Did you get a good look?"
I chuckled. "Ironically, I almost didn't specifically because of the type of clone I used. I caught a slight flash though. Some kind of shadow creature. The temple looked empty to start, so we'll have to be careful. Even my Eye of Revelation didn't catch it, though admittedly it doesn't benefit from the crown when I'm not using it personally."

"I'd wondered why you were wearing that." Holly said with a laugh. "I kind of figured you just had a giant ego like the rest of the candidates."

I snorted. "Ridiculous. I'm extremely humble. Perhaps the most humble person in the entire universe." Serah gave a small snort, and I nodded at the comedian angel, happy to have my jokes appreciated. I'd try to laugh next time she told a bad pun.

"So how do we approach this?" I asked, gesturing to the temple. "Holly, your whole light thing might be able to weaken or even kill it. What are the limits on that?"

She shrugged. "I'm an angel of illumination. It's…kind of a job? It's complicated. Short answer, not many limitations under these circumstances. I can do more specific things that would drain me, but just shining really bright doesn't take much effort. Hurting a creature made of shadows might take more, but I should be able to do it."

"So to be clear." Said Serah. "We should go in guns blazing?" I chuckled a bit, and Holly glared at me for encouraging her.

Chelsea just rolled her eyes. "Yes. Holly crank the voltage, I'll hit the thing with purification flame. Shane, I don't suppose your green fire form would work here? The output was nuts, and that might come in handy."

"It would work on YOU." I clarified. "But shadows aren't corrupt or anything. Purification isn't going to do much. The light of the flames might, but your white flame is probably better for that anyway. Zagan is completely support oriented, that's why it's so powerful. Your fire is much more versatile."

She sighed. "Fine. Do your defense thing and cover Holly then. Serah's copper flame will probably work too. We can both attack."

I was dreadfully curious about exactly what Serah's power was, but I didn't bother to ask. We had a plan, I could question their abilities later. Chelsea obviously knew, and since she did I trusted her to decide if it would be helpful here.

With that in mind, I triggered Mornax, becoming a hyper durable stone edifice and stepped through the door first, taking slow steps to ensure my form didn't break. Once I entered, there was no reaction for a moment, and then an unearthly screech erupted from the darkness around us.

Before whatever it was could attack, Holly stepped in and erupted in golden illumination, flames climbing her golden sword and spitting from her eyes. The blinding light shoved back the darkness, revealing the monster to us all.

I grimaced at the sight of it. It looked like some kind of freakish ape monster with a bat face and porcupine quills. Its eyes were blood red, and it bared a mouth full of FAR too many needle sharp teeth at us as it came into view. Before it could move though, a wave of white flame rolled across the chamber, coming from my sister, and consumed it.

Serah flapped her wings once and shot straight up, then used the elevation to dive bomb the monster as Chelsea pulled back her fire wave.

The…thing. Monkbatpine? Screamed at Chelsea, its eyes alight with rage (though unfortunately not with actual fire, it seemed to have only gotten superficial burns). It was so furious it missed Serah bringing her scythed down from above, hooking its point into the thing's back and yanking forward, raking the edge through its flesh.

She backed off as it lashed out, slipping to the side and hooking its arm, pulling hard so the inner edge would lop off the limb before swiping at it to try to use the hook to disembowel the monster.

It was a bit too fast, but it was also very distracted, so it didn't notice my sister circle around and unload a blistering combination of punches into its back, explosions of flame wracking its body as it screamed in hate and rage. It tried to spin, but Serah had seen the action and interposed her scythe, hooking it around the neck of the monster.

As it turned, it opened its own throat on the razor sharp copper weapon, so deep I could see bone. It stumbled back, Serah moving aside but sticking out a foot to trip it as it stumbled to the floor, clutching its heavily bleeding throat.

Brackish blood pumped out onto the floor, a sickly dark green color. Looking down at it almost sadly, Serah stabbed the butt end of her scythe into its eye, killing it.

Stepping forward, my sister searched its body clinically before withdrawing the key. "I think we're getting the hang of this." She said with a low sigh. "We should be able to get through this if we take our time. I just hope we make it to the top fast enough." Glancing around, she shook her head. "Let's move on. We can't afford too many delays."

We all agreed, and we set off again towards the top of the mountain. With my clones and our various damage abilities I was confident we could make good progress as long as we planned things out.

This game had just started though. There were plenty of other people in this thing, some from the same factions who were grouped up like we were.

Whatever was coming up, we'd be ready for it. As we advanced, I let my eyes trail over the various paths and the other temples in the distance. They all looked so imposing and mysterious. I wondered if the guardians would be as challenging and dangerous as they had been so far, or if this was just the beginning.

In the distance, I spotted movement, but it quickly faded before I could actually put my Perception to use. I tightened my grip on my staff as we approached the next temple. Then I called up another clone and inserted a piece of my mind. Like my sister had said, take it slow. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. We had to be the first ones to the top, but I wasn't going to rush it.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

We continued on our trek, getting through seven more temples in record time. On the upside we'd sailed through the fights pretty easily, perfectly utilizing our abilities…and on the downside, I was now out of clones. I'd only had eight left (though two in reserve from Callie that I'd never ended up collecting since I had the full ten) and we'd had to use an extra on the sixth temple because one got eaten before I could see what the guardian was (it was a giant carnivorous plant).

Now we were at the eleventh temple, and we had no way of looking inside. I'd tried to use the bond to make a clone, but they were blocking it somehow, which made sense, because these games were at the universal faction level, so they were bound to have countermeasures for things like that.

My only real relief was that I could still feel Callie in my head. I knew if the emotional aspect of the bond got severed she'd have panicked, since neither of us had any warning.

"So…" My sister said lamely as we watched the temple. "You have no way to look inside? Because that's been working really well for us."

I shrugged. "Nope. I mean, Callie made those clones with Shadow Manipulation, it's not like I have…" I trailed off, my eyes widening. "One second, let me try something." I looked around for a nearby patch of ground, then triggered Pit of Despair. Focusing hard, I employed Dust Construction, condensing a version of my own body out of dust.

The process only took a second…and then there was a statue of me sitting in a hole. I cursed, trying it again. I went through about five variation before I figured out I needed a Piece of Mind parallel active and constantly using Dust Construction to prevent it from setting, on top of creating one to actually direct the clone.

I grinned triumphantly as the other me hopped energetically out of the hole, shooting the rest of us a thumbs up before he loped off towards the temple. In fact, this was much better, because this clone could actually open the door himself. As he approached, the others turned to glare at me.

"What?" I said innocently. "I didn't realize I could do that. My power is complicated, ok? It does a lot of stuff."

In fact, learning I could make dust clones was actually very interesting. It was exhausting to do, but there were ways to mitigate that. Specifically, if I made a form for Dust Construction and clone creation. The idea of an army of statues running around was VERY intriguing, especially given my Mornax form's resemblance to the clone I'd just made.

Along with a possible stealth form, that was two new form ideas I'd have to look into when I had some free time.

As I watched, from both up close and afar (it was a weird sensation, no matter how many times I did it) the clone approached and levered open the door. I noted how easy it was to keep the Dust Construction up, despite the widening distance, with a smile. The parallel inside the clone was operating the Skill, and since it was ME and had access to my Skills, there was no delay or strain from the gap.

The clone was able to get the large doors open easily enough, it was made from E-ranked materials, but I knew I couldn't count on that being the case every time. Something to consider for the future.

Because the clone was so much better, my Perception was able to shine, and the combination with my Eye of Revelation worked much more effectively. As I poked my stone head in, I practically felt like I was there in person, and I scanned the temple carefully looking for any sign of an opponent.

I found one, though not in the way I expected. "There's a cat in there." I said bluntly, staring through stone eyes at the seemingly perfectly normal feline.

Well, normal for a given definition of that word. Cats are sadistic and bloodthirsty beasts, even if occasionally cute ones. This one was grooming itself lazily, sitting on top of a glass box with the key in it.

Its fur was a burnished gold, and it had tufted ears and a surprisingly long tail with a little ball of fuzz on the end. I described the scene to my twin and the two angel sisters, and discovered that Chelsea and Serah were glaring at me dangerously. I cocked my head, showing I was confused about what they wanted.

"We're not going to murder a kitty cat." My sister said acidly. "We'll go to a different temple."

I rolled my eyes. "We can't, we're too far up the mountain. It's a miracle this one isn't crawling with other contestants. I don't want to hurt the cat either, but it's a guardian. There's no way it's just a normal cat. Here, watch, I'll show you." I focused on my clone as the parallel controlling it moved it closer to the cat.

It made no attempt to be stealthy, just strolled up to it nonchalantly. "Hey there bud." The other me said cheerfully. "That's a neat looking box you've got there." The stone hand reached for it. "Mind if I take a lo-" And then my clone died.

Or rather, my clone was smashed into dust, because you can't kill a statue, mobile or otherwise. In fact, I could even still see, since Eye of Revelation was present before the statue was destroyed. Which turned out to be a suboptimal situation, because the cat casually hopped down and strolled over to the pile of dust that used to be me. I dismissed the parallel before I had to suffer the indignity of being used as a litter box.

"Fucking cats." I spat spitefully. "It killed the clone. I think it's bigger than it looks, in the split second before it got me I saw the paw enlarge. So yes, it's dangerous, and it wants to hurt us. And I'm not letting myself get disemboweled because you think cats are cute." I glared at her. "You've been spending too much time with Bethy."

She huffed. "Well I'm not attacking a kitty. Even if I hadn't been spending time with Bethy, that just feels wrong. Would you want to attack a puppy if it was guarding that key? I know you aren't a cat person, but it's the same thing."

Holly shrugged. "I'm not one for cats either. So I'm good either way. But Serah loves them, and if you try to hurt it you might have to fight HER. She even has a pair of fake cat ears that she wears around the ho-" Her voice was cut off by the formerly stoic copper haired angel's hand as she blushingly glared at her sister.

"That's personal!" She hissed dangerously. "And yes, if you try to hurt that kitty I won't just stand idly by. So you'd better think of another way to deal with it." Her face closed off again, going back to her normal stoic demeanor. "I am sure you will manage flawlessly. You've proven yourself quite capable up to this point."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "I saw that little tone shift. But fine, I just so happen to have another plan. What is that cats hate more than anything?" I activated Moonlit Night in a small area around us, since I couldn't use Stealth without the bond.

"The happiness of others?" Holly asked dryly.

I didn't bother to hide my snicker at that as Serah turned to glare at her sister. "Close, but no, I was talking about something a bit less abstract."

"Oh!" Chelsea said excitedly. "Baths! Cats hate baths!" Holly turned to look at her, and she shrugged helplessly. "It's a Bethy thing. You start coming up with weird answers to questions more easily when you're around her long enough. You'll get it when you meet her."

Nodding, I acknowledged the point. "Accurate, and also what I was thinking. Yes, cats hate baths. So what if I used Pit of Despair to turn the entire floor of that temple into dust. The cat would be so panicked by the change it wouldn't notice me manually using the dust to push the box with the key out the door."

"That's a great idea!" She said excitedly. "But…can you even DO that?" She glanced toward the temple. "That's a lot of floor. And isn't doing a ton of work with that stuff really hard for you?"

It actually was. I grimaced, referencing the distances I'd been seeing from the clone before it died. "Maybe not." I admitted. "But it doesn't need to be the whole floor. I can just do a big area around the cat and then a canal leading to the door. The distraction should still work. I can even use the dust to harry and restrain the cat while I work."

Admittedly that would be much more feasible. I could use Piece of Mind to micromanage a bunch of smaller patches of dust. Overpowering Pit of Despair would be tough, but I had a really solid amount of Might now, so it should be doable.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly made my way toward the temple, gesturing for the others to stay back. Holly shook her head, following me, and when I hissed at her to get back, she shook it again. "Once this is done you'll be exhausted." She whispered. "I'll need to get you out of there."

That was a good point, so I let her follow. When I reached the door, I planted a hand on the stone of the temple, and then triggered Pit of Despair and Piece of Mind both multiple times. The strain hit me like a runaway shuttle, but I ignored it, focusing on the cat and the key.

Beneath the lazy feline, the ground suddenly shifted to dust. It let out an alarmed yowl as it dropped into the dust, and I saw the substance shift as something much bigger took its place. But I'd planned for that, and there was still plenty of room. Three of my parallels operated Dust Construction, using the massive dust pool to try to restrain the beast, as a fourth carefully pulled the box along a subtle current of dust toward us.

As I'd hoped, the cat was FAR too distracted and pissed off to bother keeping track of the box. It felt like an hour keeping everything going, but eventually, the box with the key pushed up out of the dust. I shoved hard with my parallels, pushing the cats head above the dust before I let it all drop and the ground hardened again.

The massive head of a terrifying feline beast erupted, whipping around until it saw me, but it didn't matter. As soon as I grabbed the box, Holly grabbed ME under the arms and beat her wings. I heard the explosion of stone as the cat ripped free, but I was already gone when its oversized paw darted out of the opening to slap down where I'd been standing like it would have caught the tail of a mouse.

I laughed uproariously as it yowled and swatted, but it didn't seem to be able to actually leave the temple (probably to prevent the monsters from getting out and butchering all the contestants.

When we landed, I tossed the box to my sister before sitting down to catch my breath, letting the extreme soul strain fade. Still, I was pretty damned proud of myself. Only one more key to go and then we'd be at the peak. I was just worried someone might beat us there. Then again, maybe I had other problems, after all, I needed to win and only one person could. I knew Chelsea would let me use the keys, but what about the angels? Only time would tell.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

I grimaced as we approached the final temple. "Shit." I said succinctly. "Should have guessed." We stopped at a small copse of what looked like olive trees a few hundred feet down the mountain. To my Eye of Revelation, the forms of about a dozen other contestants were clearly outline against the grass and shrubs between us and the temple. "There's twelve of them up there. Doesn't seem like they're all together, they're in a few groups."

"Think this is everyone left?" My sister asked with a grimace, trying to spot them herself. I saw a quick flare of light in her eyes and blinked in shock when I realized she was purifying her vision to sharpen it. I hadn't known she could do that. It was an interesting technique I'd need to remember.

I shrugged in response to her question. "I don't know, but probably not. There were a lot of paths, makes sense the final ring of temples would be set up to cause a big collision"

"Perhaps we could attempt to fly over the peak." Said Serah consideringly. "Study the temples and see how many ended up at each? I'm not sure if we'll meet resistance at the top, but it would be best to be prepared."

I shook my head emphatically. "No way. This is a race based on hitting checkpoints. There's no chance they don't have countermeasures against people just flying up to the top. I'd be shocked if you even made it halfway. We just need to hurry. If this is supposed to be a big free for all, chances are good all the players aren't even here yet, best chance of winning is to get in and out before they arrive."

"Any chance you have a plan?" Chelsea asked me hopefully.

Snorting, I gestured up the mountain at the various subforces. "Based on what? The shapes of their ear lobes? Which I can't even see at this distance because they've all got head gear on and are facing away from us? No, I have no plan."

Serah, who had been looking seriously up the mountain, made a small hum of curiosity. "Maybe you could use your earth power again. Make a slide that drops them into the ground and carries them down the mountain."

"Sure." I said reasonably. "Or maybe I could jump up the slope in slow motion and punch the ground so hard they're vaporized by the shockwaves. Because that would be way easier than what you just suggested. It's not like we're on a snowy peak, we can't just start an ava-" I trailed off. "You know…I might have a plan."

Grinning, my sister glanced up the mountain. "Can you do that?" She asked after she puzzled out what I was thinking from my dropped sentence. "That's a lot of dirt."

"Not as much as you'd think." I disagreed. "I mean, it won't be as tough as what I did in the temple. I'm not going to be controlling the dust. Just making like…a slide. The stuff is super fine, nearly no friction. I only need to do a small layer along the top of the ground. The trick will be doing a large enough section of the surface all at once, but I can push through that. The question becomes can you all take advantage of the distraction. Remember, we learned from the cat temple we don't need to defeat them, just beat them to the key."

Chelsea looked excited. "I can blanket the area in flame as a distraction while Holly and Serah fly right in and get the key. If Holly blinds the guardian with light, assuming it's not immune or something, Serah can dart in and capture the key."

"Perfect." I said with a laugh. "I just need a few minutes before we start." My head was still banging away. I was preparing to push through the pain, when I felt something odd. It drained out of me.

I blinked, looking up toward where I knew the audience was. My soul strain…it was gone. Or rather, I still felt it, but not in me. It was in Callie now. I knew she could help offset the strain of doing things, but I hadn't been aware she could just TAKE it from me like that. Whatever they did to block the bond hadn't stopped it either, though that wasn't a shock. Skills had trouble with soul stuff most of the time.

With the newly unburdened state of my head, I was able to gather myself to prepare for the attack. But before I did, I had to bring up the elephant in the room. "I need to win this." I said quietly. "Are you guys going to let me?"

Holly and Serah turned to look at me. One inscrutable and one coldly interested. They seemed to be waiting, because they said nothing as my sister turned around. "What?" She said in surprise. "I thought that was the plan all along." She turned to the angels. "Were you two planning to win?"

Laughing, Holly shook her head. "We're under orders to help you." She said bluntly. "A favor from the Radiant Pope is worth more than a bit of renown, even on the universal stage. "We were under the impression you were going to win, but if you think he should, that's fine."

"See." Said my sister loftily. "It's fine. Have you been worried about that the whole time? You're kind of dumb sometimes, Shane."

I rolled my eyes. "Noted. But that was all I needed to know. I have an idea of how I can minimize the strain for this and maybe produce a better effect. Nobody talk for a minute." I shook my head, trying to strangle the fond smile I had on my face before I closed my eyes.

Mapping out the distance, I'd realized that it was going to be a rough time, even if I was just doing a thin layer. I was essentially going to be dissolving several tons of earth. Pit of Despair was made for decently large areas, but not THAT large. After a minute of thinking though, I realized what I was really doing.

I was DESTROYING a bunch of dirt and rocks and grass. I was grinding them all to dust. Converting and then deconverting them was useful most of the time because it let me make traps and restrain people, but I didn't need to go through all that trouble this time. I wanted to break them and let them stay broken.

And I just so happened to have a form that was excellent at breaking things. I triggered Mephistopheles, then focused on the area I wanted affected. It was large still, but having changed my perspective, it was less daunting. I didn't need to work a massive amount of dirt with dust construction, I just needed to carpet bomb the slope with my destructive energy.

Belial actually might have been better, but that wouldn't work fast enough. Belial's corrosion was a slow creeping thing, and someone would notice.

By shifting into my Mephistopheles form though, I changed the game. Because I wasn't using a move, I was using a TECHNIQUE. Techniques, unlike normal abilities, mobilized the power of a Path, and mine was downright ridiculous in its scope of application.

This would have been easier if I'd had a form for Dust Construction like I'd been toying with earlier, but destruction would work fine.

In my head, I started creating the images. I told the story I needed, and how it related to Mephistopheles. How the demon came to rain destruction on the world, and the ground itself ran like water and swept away his enemies in an earthly flood. Pit of Despair even fit the narrative theme wise.

Reaching out over the slope, I focused on what I wanted, on how my Path could bring it into being, and then I cast my newest technique. The name just came to me, and I didn't have time to really consider the meaning other than intoning it aloud. "Damnatio Memoriae."

I struck the ground in front of us with my staff, and a wave of black flames roared out, rolling along the ground for about a square mile in the shape I'd envisioned before sinking into the mountain. The ground around us began to rumble, and in the blink of an eye, the huge section I'd covered turned to ultra fine dust, and it all began to slide down the slope.

Not being an idiot, I'd shaped my technique to leave a wedge of solid rock in front of us, starting where I struck the ground, and so all the dust flowed around us to either side. The enemies probably would have reacted, but before they could, a fucking FIRESTORM of pure white flame consumed everything above the dust flows.

I staggered, catching myself on my staff, drained more than I'd expected, but still grinning fiercely. The angels took wing, ascending with two massive flaps to gain air and then gliding toward the temple.

"That was nuts." Gritted out my sister. "I can't believe you're strong enough to do something like that."

I shook my head. "I cheated." I said breathlessly. "Pit of Despair only does one thing. I just supercharged it with destruction flames. I'm probably never going to be able to use that technique for anything ever again. It literally ONLY functions in this exact situation."

Being able to create giant swathes of slippery mountain wasn't exactly an impressive move in most situations. I was almost skeptical it was worth the trouble it had taken to create that technique, but Chelsea just chuckled, shaking her head. "You think any of THEM know that?" She asked rhetorically, chucking her chin up at the invisible audience. "They just saw you smack the ground and wash away a dozen powerful Ascendants."

"Takes one to know one, my one mile firestorm." I said with a laugh. "That one isn't going to fade from memory anytime soon.. Though speaking of memory, here comes the angels with the thing we were here for." I nodded up to the sky, where a pair of shining forms swept toward us.

Laughing, my sister held out a hand, and a jagged black shape dropped from above, spinning down to slap into her palm. She tossed it to me and I grinned as I stashed it in my ring. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" I crowed. "That's number twelve. Let's get to the top."

Chelsea nodded slowly. "Well yeah, but like…how?" She gestured up the still flowing slope, the very tops of which was showing big empty spaces where the dust had fled.

Laughing, I gestured up at the angels. "Have them each grab an arm. They should be able to carry you wherever. Meanwhile, I'll go ahead and take the keys up to the peak myself. Remember not to go up toward the summit, there's probably defenses anywhere past the temple." Flying low to the ground before the temple had been a calculated risk, but it had worked out, no point in tempting fate.

"You're going on alone?" She asked worriedly. "That makes sense, but…what if someone is up there?"

I shrugged. "Then I fight. But I think I can beat them. This little trap would have stopped anyone else dead. It would take hours to fight through a crowd or negotiate a passage. As long as I hurry, I should be the first."

And with that, after making sure I had all twelve keys, I triggered Ripple Running and took off, bounding from one platform to the next, keeping close to the ground as I let State of Grace carry me in long, low arcs. Once I passed the still failing slope, I hit the ground at a run, State of Grace pushing me onward.

I bolted up the mountain at my fastest speed, blood thundering in my ears and cape flowing behind me, and I couldn't help but grin. I was going to win, I was going to be the first. I reached the chest in record time, sliding to my knees in front of it and fumbling with the keys. I was so enthused I barely noticed my Danger Sense going off. Barely, but I still did, triggering Mornax in time to tank the massive black iron hammer head that smashed down on my skull.

Apparently I wasn't the first one up here. Standing up, I put away the keys and cracked my neck as I turned to face the huge hammer wielding man. "That." I said evenly. "Was unwise."One more obstacle to get through. I'd better make it quick.

 

[Malcolm Tent]

The big man with the hammer smirked down at me. "Not bad." He said in a rumbling voice. "I don't think I've ever seen someone just shrug off that blow before, especially not to the skull. That's a hell of a defensive Skill." He glanced at the ground behind me. "Don't bother." He said lazily. "If I couldn't crack it, your strike won't do the job either."

I looked at the spot he'd glanced at, and sure enough a green haired girl materialized from nothing behind me, or rather, from thin air, as she coalesced from the wind. She scowled at the man. "That's not how it works you lummox. My wind spirit pierce can punch through armor, and is much more concentrated. Just because your ridiculous mallet couldn't do the job, doesn't mean my attack wouldn't have finished him."

"You would have attacked while he was dazed if you thought it would work." He said unapologetically. Then he turned back to me. "You're pretty tough for Wyndham. I thought you were all supposed to be weaklings who hid behind meat shields."

The green haired girl smacked her own forehead. "You aren't supposed to SAY things like that. Have some tact."

With a shrug, the man dismissed her concerns. "Whatever. You earned my name before I crack that eggshell you've got going. I'm Albert Brody, from the Iron Pumping Temple, and the gnat is one of those sneaks from the Spirit Breeze Convocation."

"My NAME." She spat. "Is Gwendolyn, you walking bucket of flop sweat. I refuse to be condescended to by one of you pea brained hammer jockeys."

He just rolled his eyes. "Brains are overrated. People think too much. Anything makes sense if you whack it hard enough. That's why our Iron Body Sage is considered one of the most powerful physical combatants in S-rank. Now, since we've got the introductions out of the way, we should get back to the fight. More people will show up soon, and if I have to crush too many of you at once I might slip up."

Without waiting for a response, he whirled his giant hammer above his head and began to rain blows down on me. It was…impressive. When I'd commented on his size, I hadn't mean in comparison to me. I'd meant in general.

Albert Brody was about nine feet tall and probably ten across. His muscles had muscles, and the colossal hammer, whose head was about the size of coffee table, blurred and warped the air, creating explosions of concussive force as it made contact with my reinforced body.

He unleashed a torrent of hammer strikes, hitting me so quickly and brutally that my stone form actually started heating up from the friction, but regardless of how brutally he wailed on me, nothing was able to even budge me.

Mornax didn't do anything in terms of offense. It had zero use for utility. It was, however, nearly an unbreakable defense at the E-rank. Between my enhanced Impact, Mountain Stance's blanket increase, and the additional density of the stone form, it would pretty much take a D-ranker to break it, regardless of the sheer amount of Might you were using.

After a few minutes, Albert stumbled back, wheezing, and let the hammer fall to the ground with a thump, glaring at me. "That's cheating." He panted. "You're not even attacking me, you're just standing there."

Which was…actually a great point. Turning away from him, I bent over the chest, and ignored his outrage as I started to fit keys into locks.

Sadly, it was bound to be harder than that. "Stop hitting him from above you dunce." Sniped the acidic assassin. "Notice when he turned he kept one of his feet in contact with the ground at all times? He's got some sort of earth bond Skill going. His durability is beyond your strength to break, but I bet if you knock him off his feet the Skill will break."

My eyes widened as I felt my formerly dormant Danger Sense scream at me, signifying he'd taken her advice. I spun, letting Mornax break, and used Double Trouble as I switched to Mephistopheles, appearing behind the assassin.

My staff flashed out, an explosion of black flame consuming the spot she'd just been standing in, but she'd returned to the wind. I heard a tinkling laugh along the breeze. "Sorry, but I don't want to give up the win either. Why don't you two focus on each other. I'm sure I'll be far too scared to try to stab one of you in the back."

Snarling, I triggered Mephisto's Waltz, moving myself out of position just as a hammer swept through the spot my ribs had just occupied. I ate the distance, appearing behind Albert, and unleashed a blast at his back.

Which did nothing. At all. The flames just washed over him harmlessly. I cursed, dodging the next attack. I tried to plant my feet for Mornax again, but he'd learned his lesson, and wouldn't let up, raining down hammer blows again.

"You think fire can harm an initiate of the Iron Pumping Temple?" He guffawed. "Fire forges iron. We have our muscles beaten into shape with the most extreme heat. I felt a bit of a sting, so that must be special flame, but it's far from enough to hurt me. Now stand still and let me smash you, little man."

His teeth were bared in a bloodthirsty grin, his red eyes surrounded by rings of white as he stared fixedly around. His hair was pitch black and untamed, wild sideburns leading down to a thick beard. The whole picture presented a terrifying pressure, like some legendary berserker of old.

I ignored it, focusing on my staff as I waltzed. Specifically, on the slowly growing ball of flames. Cosmic Collapse was my next move. I needed to hit him with something that could penetrate his apparently fire tempered muscles. If the normal flame wouldn't work, I'd have to use my technique.

Unfortunately, I could tell it would take a LOT. Not a normal Cosmic Collapse, but a supercharged version of my finisher, and extra charge meant extra time. I kept an eye out for Gwendolyn too. The second I struck she would jump on me, so I had to make sure not to overcommit.

The problem was, Albert's Might was MUCH higher than mine. His strikes were firing off at absurd speeds, and I suspected if that hammer wasn't heavier than most BUILDINGS I'd lived in, I'd already be a fly on a windshield.

Mephisto's Waltz was barely letting me keep ahead, and only because I was cheating terribly. The waltz was more like teleportation than a movement skill, and having a Solid Path made my techniques exponentially more effective and flexible than someone at my rank should be capable of. Everything had limits though, and I was approaching mine.

Albert's smile became annoyed. "This is getting boring." I watched in fear as an image of a titanic peak appeared behind him, condensing down around him. Then another, and another. I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to be able to see what he was doing, but my Eye of Revelation made it visible. Combined with the terrified shriek of my Danger Sense, I realized that I needed to MOVE. Now.

As the images of the mountains flashed faster, he raised his weapon and bellowed. "HUNDRED MOUNTAIN HAMMER!" And then brought it down like a headsman's axe on the mountain top where we stood.

I was already off the ground, my waltz carrying me up an ascending staircase of Ripple Running platforms. I pushed the technique as hard as I could, trying to get high enough to avoid the impact that was definitely coming. I managed to get a few hundred feet up, and I let State of Grace take me as the hammer impacted the ground, and a cacophonous boom shook the whole mountain as the big man's strike SPLIT the fucking mountain in HALF.

Or it seemed like that. In reality he'd just cracked off a big chunk that fell down the side, tearing a huge furrow down the slope as it slid towards the bottom. Still, it had been a building sized chunk of an E-rank mountain. I was suitably terrified.

Gwendolyn, however. was not. She appeared behind the swaying giant and drove a pair of green steel daggers into the base of his spine, near his kidneys. Albert roared and lashed out at her, but she dissolved and flashed out of reach. The giant of a man toppled forward, into the massive wake left by his boulder attack, and just slid down the furrow after it, sucked along in the stream of still collapsing dirt.

Looking at her handiwork, Gwendolyn grinned in satisfaction… until I triggered Double Trouble again and appeared right behind her, executing the still condensing Cosmic Collapse I'd been building up since this started.

I saw her body shift partially to air before it detonated, but it wasn't fast enough, she screamed, blasted off the peak and hitting the ground in the same furrow she'd just pushed Albert into, her semi corporeal form swept into the dirt wake MUCH faster than his has been. Using Eye of Revelation, I checked for any stragglers, then, with a grin, strolled over to the chest.

The circular chunk of mountain under the chest was sticking out of the cliff formed by Alberts attack. I had to whistle at its effectiveness. It had been a technique, not a Skill, based on those images I'd seen. It made sense a peak E-ranker from an S-rank faction would have a path, even if it seemed to be an Illusionary one.

I inserted the keys, still wary of backstabs, but none came. I was pretty sure I'd seriously injured Gwendolyn, but she would be fine. It was tough to kill an E-ranker if you didn't end them in one shot, and worst case I would offer to use Zagan to fix her up and collect a favor from her faction.

Finishing my insertion of the last key, I twisted it sharply, and the lid of the box sprung open. There was a massive shudder in the ground, and a booming voice echoed out over the mountain, calling the end of the games. I reached into the chest, lifting out a tiny, stuffed version of me in full costume, and rolled my eyes at the game masters as I put it away. I was sure Callie would love it.

Turning, I found a doorway hanging in the air next to me, and I shrugged, stepping through it and out of the arena. To my surprise, I came out into the box where my family waited, most likely interference on my grandfather's part, and I was mobbed by excited shouts and congratulations.

I laughed and accepted the kudos, even Benny seemed thrilled for me, though he'd been a bit distant since my ultimatum.

"Well." Said my mother with a brilliant smile. "That was exciting. You made quite an impression down there. I'd expect some serious gains in terms of stats over the next few months. Well done, Shane."

My grandfather hooted with laughter. "I wish I could've seen the look on Iron Body's face when his brat got shivved in the back. And that pompous twit Mariana from the convocation never shuts up about her grandaughter's Wind Spirit Transformation. I'm glad none of ours were up there with you."

My mother glared at him half-heartedly, but I saw a small smile on her lips. I just laughed hugging my fiancee as the others started babbling on about all the moves I'd used. I was exhausted, even after Callie took that first soul strain away. My head hurt, my body hurt, my Path hurt somehow. I'd pushed myself further in this fight than I ever had before. But still, looking down into the arena at the towering mountain we'd been placed on, I couldn't be anything but proud. I'd stood with the most powerful E-rankers in some of the most elite factions in the universe. Slowly but surely, I was finding my way to the top.