With a Scion of the Apocalypse System slowly heading his way, Ilse unconscious or dead, and Eema keeping Bram and Olivia occupied, Sebastian risked adding his final card to his core deck.

Card [Blaze of Creation] added to core deck.

Card [Blaze of Creation] activated.

Synergy with existing deck: Moderate

Synergy with heart card: High

Synergy Effects: Action at a Distance, Syncretist

The activation of this card wasn’t as visually spectacular as Death Is Not the End, but the feeling was almost as strong.

He gritted his teeth as the card settled into his core, the pain intense and nauseating.

Then it abated, warmth flowing through him. Power.

All at once he knew how to use the card, and more importantly, knew its limits.

And it wasn’t powerful enough to take out an E1-rank Scion.

But maybe he didn’t need to use it offensively…

He activated Sovereign of Gelandar for the first time.

Sovereign of Gelandar

Rank: Base

Cooldown: None

Duration: 10 seconds

Uses: Unlimited

Card Slot: Core

Sockets: 1

Effect: Form chains out of any substance your hands are in direct contact with.

Current mass limit of chains: 5 pounds

Using the card was easy, though not automatic like resurrection.

He focused, and something solid yet completely invisible formed in his hand, the mass growing until it reached what he assumed was five pounds, as it wouldn’t grow further.

Even though he couldn’t see the chains, he could sense them. And not just that, he could control them.

He caused one end to whip toward the Scion and wrap around him, binding him with chains of air.

Unfortunately, the Scion was far stronger than Sebastian, so when the man grabbed the chains and yanked, Sebastian was pulled off his feet and toward the Scion.

Unlike Ilse, he had no gravity-defying ability and so all he could do was curl into a ball as he slammed into the Scion.

It was like colliding with a brick wall, and he felt more of his ribs crack.

He bounced off, hit the ground and broke at least one of those cracked ribs, then just lay there, his body wracked with pain.

This was bad.

How much longer before my freaking card reactivates? he mentally asked the System.

Time until [Death Is Not the End] reactivation unknown. Second core has impeded reactivation process.

What second core? he wondered, then remembered the earlier message. He quickly brought it up to read again.

Second core detected, diverting channels

Attempting to integrate core

Incompatible core

Unable to initiate second core

Channels connected

Channels activated

Activating heart card [Death Is Not the End]…

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Was that what Sanne had done? Shoved a second core into him?

But why? Wouldn’t that make him stronger? Or maybe they’d known it would delay his heart card from reactivating, knew that he wouldn’t be able to initiate the core.

And why was the Scion now just standing there, staring blankly at the fight between Eema and the Vassals?

At least she hadn’t been bluffing about being stronger than them: She was keeping them locked up on the bridge over the canal, beating both Bram and Olivia back with apparent ease, both bleeding from multiple slash wounds while she remained unscathed.

Whatever Sanne had managed to do to her, it hadn’t affected Eema’s fighting ability.

The Scion turned away from the fight and looked down at Sebastian, as though sensing Sebastian watching him.

It was creepy.

He forced himself to get up and started slowly backing away from the Scion, who continued to stare at him.

Then began following. Quickly.

“Crap.”

Sebastian turned and ran, but only made it a few steps before the Scion somehow maneuvered in front of him and knocked him to the ground.

He knelt beside Sebastian and placed a hand against his chest.

Sebastian tried to pry the hand away, but it didn’t budge at all.

The man began pressing.

Sebastian gasped as he felt his sternum creak, futilely trying to fight off the Scion as his lungs were deprived of air.

He formed more chains and was about to use them when the Scion’s hand became scalding and with a nauseating pop Sebastian’s sternum cracked, the Scion’s hand plunging inside, instantly ending any attempt at resistance as Sebastian nearly whited out with pain.

The fingers wriggled around, making it even worse, then grabbed something.

My heart! He’s literally grabbing my heart!

Sebastian felt a sudden surge of panic along with the agony. His heart card. Could it be stolen if someone ripped out his heart?

A heart card cannot be removed or replaced under normal conditions.

Having his heart literally ripped out of his chest was far from normal, so the System’s answer wasn’t exactly comforting. Doubly so since it was deactivated. Triply so since he wouldn’t come back if he died while it was.

The Scion withdrew his hand, and Sebastian was horrified to see not his heart, but his Death Is Not the End card in the Scion’s grasp.

He was having a hard time pulling it free, however, a faintly glowing something tethering it, even now trying to pull it back inside Sebastian.

He focused all his attention on the card, willing it to go back inside him.

The Scion’s mouth twitched as his hand was pulled back toward Sebastian’s open chest cavity.

Sebastian wondered how he was still alive with his chest torn open. The pain was so intense that his vision was beginning to go black.

He was going to pass out.

He put all his energy and focus into pulling his card back inside, but it didn’t matter. The Scion was winning the tug of war.

He only had one option left. He had to use Blaze of Creation.

This was not at all how he’d planned on using it, but he wasn’t going to let himself die, which was what would happen if the Scion took his card. Permanently.

He had several options for how to use Blaze of Creation, but he chose to seize on consequence. He could feel it would be the largest of effects in this situation, the one with the most energy. He reached out using his new synergy effect, Action at a Distance, and seized onto the Scion’s intention to steal his heart card.

Action at a Distance

Synergy between [Sovereign of Gelandar] and [Blaze of Creation] has created the following abilities: [Chains of Time], [Chains of Destruction], [Chains of Consequence], [Chains of Life].

Robbed of consequence, Sebastian’s heart card snapped back into his chest, the wound sealing shut, the damage healing as the pain faded, the Scion suddenly holding nothing as the consequence of his actions were undone.

The force of consequence filled Sebastian. He burned it to take control of another tenet: destruction.

He again used Action at a Distance to create a chain of destruction that ended at the Scion’s head, concentrating the destruction on that spot and knocking him to the ground.

Sebastian got up, staggered toward the door of the World Store outpost.

It wasn’t a safe zone exactly, but according to the System no one would be able to use abilities inside.

But despite all Sebastian’s efforts, the Scion was still a Scion, and a full rank-tier higher than him, and even with all the amazing abilities he now possessed thanks to the cards Anubis had led him to, power was still power, and power was absolute, and Sebastian’s was nothing compared to the Scion’s.

The man stood, a small wound on his forehead, then moved in front of Sebastian before he could reach the door, grabbed him by his neck, and punched through his chest all over again.

This time the pain was so intense that Sebastian blacked out for an uncertain amount of time.

When he came to again, he felt lightheaded and weightless.

Then he slammed to the ground.

The Scion had dropped him.

In his hand, the man held Sebastian’s heart card, staring intently at it, only the thinnest of tendrils still connecting it to Sebastian’s chest.

Both the card and the Scion began to radiate energy, and Sebastian could feel it being robbed from him.

“No!” a monstrous voice roared and an instant later a giant form collided into the Scion, the card snapping back into Sebastian’s chest.

Sebastian barely had time to wonder What the hell? when the Scion flew above him, thrown by Bram.

He nearly hit Eema, but she dodged out of the way in time.

Olivia wasn’t so quick and was bowled over.

Taking advantage of the sudden opportunity, Eema launched her sword at Olivia, who was already getting up.

It pierced her chest and she fell to the ground again.

Eema leaped over her, sword disappearing from Olivia and reappearing in Eema’s hand, then landed next to the Scion and stabbed her sword straight through his heart.

The Scion lashed out at her, but she leapt back, easily dodging the attack.

Still as silent as ever, the Scion got up, grabbed the sword by its blade, and pulled it out of his chest, tossing it aside.

It disappeared before hitting the ground, reappearing in Eema’s hand as the Scion closed the distance between them in an instant, swinging his fist at her chest.

But the blow never reached its intended target: Eema brought her sword up in time to block the punch, but the force of the impact sent her flying backwards, splashing into the murky water of the canal.

Then Sebastian had his own problems to worry about as Bram, naked and in human form, appeared above him.

“It’s not in your core. How?”

“Magic,” Sebastian managed to get out. He was pretty sure one lung was completely collapsed, and had no idea how he was still alive.

Bram shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

He crouched down, focused on Sebastian’s chest.

Oh no.

Then he plunged his hand into the opening remade by the Scion.

Pain shot through his body, but surprisingly it didn’t hurt as much as it had last time.

Bram’s eyes lit up when his hand closed around the card. With a look of relief, he pulled it from Sebastian’s chest, the final tendril anchoring it snapping with an otherworldly pain that radiated throughout Sebastian’s being.

“Finally,” Bram said, voice filled with reverence and eagerness, and began to activate the card.

“No!” Sebastian reached out a numb hand and grabbed the card, focusing all his effort on activating it, bringing it back into him.

Bram grimaced, battling for control of the activation.

Pain exploded in Sebastian’s chest and a wave of something blasted out from him, blowing Bram off his feet and tossing him through the air.

Heart card [Death Is Not the End] activated.

[Death Is Not the End] enabled. Effect active. Permanent effect.

Heart card [Death Is Not the End] has reached Adept rank.

Oh thank God, Sebastian thought with relief.

The bar that filled as he fought was also back, and he could now tell that it was some kind of measure of entropy.

It was already partly filled, which meant the next time he died and came back, he’d be stronger.

Going by the gaping wound in his chest, that would be sooner rather than later.

But he wasn’t going to waste the cooldown, even if he could reset it once with his title.

He was going to use this life for all it was worth. No matter how much it hurt.