Tony was whisked away from the arena and sequestered to a separate area from the red room and tunnels that he'd become so accustomed to over the course of the last month. The space almost reminded him of his chambers on the Hagh' Tanak, lavishly and expensively decorated. The room also kept him away from anyone and almost everyone. Not long after the doors slammed and locked behind him, Vixie was brought in by a small squad of Padinus guards to do a physical evaluation.

Despite her formalities and pleasantries, Tony wouldn't meet her gaze. He was still justifiably upset about her drug-laden ambush in the tunnel and after he'd given her the Cure-All that he'd intended to use on himself.

Had she been ordered to drug him via collar, or was some other leverage applied to make her do it? Had she even been coerced or did she have the capacity to sabotage him all on her own?

”Would you look at me, please?” Vixie asked, a hard edge to her voice.

Tony looked up at the Alchemist from the soft bench he’d sat on. As she examined him, she talked through the steps she was taking, but her actions didn't match up. Once Tony started paying attention to that, he noticed that she was trying to slip him several small vials that she had stashed about her person. He didn't need to see them to know what the vials contained, Hamaskyr.

Hamaskyr Addiction: You are now addicted to the substance known as "Berserker's Brew" and will be subject to the effects of [Hamaskyr] Withdrawals unless you have the substance in your system.

Stage 1 - Positive Emotions Suppressed, Partial Colorblindness, Stage 2 - Suppressed Rational Thought, Substance Dependence, Tremors

Almost in response to the advancement in his "condition," Tony latched onto Vixie's words and learned that they were veiled instructions on how to take the vials from her without being noticed by her retinue of guards. Before long, Tony had stashed at least seven vials of the crimson liquid in the plush cushion of the bench.

Vixie finished her "evaluation," turned on her heal to leave and tossed "Don't forget your promise," over her shoulder at him just before the stone double doors closed. Tony shot up from his seat and slammed his palms against the doors with a shout of frustration.

He stalked back to the bench, fished out one of the vials, popped the cork, and downed it. The Hamaskyr, in the smaller doses, didn't amplify him like it had before. This diluted and reduced amount only served to remove the Addiction debuff from his Status bars for a couple hours. Tony chucked the vial at the far wall and buried his face in his hands. His fingers ran into his hair and pulled at the roots as he took in gasping breaths.

How had he come to this? What purpose did this all serve?

"Bad time?" a familiar voice asked.

Tony's head snapped up and out of his hands, Denmas, or an image of him at least, was standing within arm's reach.

"I'm certainly not having a good one. Are you even real?" Tony answered and asked.

"Real enough, boons from the afterlife and all, remember?"

"Boons from the afterlife?" Tony repeated.

"You were my Martyr's Charge, that whole thing I did to save you from Ignacious?" Denmas answered.

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"Why did you do that?" Tony demanded, "How am I supposed to live up to you? I mean, what the fuck D?"

Denmas' gaze hardened as he took a step forward and open hand slapped Tony across the face. D was definitely "real enough" for Tony to feel like someone had slammed him across the whole of his head with a slab of granite.

"First, you're welcome, I figured that you wouldn't want to be dead, second, you keep going the way you are, minus the bitching, and you'll soar right past where I was at when I ascended to Godhood, and third, because it had to happen."

Tony got back to a seated position from where he'd met the cushion and then to his feet. Even without all of the armor, D was still a head and a half taller than he was.

"What do you mean, it had to happen?" Tony asked, significantly calmer than his last barrage of questions.

"We went effectively opposite directions from the Knight specialization, Tony. I went the Paladin Route, took the Weapon Master Ascendant Specialization, and took the Seal of the Martyr at the end of my Essence Advancement Quest. When I took that Seal, I thought what it meant was that I would be able to help the most people, take the damage onto myself, that kind of thing. What I got instead were visions of sacrificing myself for someone who would carry an impact, to make the Ascendant Program work. But before that person showed up, I ascended a second time and the visions stopped... until you came out of cryo," D said.

"Well, I guess that explains a lot," Tony muttered.

If D had truly gone in the opposite direction that he had when picking his specializations, going the Paladin Route, then it would make sense that a lot of his talents would have allowed him to take on the wounds that other people suffered to empower himself, since, at the moment, most of Tony's talents hurt him to empower him.

"Unless you've got any other emotional outbursts to have, time is short and we have work to do," D interrupted.

"Work to do?" Tony asked.

"I never got to train you myself, so I'm using my first boon to do that. I'm going to teach you one of the talents that saved my skin more times than I can count. It'll probably show up as something different for you, but for me it was called 'Righteous Body Reinforcement,' ready to get started?"

Tony must have shown visible excitement when he nodded at D because the dead God's visage softened, ever so slightly.

Your Social Link with D has increased!

The training itself consisted of grueling physical training, several rounds of sparring, and a meditation exercise to locate the locus of essence within himself. D guided him through the steps required to "see" introspectively and after a couple of attempts, Tony was successful. He traveled through himself from the crown of his head down until he found what he could best describe as a roughly cut chunk of obsidian just behind his heart.

"Now that you know where the locus of your power sits, you need to draw the essence out and into your body. When I opened your menus, if it went anything like when I had mine opened, you saw different symbols and magic circuits under your skin... think of those like a second and third set of veins and arteries. Your Essence circulates naturally, because you're a living being and you possess an Essence trait. Everything that lives has essence, but not all of them can access and use it. Becoming aware of your essence circulation and consciously making it flow is the first step in unlocking Righteous Body Reinforcement, making that conscious effort "background noise" is step two, and doing it subconsciously should unlock your version of the talent," D lectured.

"Aren't you going to help me with that part?" Tony asked getting back to his feet from the meditative position he'd taken on one of the oversized throw pillows.

"I could tell you how I did it, but I don't think it would work the same for you. Besides, if I stay much longer, it'll cut into the power of the other boons I can give you later and I'd rather not have that happen."

Tony nodded in understanding and eyed his status bar before his head dipped. The Hamaskyr dose he'd taken was about to expire, he didn't want D to see him in the sorry state the withdrawals were sure to put him in.

"Don't worry, Tony. The system wants you to live. If it didn't, you would have never been my charge," D said as he put a large hand on Tony's shoulder.

When Tony reached up for the hand, it was gone.

He was alone.

Again.