< < Collectible Relic > >

< Skyblue Pearl (Rare) — Thine eyes hold a power oft forlorn, oft forgotten to time, oft lost to conflict. An unclouded gaze is the key to a world of secrets and thine eyes are a gift from on high >

Adam sat atop his fused-together barriers, flying towards the centre of the Sanctuary with the Aristocrat's Relic in his right pocket next to the Lucky Stone. In his free hand he clutched the boss' heart, annoyed with himself for not bringing the Spidersilk Sack along.

The description of the pearl was odd. He had no idea how anyone was supposed to figure out that it was meant to go inside the hollow eye socket of a statue.

The last part of the text must be referring to the All-Seeing System. It itself said, "I am the sight you wield."

I don't understand what it means by 'unclouded gaze' though, but it almost feels like this Relic is hinting at something bigger than just some treasure map or whatever Emelia said was in the chamber.

Adam was high in the air, since he'd decided to grab the Rotmaker Idol on the way to the centre. From his vantage over the city and beyond its walls, he saw many groups of Forlorn soldiers, with the biggest one at the northern edge of the city.

"What's the timer at?" he asked the Eye which floated alongside him.

[8 minutes remaining.]

I need to hurry this up.

His flying barrier sled reached the crown of the great tree and he hopped off onto the top of the trunk from which the canopy's many branches protruded. After climbing through to the centre, he found the cocoon made of bark and vines. Its pale fleshy appearance was no less off-putting than last time, and the malevolent purple light pulsing from within felt truly evil.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Rotmaker Idol (Rare) — Turns a tree into a living monster for 30 seconds. Relic disappears after use >

I wonder how Emelia's fight with the Rotmaker went, he thought to himself as he stuffed the Relic in his back pocket and returned to his barrier hovering nearby.

She'd bet on the idea that turning the great tree into the Rotmaker would be what she needed to find the hidden weapon in the Stage.

Perhaps it isn't a weapon and she was just lied to? he considered as he took off on his barrier. Since she was only working off someone else's info, it could be wrong. After all, it didn't sound like Arturo had been the one to tell her what the last Secret was. It could be anything, and the Stage was too massive to sift through it all in 20 minutes.

Adam saw the disabled halberdier knight hobbling after the group of Elphin down at the northern end of the city.

I should kill off all the Forlorn outside the walls first, leaving just the captain and his entourage. Those soldiers will be harder to deal with once I trigger the boss by killing the last knight.

He flew west and aimed himself directly at a group of four soldiers that stood next to a hut like the one that'd had the Relic Chest. He'd noticed these huts during his last loop, but by then all the soldiers were gone, since they vanished when the last boss was defeated.

Adam made quick work of them after alighting in front of the hut, using his evolved barrier to devastating effect. He was getting better at controlling its insane speed by manoeuvring the folded 'needle' barrier in figure-eights as it pierced through the soldiers' heads.

When their soul essences flew into Adam's lantern, they summoned two wraiths that looked stronger than any that'd come before, with their features quite distinct and hardly any blur to them. Surprisingly, they were even less monstrous now, with their appearances looking almost alive. Their gaunt angular faces had more plump to them and the skin was far less pale, now almost a tinge golden. Even their purple-blue lips had turned reddish. Their screaming mouths were less demented as well. It was an odd detail and he wondered what would happen if he ended up filling the lantern with only powerful souls.

Not wanting to let them go to waste, he reshaped his barrier and shot off towards the next group of soldiers, pulling the wraiths along.

Just when he thought it might not work, the pair locked in on the six Forlorn and flew forward. In their wake the ground turned completely to ice, though Adam was spared.

He didn't even need to stop, since the wraiths quickly dispatched the soldiers. Unlike before, their attacks froze the enemies' bodies, turning their flesh and armour brittle. And once the Last Stand's Fervour triggered, it was game over for the Forlorn.

Since he was coming up on the captain's group, Adam flew over their heads towards the north-eastern part of the city's outskirts, where a group of five soldiers also stood by a hut.

Their deaths spawned another wraith, but this one vanished almost as soon as it realised there were no enemies to attack.

[5 minutes remaining,] the Eye announced.

Shit.

Adam flew back to the northern part of the city, quickly locating the halberdier. With his fused-together barriers, he formed a spinning sawblade that he quickly ran through the Forlorn Knight's neck.

< Choose your Upgrade >

The sound of the wailing horn filled the air. Then three loud explosions from nearby rocked his world, knocking him off his feet.

The northern wall was devastated from whatever they'd used to make the breaches and the last thirty-or-so soldiers surged towards him, the Forlorn Captain in the back.

"Return to the ritual site!" he told the Elphin as he got to his feet. "Tell the other defenders to protect Belamouranthe with their lives!"

Without question, the men and women ran off, though the archers on the walkways shot a few arrows towards the invaders before they left.

I don't think I missed anyone. Once I kill all the soldiers here along with the captain, I should be able to evolve my crown for the last time.

There were two essences already in his lantern, so he only needed three more kills to trigger the Relic. Fortunately, the soldiers were charging for him with no sense of self-preservation.

Adam launched the fused barrier forward to meet them, striking their heads with such momentum that the exit wound exploded their skulls. It moved with enough speed to even pierce their armour, but after killing three in a row, the accumulated damage was enough to crack the barrier completely and trigger Fervour.

Thanks to the multiplicative effects of the many speed buffs and the doubling effect of the fusion, the 25% boost from Fervour was more like a 100% addition on top of what was already something like 400% speed.

The barrier's passage through the air sounded like a zipping whistle that was interspersed with the crunch and pop of heads.

This is insane!

Shrieks filled the air as two wraiths were brought forth. A moment later two more came. Then as they flew into the invading force, yet more wraiths were summoned from their kills.

As expected, it was an absolute slaughter.

By the time the Forlorn Captain joined the fray, he was facing down eight red-glowing wraiths. The guy was no less intimidating than last time, owing to his giant size. A frayed blue sash was bound around his abdomen like a belt and the same cape that Adam wore fluttered behind him. In his right hand was a sword that oozed dark smoke, and his shield trailed a black haze. His bucket helmet was like the rook piece from chess.

Despite his men being cut down, the captain did not waver in the slightest, striding forward confidently.

Adam's fused barrier exploded as Fervour expired and he quickly resummoned the pair, just as the captain slammed his sword into his shield and shot out an expanding ring of darkness. It struck the wraiths and, though they were in the invulnerable state of Last Stand's Fervour, all of them were suddenly frozen in place. Dirty tainted energy filled their bodies, and Adam who was behind them only had a couple seconds to protect himself.

It's gonna pass through the barriers! he realised and dropped to his stomach.

He had an idea and moved the barriers into the attack while triggering fusion to absorb the dark spell when they connected.

The ring continued outwards, passing over Adam's head, but a part of it had been cut out directly where the white barriers had been. He watched as they turned into floating shadows that let off black smoke.

Then the captain swung his sword in front of him, flinging black slashes through the air before Adam could get up. But he had a suspicion that the tainted elements could not damage each other, similar to using acid against a slime, so he positioned the two barriers right in front of himself.

The captain's shadowy attacks struck the dark barriers and nothing happened.

It worked!

The momentary freeze on the wraiths wore off. Four exploded almost immediately after from their timers expiring, but the last four surged for the boss and started tearing through him with ease.

Adam shaped the two shadow barriers into narrow cones and shot them at the captain, but when they struck they just passed through him without dealing damage.

Okay, that doesn't work.

Two more wraiths exploded as their Fervour expired. The captain was so covered in wounds that he was struggling to move. Then his body glowed with an unholy light and dark smoke exploded out from him, shoving the remaining wraiths three metres back.

Adam got another idea for a fusion and resummoned his barriers. Then he moved them down to the wraiths just as they were about to explode. He activated the fusion and managed to grab the ice effect from their deaths, but only with one of the barriers.

He silently cursed at himself for not having figured out how to manoeuvre them separately yet, but then he realised something.

As the rightmost barrier turned into a sheet of ice, he moved it close to the other and activated fusion with the normal barrier. The two combined, producing a reinforced frozen barrier, which moved as fast as the barriers fused together normally, but was now made entirely of ice that immediately started melting in the sunlight.

The captain strode forward with arduous steps, while the dark shadow covering his body looked to be holding it together. If not for his magic, he would have been spread across the ground in several pieces thanks to the wraiths' merciless attacks.

Adam shaped the ice barrier into a cone, though the effort made it crack and shed large chunks of itself onto the ground. He barely managed something one could call a lance before firing it at the captain who was getting closer.

It struck the boss in the chest and lodged itself firmly into his body. Then, within a split-second, he completely froze over.

Holy shit.

The simple barrier lance cracked and fell apart, followed by the boss.

As the top of his torso toppled away with his head, the announcement rolled out across the city.

< < Stage Complete > >

< Tallying Score >

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

I need to practice more with the Fusionist. It clearly has so much potential.

But man, it's super difficult to move the barriers independently. If I can master that though, then I'll be able to defend and attack simultaneously.

< < Score > >

< 15 Minutes 52 Seconds Completion Time >

< 800 Point Secret Boss Bonus added >

< 500 Point Flawless Bonus added >

< 500 Point Eradication Bonus added >

< 0 Damage Received >

< 3100 Points Awarded >

Nice. That's much better than last time. Still, it feels weird that I got more from the Goblin village.

If I'm calculating this correctly, it means I could've gotten 1300 extra from using Hardmode in this Stage. There's also the All Secrets and Speedrun bonuses, so the max potential is probably around 5000 Points.

If I count all the hearts I can get here, my total comes to 3700. That's pretty good.

[Upgrade from defeated Forlorn Knight consolidated into final reward,] the Eye announced and floated off towards the ritual site.

That's new.

The crown atop his head suddenly burst into flames, popping off and landing on the ground in front of him. The fire didn't char the moss and it wasn't even hot when he went close to it. After a moment's hesitation, he picked it up and it was only lukewarm to the touch.

The crown was now flawless and golden-orange in hue, with a warm energy swimming along its reflective surface. Despite being pure gold, it didn't weigh a lot nor look gaudy.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< True Flame's Icon (Epic) — Only by the light of a True Flame may the Forlorn Shadow be truly banished | Subordinate allies gain 10% more Health | Subordinate allies gain Last Stand's Fervour upon death, extending their life by 10 seconds and increasing Damage & Speed by 25% | Subordinate allies are blessed with the True Flame, imbuing all attacks with 10% bonus fire damage | Become immune to Taint >

Nice, an affliction immunity and bonus damage. Not amazingly-strong, but I'm not gonna scoff at extra damage.

Adam summoned two new barriers and fused them together. There was an orange glow inside the white spell, the only indication that the 'True Flame' was active.

He tried to harvest the Heart of Darkness from the captain, but the fact that the boss' body was reduced to frozen chunks of ice made it impossible. The new fire buff also didn't help. It was a shame, but it was only 100 less Points, so not a massive loss.

However, he did manage to harvest the heart from the halberdier, returning with the foul Collectible in his hand to where he'd left the Spidersilk Sack. After plopping both the Aristocrat's and halberdier's hearts into the sack, he went about harvesting the ones from the greatsword knight and the dual-wielder.

When he was done, he wiped his bloodied hands on the moss under his feet and returned to the centre of the city.

A lot of Elphin were awaiting him and it was clear that way more of them had survived this time around, thanks to his orders. The fact that he'd taken on the last boss alone also saved a lot of them from dying unnecessarily.

Even though they weren't real, he felt proud that he'd managed to keep so many alive.

The first thing he did was walk down into the stepwell-like pit and approach Belamouranthe. The Eye was unfolded into the upgrade podium nearby, but he paid it no mind for now.

"Thou fought well," Bel praised, looking up at him with her large orange eyes.

He nodded his thanks before pulling out the All-Mother's Wrath necklace from his left pocket. All around them were the Elphin survivors.

This has to be why the Queen won't remove the necklace if I give it to Bel after the captain is dead. There are too many witnesses after all.

Adam slipped the Relic over Belamouranthe's neck. Her skin hadn't been painted with the silvery pigment yet, and he wasn't quite sure exactly what preparations her and the Queen had performed during his defence of the Sanctuary.

"Don't take that off," he told her.

"Understood."

He shook his head with a smile, then went over to the upgrade podium. Since he'd taken out the Aristocrat and the one from the halberdier had been 'consolidated', there would be three upgrades this time.

I wonder how the bonus upgrade stuff will work for group-based Stages. Does everyone just get the extra upgrade?

And what about Stage Five? Does it even have a Secret Boss?

Emelia had mentioned a stone spear as one of the Secrets in the Forbidden Altar, but she hadn't said if it was obtained from killing a special boss or just found somewhere.

He pushed the thoughts aside for now and looked at the upgrades.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Barrier Size (Uncommon) — Increases maximum barrier dimensions by 10% >

< Manipulation Range (Uncommon) — Increases manipulation range by 20% >

< Bleed (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict bleed dealing 10% weapon damage over the course of 10 seconds >

Hmm, I would probably be better served taking the upgrades for Invoker, since those affect all spells and has damage as an option.

Adam switched to the wand before making his selection.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Manipulation Range (Uncommon) >

The upgrades were scrambled and a new set appeared.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spell Speed (Uncommon) — Increases spell speed by 20% >

< Casting Range (Rare) — Increases casting range by 35% >

< Venom (Uncommon) — Attacks inflict venom slowing target by 10% for 10 seconds >

Spell Speed, nice.

Soon the barrier will end up so fast I won't even be able to track its movements.

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spell Speed (Uncommon) >

The upgrades flickered and were replaced for the third and final time.

< < Upgrades Available > >

< Spell Speed (Uncommon) — Increases spell speed by 20% >

< Casting Effect (Uncommon) — Increases casting responsiveness by 20% >

< Force (Rare) — Attacks pierce armour by 15% >

Speed again? Awesome!

I wonder how much that puts me at?

< < Upgrade Selected > >

< Spell Speed (Uncommon) >

The Eye folded itself back into a cube and golden light shone from under the Relic Chest nearby.

Woops, almost forgot about the Builder's Egg, Adam realised.

He moved his fused barrier in front of himself and turned it into the sled before climbing aboard.

It hardly took him any time to fly over to where the termite nest stood. With a simple nudge from his barrier it toppled over, revealing the egg.

< < Secret Relic Obtained > >

< Builder's Egg (Rare) — Wriggles with inner life >

Even though it was full of bloodied hearts, Adam tossed the egg down into the Spidersilk Sack. He paused for a moment, then threw the Rotmaker Idol in there too, keeping only the Skyblue Pearl and Lucky Stone in his pockets.

He zoomed back to the centre of the city where the Eye waited next to the Relic Chest.

Before he looted it, he looked through his stats.

< < Player Status > >

< Adam >

< Fusionist >

< Level 29 >

< Stats >

< Health — 50 >

< Stamina — 75 >

< Mana — 200 >

< Damage — 65% >

< Defence — 140% >

< Dodge — 10% >

< Speed — 85% >

< Luck — 19 >

< Attack Speed — 125% >

< Upgrades >

< Luck +14 >

< Dodge +10% >

< Crush +15% >

< Damage +15% >

< Defence +15% >

The Attack Speed boost from the Captain's Cape is visible on there too, he noticed. I guess it's defaulted to 100% and only appears if it's different. Similar to how Luck only appears if you have more than 0.

There are still quite a few stat buffs to keep track of, since ally buffs aren't visible on there.

He brought up his weapon status too and went through it.

< < Weapon Status > >

< 1 >

< Spell-Tome >

< Rare Quality >

< Level 13 >

< Stat Upgrades >

< Barrier Durability 90% >

< Barrier Efficiency 20% >

< Manipulation Effect 130% >

< Manipulation Speed 55% >

< Manipulation Range 20% >

< 2 >

< Wand & Wraith Lantern >

< Rare Quality >

< Level 8 >

< Stat Upgrades >

< Spell Damage 35% >

< Spell Speed 110% >

< Casting Effect 35% >

He grinned to himself at the stats. A 110% speed buff from the Invoker, 55% from Fusionist, 25% from Last Stand's Fervour, and 10% and 25% separately from Captain's Cape. If all of them were active at the same time, that meant the base 100% speed of his barrier would go up to 559%, thanks to the multiplicative way they stacked. If the buffs had been additive, it would only have been 325%. However, if he used Fusionist to combine his two barriers, he was doubling the effect, meaning 1118% was theoretically possible, regardless of whether he activated Fervour before or after fusing them.

Adam shook his head, unable to stop grinning.

It's so ridiculously fast now.

He hadn't pushed the flying sled to its limits though, since once the fused barrier reached its top speed it became very difficult to effectively control.

If I could get one more separate speed buff it would get even more insane. Even a 10% buff now effectively becomes 100% extra base speed…

The true strength of multiplicative buffs came from having several of them, since every new buff added became increasingly more potent.

The Elphin around him watched as he just stood there a few metres from the Relic Chest. It was starting to make him feel a bit self-conscious.

Guess I'll get this over with.

Adam went over and kicked the chest, popping it open.

< < Relics Available > >

< Overflow Diadem (Uncommon) — Activate to immediately deliver all remaining damage of Afflictions, dealing 10% increased damage for every Affliction affected. Breaks after use >

< First Strike Earring (Rare) — The first hit against a target deals 25% additional damage, subsequent hits deal 10% less damage >

< Heartflame Robe (Uncommon) — All summons release a Heartflame on death which will seek out the nearest target and inflict Soulburn, doubling all Mana consumption for 10 seconds | Increases Mana by 50 >

The Heartflame Robe seems surprisingly good for an Uncommon Relic.

I'm guessing it has to have several downsides or something. Probably the 'nearest target' part of the effect also includes the wearer and allies, and the 'all summons' thing no doubt includes enemies too. It's also just kind of awkward to use an armour slot on something that's so niche in effect. Like, most enemies, for now at least, wouldn't really be affected by Soulburn in any meaningful way.

Given that everything I've fought so far has died in one hit or so, the Earring might be worth using.

He'd been planning on picking it regardless, since it was worth the most, but the more he thought about it, the better it seemed for his current setup.

< < Relic Selected > >

< First Strike Earring (Rare) >

Adam winced in surprise as the act of equipping the Relic literally meant having it pierce his earlobe.

In hindsight, I should've been prepared for that…

The Eye released a pulse of magic and Adam blinked.

He'd shifted a few metres from where he'd stood before and was now closer to the middle of the ritual site. All the engraved channels in the stone disc under him were filled with a liquid silvery metal and opposite him were Belamouranthe and her mother, the Queen. The girl was painted with the reflective silver pigment, her body and horns covered in lines and swirling spirals. Her golden hair hung down her back in a large Dutch braid.

Still weird that they needed time to prepare the ritual when all the makeup and stuff weren't applied until after I looted the Relic Chest…

The Elphin surrounded the three of them on the steps on the outside of the pit. Unlike just moments prior, there were now children and civilians mixed in with all the defenders he'd saved from certain death.

Belamouranthe looked up at him with her orange-glowing eyes. Her expression was serious, but this time it didn't hurt his heart to witness. After all, the pendant of the All-Mother's Wrath was proudly displayed over the top of the green dress Weaver had made her two days ago. The solid sphere inside the wireframe pyramid seemed to glow with a deep-blue energy that hadn't been there before. It was different from the dark-purple energy it had fired at Ezral after he'd injured Adam when he wore it in Stage Three.

"Thank you, Adam, for bringing me home and allowing me to fulfil mine destiny," she said.

Unlike last time, Adam actually replied in the cutscene.

"The All-Mother watches over you, Belamouranthe," he said. The words felt weird in his mouth, but he was certain that this was a sign that things would be different at the start of the next Stage.

Then darkness flooded his surroundings and took him away.

< < Now Entering > >

< Interim Island >

The sound of strings filled the air, but no sooner had he arrived than an announcement hit him.

< < Visiting Stone Activated > >

< Player Emelia has entered your Dimension >

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