Ethan Hawke

Spirit Core Total: 7500

Current [Host]: REVOK, CHIMERA OF WESTERWEALD

LVL: 150

HP: 2500/2500

MP: 2000/2000

WILL: 3000/3000

STR: 200

PER: 185

SPD: 150

CHA: 60

[Host] Skills:

[Cry of Baphomet]

Grade: A

Your bellow becomes a force of nature, striking down your foes with arcs of lightning

Effect: 185 pts Lightning DMG for 5 secs

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 2500

[Skein of Typhos]

Grade A

You shed your skin and instantly grow a new layer of muscle, tendon, and cartilage, mimicking the rejuvenating capabilities of Argwyll's oldest beings.

Effect: 50 pts HP {Regeneration} /sec for 30 secs

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 3500

[Storm of Revok]

Grade A

Manifest the rage within yourself into material form: you spew a gout of molten lava at your enemies.

Effect: 200pts Fire DMG for 5 secs

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 2500

[Ray of Putrefaction]

Grade A

Summon the toxins that swirl within your body to create a beam of corrupting sickness that instantly seeps into your target's bowels

Effect: 150pts Poison DMG for 5 secs

65% Chance to cause Status Effect [POISONED]

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 3500

He walked into the room like a King among monsters.

Because now, that's exactly what he was.

His claws crunched the wrecked stonework of the castle beneath him, and his hulking form tore through the doorway like cutting through a sheath of grass.

There was no fury, now. No unrestrained or misplaced anger. No seeds of doubt.

Now, sitting atop the lion's head and feeling the other two totally under his power, he was in control.

He'd left Irlanda back in the courtyard of the castle. He'd told her he'd come back to her and give her the release she wanted. In the moment when her body had given up, her soul had come through. He'd felt it just as keenly as he'd felt the paws of the Prophet touch his mind.

She'd thanked him. He could tell, when her spirit departed the world, that she'd been smiling.

But he pushed that thought from his mind, now. He was here for something much more important.

He barely even caught the voices of his companions as they shouted up at him, running to grab his huge legs and squeeze them with glee.

"Ethan – we thought –" Fauna bubbled.

"I didn't doubt ya for a second," Tara said, wiping salty tears from her cheeks. "I knew you'd take him down. And now – well – look at you! You're – you're…"

The Minxit's voice trailed off as all his eyes met hers. She found that she was stunned into silence from nothing but the sheer scale of him, now.

There'd never been anything in Argwyll that had his power buried within its breast, and he simply walked past her, acknowledging her and Fauna's welcome with only a brief nod.

Stolen novel; please report.

Lamphrey kept bowed the whole time, saying nothing more as Ethan looked down at her and then past her by, too. He wasn't here for her.

His bounding steps brought him to Klax, who looked up at him with a sudden shudder.

"Ethan," he murmured. "Can – can you –"

A rumbling coursed through Ethan's belly, and Typhos, the snake-head, began to retch as something traveled up his gullet and re-entered his throat. Slowly the snake coughed up what had just been summoned from Ethan's gut: something small, round, and oozing with viscous black liquid.

He dropped it before Klax who looked at the thing at first with revulsion.

Then, slowly, he began to recognize its features – patches of pale white skin peeking out, an unblinking eyeball half eaten in the spume.

It was the head of Dr Haylock.

"You deserved vengeance on him more than me, Klax," Ethan declared – his voice a booming cacophony that made the entire earth tremble. "I had to kill him. It was a close thing. But the least I can do is deliver him to you as payment for helping me get this far."

Tara and Fauna looked to each other in bewilderment, each one beginning to draw closer to the spectacle that was unfolding before them like the final act of some grisly theatre performance. Klax, meanwhile, reached out to grab the head, laying down his beloved as he did so.

"We got him, Jun," he murmured. "We got him…"

With a single application of force, he crushed the skull between his fingers. Haylock's remains scattered down to the earth of his fortress and become just a pile of dust and bone.

The Lycae looked up at Ethan with a mix of both gratitude and confusion.

"Klax," Ethan said. "You never truly had a vengeful bone in your body. Yet, seeing her like this changed you, didn't it? Because that's what this world does to us."

Behind him, Lamphrey rose.

"We think we've got it all figured out, and then we see something else – some new, previously unspeakable horror that we could never imagine. We gaze into the heart of darkness. We keep on doing it, almost insatiably. And when we do, we can never turn back."

The words barely even seemed like his own. He had expected all his blind rage to follow him as the entered Revok's body, considering that he had three brains to wrangle instead of one for the first time. But as he took over the creature he felt almost…serene. It was as though the beast was meant to be puppeted by him.

He believed this was because, unlike his other Hosts, Revok was basically a newborn babe. He was a beast that had known only captivity. He was a beast that had no equal in all of Argwyll – something artificially produced rather than the product of natural selection. Because of this, his 'nature' was malleable. It was receptive to him.

Synchronicity, Sys explained. You're finally in command of a Host that has no baggage, no defined role in this world. Something that wasn't made by Kaedmon to occupy a specific space. This creature wants nothing more than what you want, Ethan.

And because of that, he felt more himself in this body than he'd ever felt before.

He looked down at Klax's pitiful form and laid one great claw upon his paws.

"It is time to let go, old friend," he said. "Her time on this earth is drawing short. And she is calling to me."

Klax looked down to see Jun'Ei's brain pulsing once more, light emanating from its every wrinkled fold.

"…I can't," he said, trying to reach for her. "Ethan, I'm sorry, but I –"

The eyes of the great beast made his throat close up. Behind each of those mouths lay the power to make and unmake.

"Klax," Ethan said calmly. "Let her go."

The wolfman sniffled, nose twitching unbearably as his hands began to loosen. He thought, in that moment, that he could hear her

Klax, she said. Thank you.

He looked down at her and brought her close to him, so close that his tears stained the one piece of her that remained.

"Jun…I can't lose you. Who am I without –"

You already know, his love replied. You've been exactly who you had to be all this time. For them. For Ethan. And for me.

He looked away.

I held on for you. I never doubted you would come. The Klax I know wouldn't ever let his team quit. But now, it's time to go.

He was suddenly overcome with shame. Ethan could see it in him. Klax had gotten something that, deep down, he hadn't even expected to get: parting words.

And here he was denying his mate her final wish.

"I love you," he said as he held her tight, seeing her as she used to be: strong, beautiful, and with eyes filled with so much determination and compassion. She was stronger than he'd ever been.

He felt her soft arms squeeze him back. That was all he needed to know that she had held on to more than just her physical form all this time. She'd thought of their love – of the short time they'd spent together on this earth – and it had seen her through the Doctor's torments.

"…and now it's time to go."

He grunted these words more than said them, and still there was a part of him that couldn't place her before the Archon. But he fought against it. For her.

Live, Klax, he heard her say before she left his mind. And when your time comes, I shall be waiting for you.

Her thoughts then turned to Ethan, who had been waiting patiently just as she'd asked him to.

Well, look at you, Ethan Hawke. You turned out all right, didn't you? My one regret is that I could not see you here with my own eyes. Even in this pitiful state, I can feel the power within you. I can feel that you have learned control.

"I have felt your strength enough to know that you are far from pitiful as you are, Prophetess."

It was no lie. To the two beings in this place who were most attuned to the minds of others, the Prophetess' brain practically radiated power.

I am ready, she told him.

He nodded and lowered his hulking form to the ground. Since she'd reached out to him in the moment before the Doctor's end, she'd shown him exactly what he needed to do here.

He summoned his [Possession] Skill and selected its next upgrade:

Possession (Grade B)

Unlocks Possession of all mortal beings.

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade: 2000

He selected it and felt new strength fold into his hat-form, knowing that the power to possess even Hybrids was now known to him.

Possession (Grade B) Attained

Spirit Core Cost to Upgrade further: 5000

He wasn't the only one who saw it, too. As his companions crept around him, they saw what his intention was.

"Tara," he said. "Would you do the honors?"

The Minxit looked to Jun'Ei's brain, then swiftly back at Ethan.

"You're gonna…possess her?"

"While she still lives. She's been holding on all this time for this. To show me how to defeat Kaedmon's Law. And once she's done…"

Klax looked away. He understood.

"Won't your new body get a little…antsy?"

Ethan forced a grim smile to his three new mouths.

"This boy is just one big old kitten once you get to know him. You have nothing to worry about."

Tara looked to the others – to Fauna, who was still taken aback by Ethan's new form, to Lamphrey, who seemed as giddy as her kind could seem, and to Klax, who just wanted this whole nightmare to be over.

"Tara," Ethan said. "It's time to get what we came here for."

She followed her Archon's command, coming forward, taking his hat off the head of Revok, and stepping back a few paces.

To her surprise, the freed Chimera did not rage against its former enemies. Instead, it stepped back and gave a regal bow.

"…a well-trained kitten," she murmured.

She then placed Ethan on Jun'Ei's head while the rest of the team crowded around. It felt like a macabre coronation ceremony.

Above, the dim dun of night receded, and a thin ray of light shone down on the ruined fortress.

And as soon as Ethan's fabric-coated hem touched Jun'Ei's brain, he felt a surge of energy fly through him.

Ethan Hawke, her heard her say. You were brought to this world to resolve the question of its eternal discord.

It is time for you to see the answer.

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.