There is a simple way to fight fire, and that is with water. Drowning the giant seemed like an easy choice, given that we were fighting on a frozen over lake and that Chris' human shell used water and ice Qi.

Instantly, steam hissed up from the lake, black fire cresting its surface. It tried to reach up with a hand, but then, the ice grew and shifted to cover the surface of the lake. Emilia stood next to it, grinning. "Ice is a rock, too, didn't you know?" she said calmly.

I laughed, pulling myself out of the rubble, letting my wounds scab over as more explosions sounded from underwater. Chris was dragging the bastard deeper and deeper. We'd dug a chasm into the mountain, mainly Emilia doing the digging, and Chris filled it up. The lake was far, far more vast than it had any right to be.

"Good work. Let's get down there," I said, and with a quick twist of Qi, my armor reshaped into an oldschool diving suit, forming a translucent glass-metal bubble of air around my head. Just in case I forgot to hold my breath. With a quick stomp from Emilia, I was falling down, diving into the depths.

The water around me was freezing and dense. I could feel it all around, the way it bent the light. But because of that nature, it was also just the same to me as air. All of it, really, was a mirror, in some capacity.

Tapping into [Hall of Mirrors], I used that aspect, flickering forwards. My movements stopped being slowed by the water, and instead, I began to transition through stances like a stop-motion animation, too fast to follow. I blinked from one movement to another, and it took only a moment until I was face to face with that baleful skull again.

Amusingly, since the speed of sound in water is ten times as high as it is in air, when the giant moved, there was no horrible cracking noise. Just a faint wooshing as something massive dragged itself through the depths. A sword.

I flickered, and appeared on the other side of the strike. Astraeus darted forward, and an absolute torrent of Qi powered the strike. It coursed through the water so fast that a few cavitation bubbles formed. Then, the attack hit home against the stupid monster, flickering into its tough hide.

Blood and fire spilled from the wound, but its acidic effects were severely hampered by the water. It splashed against my armor for a moment, only to then get mixed in with so much liquid it stopped mattering. I saw the usurper growl, bubbles of air leaving its skull-mask, and it snapped its attention towards me.

Only to be dragged further down by a whirlpool of water.

Chris' human shell was there, elegantly hovering in the water, their hair floating weightlessly. They gave me a gentle smile, as the giant sank, and sank some more. I could see the usurper reaching out, trying to swim upwards, more water turning to steam as the flames raged… but it was pointless.

There was no way to fight against a current, especially when it was so much denser than the world around it. Trichtera dove after it, all fury and blood, and although she would be weakened by this environment, too, she used her wings to propel herself through the water even faster.

It looked a little comical, I'll admit, but still. She charged forward, slamming into the giant, both of them tumbling over each other in a heap of burning flesh and glinting steel. Our berserker and the usurper both descended even deeper into the lake, and Chris' smile looked sinister at the fact. Ice began to crystallize out of the water around them, long lances of it, perfectly ready to pierce through the giant's hide.

And that's exactly what they did. Trichtera retreated after only a few moments, when a strike from the giant lopped an entire wing off. Bubbles escaped her mouth in a silent scream, and Cass quickly dove forward to pull her out, dragging her through a mirror and up to Eric for first aid.

But with no one near the usurper, Chris can unleash their barrage. A hundred frozen lances shot forward, and the giant quickly brought up its sword, swatting half of them aside. The other half, though, still burrowed into its tough flesh. More blood, more flames spilled out, and I could see the thing writhe just for a moment.

Some of that inhuman toughness was finally cracking. I could feel it, see it. Meanwhile, my wounds were healing with every passing second. Golden glass mixed with the water, leaking from my wounds in a steadily slowing drip, turning it shades of gold and red. Despite everything, though, we were now overwhelming the giant.

I snapped forward again, engaging it in a melee, Astraeus' haft already being mended again, the metal having fused together with enough Qi fed to it. The spear sung in my hands, and whenever there wasn't enough time to strike, I simply summoned more from willpower. Metal and glass melded and danced, singing through the air like a battle hymn. I could feel it, the way every step felt right.

The star in my chest roared and budded, growing and thrashing. I could feel it. A sword that could cleave me in half whistled above my head, missing me. The giant couldn't bring it back around quickly enough, and I stabbed it in the chest, spilling more blood. It roared in anger, lances of flames flying towards me, only for me to flicker aside.

Every time I moved, it was as if time stopped for me. I simply passed through the water without resistance, while the big bastard was flailing against the hissing steam. Its flames couldn't hurt me as easily, its caustic blood was pointless in the water, and its movements were slower. I could win this.

Ruination was still only a step away, though, so my wings flared and glower. I could feel it, the way each step became more perfect than the last, the way I grasped at freedom.

[Sparking Nova has evolved into Flaring Nova. (Reach for the skies and your steps will take you there. You've seen the stars, right? Stay kind to yourself.)]

My spear flashed, and the giant stumbled backwards. A star roared in my chest, demanding my superiority, glowing so much brighter than the constellation of the giant. I could feel my talent soaring, my steps growing more sure, I could see the way that whirling nova in my chest ate at this thing.

Stolen story; please report.

I was devouring its talent. Its capacity for improvement, and its mastery. It was as if Orvan looked over my shoulder, even now. I smiled, brightly, as we reached the bottom of the lake. I struck again at the stumbling thing, and for a moment, it moved to parry.

Then, the floor of the mountain rose up. Emilia, steadfast as ever, held back its blow by directing an enormous hand of stone. "Go get 'em, princess!" she called. I knew, because Cass told me, given that all I actually heard was faintly popping air bubbles.

But I moved. I flickered forward, I brought unyielding metal to bear, and stabbed right into its shoulder. For a moment, the mountainous bone held, and it felt as if I'd tried to stab granite. And then I remembered, that granite was so much softer than my spear.

[Unyielding Metal has reached (High)!]

The bone shattered against the strike. Its socket broke into pieces, and the arm began to hang limply, held in place only by torn muscles. Qi raced into the wound, a thousand slicing blades, shredding what remained of its flesh, and then, when it struck back, I disappeared.

And then, it hit its breaking point.

I could see it in the black pits that passed as eyes on the usurper. It was done with this. Done with fighting. Done with burning and rage and slashing its sword around.

From one heartbeat to another, all the black flames disappeared. Its sword unwreathed itself, sinking back underneath its skin. The fires that so persistently poked out from it withdrew, making the thing look like a decorated corpse instead of something alive. And yet, I could hear it.

A heartbeat.

It rang through the water, reaching my ears as a dull thud. Then it came again, and again, louder each time. I saw the cool corpse of the usurper, as it slowly turned. Its movements weren't fast or snappy, but there was a dull inevitability in them. As if escape was impossible. I looked at it, striking again, but as I moved, there was another heartbeat.

Echo pulsed out of the beast, but it wasn't painful. It rattled my bones and made my muscles seize up with a dull paralysis. It was so much of the stuff that it momentarily even affected my secondary gold-skeleton. Just for a single breath, I was stunned, unable to move.

Then the attack came.

It was a dull spark of black light in front of where the boar's snout would have been. A single pinprick of light that I easily could have mistaken for something else. And yet, it scared me. My instincts screamed, and I had Vivi crawl out of my chest. She was grumpy at being interrupted on her hunt, for just a second, before seeing the giant.

Then, she grinned a feral grin.

A second later, the spark winked out. Silence for a moment. And then, a rushing torrent of fire.

It appeared faster than I could even register. The paralysis still sat deep in my bones, and Vivi was the one to face it. She twirled her version of Astraeus, pouring out a torrent of gold as a shield, an ocean that shattered as soon as it came.

The black washed over her, and I could hear it, echoing through our connection. As she burned, so did a part of me. I felt the fire. It encased me, violently tearing across her skin and turning it into ash. Vivi's bones disintegrated in one breath, and the echoing resonance coursed through her flesh.

In a serenade of black, she was unmade. Another heartbeat, and the fire hit me.

My skin charred, instantly. I could hear it, strangely enough. Hear the music of my flesh melting. My armor boiled away. My eyelashes burnt to bits. I shielded my face with my arms, only to have the skin on them flay, the muscles eroding.

I screamed, silently, in a column of bubbles, and took a single, warping step. It should have taken me out of range, but the beam distorted my skill. The Echo rang so loudly, that it consumed the entire world. There was nothing except the tunnel of black fire, washing over me.

Until an arrow slammed into my side.

It hit me like a ballista bolt, slamming into my ribcage and cracking a few bits of me. It also launched me to the side, outside the stream of fire. My skin was ragged and torn, and the water boiled as it came into contact with my blazing hot flesh. Steam mixed with blood as boiling crimson vital fluid poured out of me.

I was gasping for air, but there was none. All I inhaled was steam, the lake having been burned away by the stream of fire. And then it stopped.

Behind me, I could see what it had done.

The lance of power had torn through the entirety of the mountain. It had punched a hole diagonally down its side, creating an exit wound. The water from the lake began to flow down that tunnel, as if someone had pulled the stopper on a bathtub.

And then, there was a second hold in the mountain. A large one, almost human sized, and on its other side, my saviour. Stella, Eagleeye, ex Zinnic operative and recently recruited to cause trouble in Eden. She hesitated for a second before giving me a shy wave, with an almost apologetic look to her.

The usurper stood, dull fire bubbling out of its skin once again. It was shaky on its legs, but I wouldn't kill it. Even as more of its talent siphoned into me, as its life-flame fell apart in a whisper, spent in that last attack, I didn't have it in me to move.

My legs were charred almost to the bone. I was missing a good chunk of my skin and the pain was really, really rather bad. But still, I lived. Still, I dragged myself up to my feet.

Golden glass shifted underneath my skin, cracked from the echoing resonance. I held my breath, as time slowly, horribly ticked onwards. Every movement ached, and I stood there, clinging to Astraeus with my flayed-open hands, as the water drained from the lake. Eventually, after half a minute of agonizing torrents brushing my wounds, the water was gone.

I breathed, then. Finally. My lungs were screaming for air, the pain aching in my bones, even as the wounds began to mend. My healing was faster now, Qi pouring into the hurt bits, expelling the dying embers of Echo.

Another arrow and a lance of ice from Chris finished the usurper off. It fell over, dead, spent of flame, and empty.

Emilia reached out to support me, and I leaned on her for a moment. Her cool armor burnt against my wounds. "Well, princess. You look in rough shape."

A choking, self-deprecating, pained laugh bubbled from my chest. "You should see the other guy," I said, stepping forward slowly. Towards the corpse. It was already shimmering. Could see the dimension start to frey.

There was a brief flash of light, and I saw the grubby hand of a frog reaching in. My eyes widened. Not this fucking time.

Qi raged through my body, and the Echo that was still left screamed. Agony flashed through me, vibration making the golden glass under my skin want to shatter, but I still moved. I shifted and flickered through a frying world, fed by Cass' Qi and letting her guide me along, and reached the gateway fragment.

The frog and I touched it at the same time, and that's when the difference showed. It was a usurper. I was an inheritor.

And there was a difference, damn it.

A heartbeat passed, and the gateway glass chose me. It tore away from those amphibian fingers, and I heard a click of a tongue as the tear in the world vanished. Glass enveloped my skin, and radiance filled my wounds. The pain abated, slowed, as my gateway grew stronger again.

So, so much stronger.

[Golden Glass Maelstrom advanced to 4th Step.]

I could feel it, the fact that I could summon yet another manifestation of myself, that there was even more Qi at my disposal. That Qi covered my skin, keeping my insides on the inside. The ice ceiling above us started to crumble, but Chris quickly stopped the falling debris, and Trichtera carried Eric down on her slowly mending wings.

With the fight over, I checked the very bottom line of my character sheet in the Gift.

[Current Status: Ragged.]

"Now if you'll excuse me," I said, slurring my words slightly. "This ragged piece of charcoal, by which I mean me, is gonna take a nap." Then I proceeded to pass out in Emilia's arms. It was a good day.

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