"It could have worked, Veronica. You have to believe me. It could have worked. The ritual, so much of it, was going well. But, but..."

"Enough, dearest Ascendant. Instead of platitudes, how about a thought experiment. Let's imagine that you are creating a building, and one of the structural supports gives out at the end, causing the entire building to collapse. Now, the rest of the building was pristine, wonderful—a thing of artistry to behold. I ask you now, after the dust has settled and we behold a pile of rubble, would you still call that building well done? And would you have rated the building on its process of completion, rather than the final outcome?"

"..."

"Ah, silence. So you know that you're being fooled. 'It could have worked,' as you keep repeating. But you see, we don't know enough about the Ritual of the Dichotomous Soul to attempt it. Yet, you defied what your fellows agreed on, and now you suffer the consequences."

"I was close, Veronica. Towards the end, I was close. I had a perfect vessel. And the sliver of my soul was burning away. I was drawing it out of the grasp of the Great One. Look, look. I know you can feel it. I know you have the Animancy to feel it."

"I do. And what I feel is a broken fragment of yourself wrenched free from your soul, leaving you disfigured, damaged, and disturbed. A Dichotomous Soul means divided into two distinct parts. But it doesn't mean severed. Those who successfully complete the ritual are still one person. They just exist in multiple places, their souls bound together. So, no, this likely wouldn't have worked for you anyway."

"You don't know that. You don't! You're just a mortal! You're just a mortal!"

"Correct. I am just a mortal, but I'm not the one trying to steal Cripple's namesake from it. Now. Be proper and let me take another look at you."

-Enoch the Builder and Veronica Chandler

194 (I) Euthanasia [II]

With all tertiary matters settled, Cripple departed to rejoin the other active Ascendants in their hunt for Shiv's decoy and to continue providing cover for the coming raid on the mana core. Shiv took his place between Solzimort's gums and did his best to ignore how much mucus was coating his armor. The hydra hummed along happily as he reared his twelve heads back. His body turned fluid, and Shiv felt a pull from Solzimort's flesh as his Shapeless Tides resisted the new mana that allowed the hydra to fuse with other pieces of matter.

Solzimort giggled as Shiv's Shapeless Tides came ablaze with mana resistance. "Hee, you're making me pretty ticklish in there," Solzimort declared, and then it was off. It splashed through the Orichalcum and slammed hard into the mithral supports behind. One after another they shattered, and he realized the hydra couldn't absorb magically infused objects. That didn't stop him from swimming through practically everything else, however. The composition of Solzimort's body changed with every bit of matter he dove through. Shiv felt the Hydra's biological architecture transform with his own Biomancy—every time it shifted, he did too, and the effects were staggering.

Peeking out from the underside of the hydra's gums, he saw the crawlspace blurring by. Aside from actively infused mithril, nothing broke. Everything was fluid. Matter was a sea to the Hydra, and he swam freely, a fish surrounded by things that should have been impediments. "Going really, really fast today!" the hydra cheered aloud.

"We're about to get even faster," Shiv declared. "Gone!"

As the hydra continued undulating through the dense infrastructure, four clawed limbs held by its sides, Gone emerged from Shiv's cape. Her body crackled with golden lightning, and she held out her hands. "Hydra. Going to give a bit of a boost. Go fast. Don't stop. Don't get nervous."

"Okay, little goblin! I'm really thankful that—"

And just then, the lightning coursing around the goblin's body flowed outward. It spilled over into Shiv, and the world around him slowed. It wasn't like time stopping when he used his Chronomancy. No, instead he felt part of time flinging him forward. The present had been outpaced, and his speed was something else altogether. But it wasn't his speed. It was a speed born of Gone. And that speed flowed over into the Hydra as well, and in a crushing instant, he exploded forward.

This time, the matter around Solzimort scattered. It was like a projectile cleaving a clean tunnel through a crashing wave. The hydra let out a loud "Whee!" as he zoomed through the crawlspace, bursting out from passing cubes, surprising groups of prisoners and wardens still warring with each other. As the Hydra crashed into them, he spilled through their bodies as well, phasing through their physical forms without ever being impeded.

And just as fast as the Hydra came, he was gone, like liquid lightning in motion.

"Broken godsdamn moon," Shiv managed through clattering teeth. "Hell of a skill you got there." The goblin didn't reply. She was too busy channeling her power through everyone.

As they grew even faster, the Hydra's body was enwreathed by a massive bolt of golden lightning. The world outside slowed; the world within turned smooth. It was like Shiv was gliding through a space consumed by grease. Air friction became non-existent, and even the grip of time slackened. With every second they remained in motion, the sheer amount of Chronomancy spilling out from Gone only grew.

The Deathless beheld the Legendary goblin and found himself stunned by her Skill Fusion. She wasn't just fast and always getting faster; she was displaced forward into time. They started a second ahead of everyone else, leaving only an echo of herself in the past. But with every passing moment, that single second grew by increments, and they lurched further and further ahead.

The effects flowed through Shiv as well. He didn't resist it with his Shapeless Tides; he felt his own body elongate as if it were a piece of dough. Looking behind, there was a smear of gold and blurry motion, and at the end of that messiness was another version of himself from over a second ago.

"Well, this is a Skill Fusion I might wanna go for," Shiv noted.

"Not an easy one to get," Gone shot back, "likely impossible for you."

"Why's that?" Shiv asked.

The goblin's body sparked, the golden currents surging out from her. "Because you already have the wrong Chronomantic skill. Dragon Skill. What you're probably going to get next will allow you to strike ahead into the future or steal time from someone else. I've seen that from Golden Dragons. If you want my advice, try fusing it with one of your lesser Magical Skills. Chronomancy's rare. Chronomancy Skill Fusions between two lores of magic? Even rarer."

The goblin recited this information with such overwhelming flatness that it sounded like she was bored.

"Gone," Shiv said. "Who are you?"

She turned and stared at him over her shoulder. "You're not the only one of questionable birth," she declared.

With that, she said no more.

As they burst out from another cube, Shiv found them soaring through an empty space. Peeking out from up over the Hydra's furrowed lip, Shiv saw broken, mithril supports swaying tangles of emulated mana. Ultimately, utter nothingness occupied this portion of the Nadir. It was like a massive explosion had cleanly sheared a spherical space kilometers wide in this area. But at the center was their final destination.

A massive wall of stacked cubes glistened over ten kilometers away, and layers of magical wards were projected out from its surface. She saw Dynamancy, Psychomancy, Biomancy, Chronomancy, and even more lores. Then there was the incandescent mana he knew so well by now pulsating out beyond the ward, choking the air as if a glowing mist.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Alright," Shiv grunted to himself. He began concentrating his mind and gathering more Overflow Tides in anticipation of what was to come. "Keep going, Solzimort. We're about to hit the wall. I'm getting everyone else out!"

"Speeeeeeed!" the hydra cheered.

"Adam," Shiv called out, and in an instant the Gate Lord appeared, and Can Hu with him. No further things needed to be said by Shiv. The azure sun hovering over Can Hu's head flared brightly, and a rush of power suffused Shiv's soul. He wasn't the only one boosted. The Hydra grew even faster, Gone outputted even more cruel electric currents, and her power was joined by Shiv's as massive striped vectors curled around the hydra's vast body.

"That looks like a pretty bright wall there, guys." Solzimort sounded worried. "Are you sure just going super fast will be enough?"

"Yeah. Probably," Shiv replied. He couldn't blame Solzimort. Even with all this, Shiv wasn't sure if they could just smash their way in. If that didn't work, he would go Non-Sequitur, slip past and try to drop the magical fields on the inside. But that was risky; it left him cut off from the others. And in turn, it would see the others immediately counterattacked by Republic forces as well. There was no way they were about to impact the set of magical wards without ringing any alarm bells.

"Don't worry, Solzimort," Shiv shouted. "It's not just you. We'll all be helping. We'll push our way through."

"It's really big," Solzimort squeaked as the massive wall of interlocking cubes protecting the mana core came closer. "I don't know about this."

"It might be bigger than us," Shiv said, "but it's probably not nearly as heavy as all of us put together. Besides, we're not punching through all the cubes. We're just about to smash through one. Just a small section of the wall. You're bigger than a small section of the wall, aren't you?"

Silver Tongue 49 > 50 (Skill Evolution Imminent)

And with that mutilated logic, the Hydra found his courage again. Every one of Solzimort's heads reared back and thrust itself forward in a burst of explosive motion. Gone gave it all she had. Shiv pumped up more of his Shapeless Tides, and a few lances of force erupted off the sides of Solzimort's body—Overflow Tides Shiv lost track of. But together, they slammed into the protective wards guarding the mana core, guarding the innermost cubes. They were a spear of time, of Magical Resistance, of Legendary strength further boosted by a sun that nourished the soul. And against them was the ambient power of the Ascendants, the overwhelming might of the mana core, and soon, every warden still stationed within.

A calamitous reaction followed. The world turned bright as trickling waves of force exploded from the epicenter of the clash. Solzimort reared back in fright, but Shiv speared more of his Shapeless Tides into the wards. They crashed again and again, like tsunamis dashing themselves upon wooden walls. Though the mana core was powerful, though the divine mana wrapping around everything like mist tried to sear Solzimort, Shiv endured in his stead with his Legendary Magical Resistance. Gone made him faster, the Hydra's body had its own Magical Resistance, and Adam brought everyone to new heights.

The Deathless strained. He reached out from Solzimort's mouth, clenching the prismatic barriers, holding them back from the cube right before them. He aimed his vectors in opposing directions and tore. His Shapeless Tides dug deep and carved furrows in the mana, but the divine magic choking the air like smog crashed down against him, lashing at him. Shiv bit back a snarl as a spike of searing pain nearly split him to the core. The vectors around him flared brightly, and they turned incandescent as well, responding to the godly attacks.

A cry of effort came from Adam as he funneled a blast of azure radiance into Shiv, straightening the Deathless's body. But the furrows lining the wards were now faded, and Solzimort was beginning to flag. "Guys, maybe this wasn't such a good idea. I don't think we can get in this way."

But before Shiv could say anything, Can Hu interjected. "Hold!" the Penitent declared, its voice crackling with authority. From its eyes poured a flood of ones and zeros. These numbers and symbols spilled through the wards and sank into the cubes themselves. A second later, Five appeared, and he too began gesturing. The many automata heads lining Five's back came to life, and they all began channeling their electricity into him. Once more, the wolf-man's head shifted, became cybernetic, and a dense beam of light flashed out from his newly installed optics.

The flashes of light spilled into the binaric streams, and Shiv wondered what the twosome was doing.

A second thereafter, he got his answer.

An entire section of the wards collapsed, and it was the section that was stopping the party the most. The Chronomantic wards vanished, and everyone tore on through.

The divine mana tugged at Shiv, and he let out a ragged cry as he found his Legendary Skill driven to its very limit to stop everyone from being barred from this final passage. At the last second, when he felt like his skills were going to rip apart inside him entirely, they plunged deep into the cube before them. The cube flared red, gold, and then finally silver. It was a silver so bright and so dense that Shiv could feel it hardening the atmosphere itself.

But Solzimort wasn't trying to barrel his way through; Solzimort just wanted to swim. And as the Legendary Hydra kissed the orichalcum, matter became fluid, and his body shifted to become the same material that lined the outside of the cube.

Shiv felt something clash against him and realized Solzimort was trying to convert his body as well. The Deathless dropped the Shapeless Tides at the last moment; any second later, and he would have been the only thing clipped by the approaching wall. He felt his biology change once more. He was still flesh-like and cellular in some ways, but a portion of him was laced with a strange material he had little experience with.

Shiv was capable of shifting himself into a state of orichalcum, but Veronica had flashed red, gold, and silver when he'd struck her before. Whatever the skill was, it was a step above what he had now, and as Solzimort tore through to the other end, they emerged into a tight and narrow chamber staffed by dozens of wardens.

They noticed Solzimort a second too late, because then the Hydra and the others were already upon them, a second ahead in time. Shiv did a quick sweep of the room. There were several pylons here, and he could feel the magic flowing out from them. However, instead of conducting a mixed assortment of mana types, the main lore being channeled through this room was Psychomancy.

This was like a Psychomancy command center, or whatever the wardens called it, and so all the Pathbearers in this room wore focused crystal helmets meant to allow them to serve as better logistical mages. As such, they weren't wearing armor meant for battle, and ultimately a Legendary-Tier Mage—especially if they were a pure mage—was often more fragile than even a Master-Tier warrior.

Shiv blasted out from Solzimort's mouth, but by the time he crashed down upon the Psychomancers, Gone had already torn through them. The goblin was unspeakably fast. She drew all that lightning back into herself, and her claws were a blur of misting blood and violence. There were fifty or so Psychomancers holding the chamber; all fifty were then down on their arms and knees, wailing and screaming as their tendons had been severed. All of their tendons.

The Deathless adapted. Instead of attacking any of the wardens, he slammed through the Psychomantic pylons through which they were channeling their magic. He broke five of them and spared the final one at the center. Truth be told, he didn't know how the whole system for this room worked, but it was still good to keep one at least for a second. Adam and the others would survey and then sabotage as they discussed earlier."

"Orcs! Out!" Shiv called aloud. "We're in!"

A second later, the grayskins erupted free from his cape, and they swept and cleared the room with methodical efficiency. The wardens were down, and so the orcs focused on securing hostages to interrogate. Those among the orcs with Psychomancy reached out to interface with the minds of the downed wardens. Helix, however, unleashed his magic, and with a wave of overwhelming Biomancy, Shiv felt something flash within the skulls of every single warden. A second later, they had all gone stiff. The silence that followed told him they were unconscious as well. Their organs were still working, their bodies were still alive, but they were truly incapacitated now.

"Alright," Adam declared. "You know the score. Ten seconds. Grab a few commanders, leave your traps, keep it moving. Scouts on watch! Mortar?"

The large artillery-piece-carrying orc chuckled grimly as he placed a makeshift mana bomb at the center of the room. It resembled an ugly, hollowed-out egg, but seeping motes of Pyromancy leaked out from the horizontal slit lining its center.

"I got a surprise for the reinforcements coming in later," the orc said. He wrapped a large hand on the top of the mana bomb and turned. Immediately, it began to click over and over. "They're gonna need to assign some specialists to make sure this thing doesn't go boom."

Shiv's lip twitched, but he allowed the orc to play his game. The wardens were going to be taxed by the many bombs they were going to plant across these cubes, and ultimately, that was part of Adam's strategy: Force the wardens to split their logistics and resources by flooding the zone with problems.

A loud crack came from right next to Shiv, and the Deathless glared at Tequila as he lifted his foot from one of the warden's necks.

"Godsdamn it," Shiv hissed. He ripped an injury away from the warden and used the crystallized wound to swat Tequila. A burst of red spread through the chamber, and the orc was nearly launched from his feet by the force of the blow.

Despite this, Tequila remained in good cheer. "Nice swing, Insul."

"Hostages mean their coworkers have to come. Focus on binding the wardens and leaving them here. Adam," Shiv called out. "Pylon?"

"Nothing useful here!" The Gate Lord wrapped a curled limb shaped from water around the final pylon, and slowly he squeezed. The room felt drier as Adam's Hydrokinetic hand grew, and Shiv realized the Gate Lord was drawing from the moisture to empower himself.

I guess that wand really left an imprint on his soul, Shiv mused. As the final pillar burst, a spray of telepathy washed through the room, and Shiv pushed it aside using his shapeless tides.

"Ten seconds," Adam shouted. "Ten seconds, we move again. Solzimort, we're going deeper."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.