It felt sort of fitting to pick the Skill that my Strand had chosen for me. There was something about it that called to me, that made me think I'd learn more about my Strand through its use.

I had this power at my disposal, but I had no idea how to use it beyond just shoving it through a Skill. So, to hopefully make up for that fact in the future, I picked [Everwinter's Shield].

As the Skill settled into my mind, I immediately realized this was the correct choice. Unlike [Argent Flow], which just flooded my body with Mana, [Everwinter's Shield] was a technique for manipulating Argent Bastion Mana.

I would call it Argent Bastion aspected Nature Mana, but that didn't feel right. The way that the Strand was was such that it didn't even resemble Nature Mana at all anymore.

Oh sure, it would still function as Nature Mana when flowing through my circuits, but that was like saying water and oil could both flow through a pipe, so they must be the same thing, right?

"Hey, Novi, I'm going to need your help with this," I said. I didn't want to fuck up the transformations. The potential errors outlined by the Skill didn't seem fun to experience, and I did not have nearly enough Wit to process the required Intent transformations on my own.

It was basically like trying to solve a Sudoku puzzle that kept rearranging itself while you were in the process of solving it.

"Hmm? Oh boy, that's complicated."

"Yup, I'll take the initiator, you handle the manifestation."

"Dumping the hard work on me, I see."

"You know you love it."

"I DO!" she exclaimed while wiggling on top of my head.

I started weaving together symbols of Mana in the air in front of me. I had to be very careful with this because the Mana itself needed to hold the correct Intent the whole time. The symbols held meaning, but without Intent backing that meaning, they would fall apart rather rapidly. The Skill warned me not to let that happen, rather strictly.

The language I was writing in felt like a heavy regional dialect of Nature. Every word, or I should say the equivalent of a word, since the symbols didn't really have neat definitions like regular words, had the concept of unmoving, unfaltering, and undying built into them.

It told a story of a wall that held until the end of time. A Bastion that held against all forces arrayed against it. But it didn't merely withstand. From its ramparts, every syllable contained a cannon aimed outwards, prepared to defend the line at any cost.

It was all very poetic. I wasn't sure if it actually contributed to the Skill's power or if it was just for funsies. My ritual comprehension was curiously silent on the matter.

It took me a whole thirty seconds to actually complete, meaning this was basically useless in a fight. I'd only been in one fight that lasted longer than thirty seconds, and that was only because the goop clone of me wouldn't die, no matter how hard I slapped it around.

I had a strong feeling that Skills designed to be used with Strands weren't meant for people still in their First Ascension. The fact that the first Skill the Strand created, [Argent Flow], was a boosting Skill with a simple trigger to halt my relative velocity was a godsend. Possibly literally, if you take into account the fact that Eryx built my Core, and my Core was the thing that repaired my system to allow for the Strand to manifest. Thank fuck that part of my internal System still functioned.

I probably wasn't going to learn how to cheese the velocity thing until I Ascend at least once.

After finishing the Mana weaving, I signalled to Novi and allowed her Authority to overlap my own. Thankfully, she could also control my Mana, probably because we were technically one soul, and the Mana we generated was basically shared between us except for when it was inside me. That restriction was interesting as well. I wondered why it was like that. It would be very convenient to be able to pass off my body to her when I was bored.

Oh, that's why, isn't it?

While I held the construct together, she flicked the activation sigils and began the work of manifesting the whole thing into the world. The world fought back. It didn't seem to like whatever we were doing for some reason. It was as if physics itself was trying to deny the existence of what we were creating.

All I had to do was hold it together while Novi pushed with everything she had to get it to form. Her emotions slipped over the connection during her state of intense focus. She was absolutely elated to be able to help me, sick little freak that she was.

There was a crackling sound, then, with a snap, a barrier made of something resembling ice but not quite the same thing popped into existence. It floated mid-air and seemed to evoke an aura on its own. Though a weak one in comparison to my own Authority. I could feel it slowly falling apart as Mana leaked out of it in the form of an icy mist. That wasn't supposed to happen. I must have made a mistake somewhere.

Oh well, no use fretting about it. I'll just have to do better next time.

Using my Fire circuits, I send a gust of flames towards it. The moment they came close to it, the fire was snuffed out. No evidence of its existence even remained. That made sense for a shield aligned with the cold.

A test with manifested thorns showed they would simply halt in the air when launched at the front of the shield.

Reaching out with my Authority, I grasped the shield. I felt it yield beneath my touch as my aura entered it, and a solid feeling flooded my flesh.

I realized at that moment that every artifact I had created up until now was complete trash. The integration with my Authority enabled the cross-transference of effects from artifacts to me and back. The trick I had managed to do with the staff I created, where I hijacked my own Authority, fell way short of what was possible with this.

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Willing it to move, I flung the shield from covering one side of me to the other. It felt like there was a range limit to where it could cover, but I could move it at will to wherever I wanted.

With a flex of my Authority, the projectiles that were frozen in front of the shield had their velocity inverted, then were unfrozen. This hurled them away, spraying the thorns against the wall.

A rooster's crow had already played a minute or so ago, but I wanted to keep playing with the Skill.

I glanced at the door and let out an exasperated sigh. I couldn't let myself be voted to be executed while hiding in my room.

Unfortunately, I couldn't bring the shield with me, so I dismissed it, and the construct collapsed into a cloud of Mana. I had no answer to how I had unlocked a new Skill or why I had summoned the shield in the first place if it wasn't a new Skill. Gaining a new Skill would mean I had killed somebody, which I wasn't interested in broadcasting.

Stepping out of my room, I immediately regretted dismissing the shield.

The room had split into two groups who were staring daggers at each other, one with four cult members and Sam, and the other with the guy with glasses and the slime person, or I suppose I should say slime girl, since her role was definitely Priestess. I doubted they'd be so rude as to give that Role to someone who wasn't a woman.

Around the Priestess was a glowing circle on the ground. The cult members stood just outside of it. It seemed they couldn't cross the line or harm the people inside. Otherwise, they would have already done so.

"Am I interrupting something?" I asked the crowd.

"Oh, no, don't worry. We're about to win the game. We just have to get rid of those two, and we'll all be safe," the woman who was recruited on the second day said. "Just answer when someone knocks on your door tomorrow night."

Oh, good, there wasn't going to be a fight right now. I was worried. This would be a rather disadvantageous situation for me and Sam to get into a fight at the moment.

I turned my attention to Sam without moving my head. Having flat LED-like panels instead of eyes on a swivel made it a lot easier to do this without calling attention to myself. They shook their eyes back and forth but otherwise didn't break character.

That's what I figured. Their Role having a way to get out of their objective just by getting recruited didn't make sense to me. Not with their objective being what it was.

Which meant I wouldn't be in my room when they showed up to recruit me. Because telling Sam I was abandoning them to join the cult didn't seem like a safe choice, not with the level of control they had over me.

Not that I was going to betray Sam. I had plans for them and needed them alive for those plans to come to fruition.

Oh boy, tomorrow was going to be interesting.

"Okay, so you're going to vote for one of them to be executed today, then?" I asked.

"Yes, due to the nature of Roles, they are unable to be converted. It is unfortunate, but to have the most people survive, sacrifices must be made," the blonde guy replied, his eyes downcast. Sam winced when he spoke for some reason.

I found a nice spot to sit down and wait for the day to end.

When the chime sounded and the podium appeared, it was positioned right in the centre of the glowing circle, next to the man with glasses, rather than where it would normally be.

He tapped his card on the pedestal. The Priestess did nothing but stand there silently, gelatinating. Or whatever it is slimes do. I wasn't a slime, I couldn't say.

"Are you really going to kill one of us?" the man said with a sigh. "I doubt you can continue this every day. You're just condemning people to death without purpose."

Four eyes said nothing. He just stared at the cultist.

"Alright, I'm sorry to whoever it is that died due to this man's obstinacy," the blonde dude said.

The angel appeared a minute later and pointed out one of the cultists. There was a whole hullabaloo that happened with people yelling and pleading, but I didn't pay attention to any of it. Neither I nor Sam were chosen, and that was the important part.

Surprisingly, the blonde guy wasn't picked. I was absolutely certain he was the recruiter. So picking him should have been the strategic decision. The fact that it didn't happen was odd.

As night fell, I returned to my room. While walking back, I shot a glance at Sam, who slightly inclined their head in my direction.

A few seconds later, my door slammed against the wall as Sam entered.

"Ready to go?"

"No need to throw the door open so hard," I said. "Also, the recruiter for the cultists is coming here tonight. You don't want to wait for him, so we can get rid of him together?"

Sam's eyes turned towards the floor, "No, I think it would be better to do someone else. Like what about the girl who made the glowing circle? We need to prevent her monopolization of the voting booth anyway, right?"

"You could tell that was a girl? I only knew because of the Role she has."

"Mhmm!" was all I received in response. They were being unnecessarily evasive, but I had to trust them, so I chose to ignore that fact.

"There's no way we can work with the cultists? You're absolutely certain your Role can't convert to one?"

Sam chuckled, "I'm the Scourge of Life, Ellie. My Role is the antithesis of everyone else." After a moment's thought, they clarified, "Except you, I guess? It's nice not to be alone for once. The past few days have sucked."

With a sigh, I followed Sam as we went to the room of the Priestess. Both of Novi's bodies came along as well.

I could understand her sentiment. It would just be so much easier if we didn't have to fight it out. However, this way will earn me far more Edios, so I wasn't too torn up about it.

Just outside the Priestess' room, I held up a hand, and Sam paused.

I signalled to Novi, then began weaving [Everwinter's Shield] into the air. Carefully aligning the Mana into its shape, then passing control of it over to Novi to apply the finishing touches while I held it in place.

After the shield popped into existence, I nodded towards Sam, and they threw open the door with their normal bravado.

Inside the room was the slime girl, and the Inquisitor as well, surprisingly.

"I don't suppose you've come to try and figure out how to beat the cult?" asked the guy with glasses. "There had to be a reason you voted with us despite being a cultist."

I had no idea what he was talking about, because I wasn't paying attention to the vote. How would either of us have voted? Maybe one of Sam's Role's abilities?

"Nope, sorry, we're here to kill you. Sam, if you could just ask me to do that, please."

"Oh, uh, kill both of them. My loyal servant."

"Yes, my liege," I replied with a mock bow.

As I dipped forward, Novi adjusted with me, and her spindly insectile limbs curled tighter for stability—the moment my back angled toward the Inquisitor, her coil gun thrummed into action.

A wave of cold air passed overhead following the bullet's trail.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough as a flash of Mana deflected the metal slug off to the side.

"Is there really no way we can complete our objectives together?" the Priestess asked.

"Nope, sorry, it's just how it is," Sam replied as Mana emerged from their head and coiled around their body.

That was some fucking dense Kinetic Mana, damn.

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