Metal rang out as they clashed again, both warriors skidding backward against the pressure of their collision.

Grunting, Elissa stomped against the ground and shook her head.

Abe touched his side, relieved to find his wounds patched up by the worms, and then narrowed his gaze on her.

“I don’t care what parasites you sell your festering body to; you won’t win!” Elissa roared as she charged back into battle.

Their blades slammed against one another, sending both combatants skidding backward and rejusting footing.

“You made your point, let's end this, Elissa!”

Snorting, Elissa flew back into range, wildly swinging from left to right and repeating the attack in reverse.

With every wild swing, she became more telegraphed, and Abe soon stopped relying purely on strength. He saw her attacks and could move with them, sending them off-target with light taps.

Abe realized the worms hadn’t just made him stronger. He was faster. His inner mind could see the worms within. They had gone from transferring their power from one section of his body to another to extending across the entire length of his veins and arteries. This allowed him to benefit from their added power, strengthening properties, and even their mending at all times—without needing to wait for them to transfer to another limb.

On top of that, Elissa was slowing. Her gun wound dripped thick ichor, soaking her body in a blackish-red glean. And she wasn't healing. Nor was Abe, for that matter, but the worms held his wounds together and stopped his viscous blood from spilling free—which was the source of the power granted by Miss Nia.

Setting his feet down, he waited for the next heavy strike, allowing it to flow with his movement as he pivoted along its trajectory. Then, with a flicking stab, he riposted into her elbow.

Elissa screamed and double-downed with fast, sweeping strikes that fell short of their target as Abe bounced out of range effortlessly. At the end of her swings, he then darted back into range and stabbed at various points across her body.

He had figured out her speed and range, and there was no need to get reckless and put himself in harm to land a killing blow. She would be done once enough ichor had poured free from her leaky body.

“Feral thing!” Elissa coughed blood and saliva, bouncing out of range momentarily before darting back in with the same wild, predictable strikes as she grew increasingly furious and unhinged.

Abe dodged one attack after another and returned by slicing lines across her arms and legs.

“You’re down; give up,” he said as she stumbled backward, her free hand pushed against the ground to hold herself up.

“Never!” she snarled, dropping her axe and charging toward him with her claws extended.

Abe bounced back a step as he began to dive for him and then shot forward once she was out of position, sword extended like a spear. The pointed blade impaled her.

Coughing blood, she pulled herself against the sword, her claws flailing wildly as she hissed and bit at their air.

“Pathetic!” Abe said, pressing a boot to her chest and kicking her away. “Is this really what you have been reduced to?”

“Maggot!” Elissa sprawled back to her feet, the ground around her soaked in ichor.

Stepping aside, he knocked her back to the ground with another slice across her leg.

“Insane bitch,” Abe shook his head as she struggled back to her feet. Waiting for her to straighten, he held his sword with two hands and arced it behind his back.

*Whack*

Elissa’s headless body stumbled forward, trickling ichor that blackened the snow around it.

“No… never… maggot…” her severed head muttered, eyelids still fluttering as she tried to look around.

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“Sad,” Abe grimaced, staring down at the pitiful sight as true death claimed her. “I expected more from you.”

His nose sniffed impulsively.

The delightful scent of evolutionary brains wafted up from the severed head lying in the snow. There was little doubt she was the most powerful enemy had had bested. The Man in White might have been able to best her in combat, but that had far more to do with his strategy and her weaknesses than being the stronger soul.

“Well, it’s not as if I can let it go to waste,” Abe tilted his head as he knelt to pick up the head.

Holding the skull, Abe smacked his pommel against it, cracking it open like a coconut. Delicately, he peeled back flesh and picked out pieces of skull.

Sniffing again, he savored the scent of his meal before bringing it to his lips. The taste that filled his mouth was heavenly—like the most tender, buttery meat imaginable.

Pounding thumps of energy rushed through him immediately, and he pulled in deep breaths as his legs grew shaking, and an exhilarating surge of power filled his veins.

His entire body tensed and tightened, forcing him down to one knee as he closed his eyes and arched his head back. There was no need to rush, and he took in the sensation of his body and his power growing stronger.

The sensation began to calm, and a strange sensation lingered on his periphery, and in that moment, he realized that he was close. He was close to the precipice. Very close. He could feel his power lashing at an internal gateway that promised greater strength. It wasn’t far now. Soon, he would evolve.

Panting and sweaty, Abe climbed back to his feet.

“We’re close,” he murmured, and the worms understood. Their evolution might be separate from his, but the benefit of growth was mutual now. And they trilled with excitement at the proclamation.

“Don’t worry; once my evolution is complete, I’ll make sure to find the ingredients you need.”

He looked down at the empty skull, dropped it, and kicked off the mountain like a ball.

“The weak feed the strong,” he shrugged. That had been the lesson taught to him when he was sent down to the sewers, and he hardly expected Miss Nia would care now.

Elissa had reached her peak. Even if expensive treasurers might have been able to push her past it, what was the point? Perhaps it had been intentional from the start. Perhaps Miss Nia hadn’t wanted to waste resources.

Abe’s thoughts wandered to Kearn. Ricky had said he was a Revenant. A creature far beyond himself. More powerful than even a wight. And it had only cost Miss Nia two supreme treasures to push him to that stage of evolution.

Unfortunately, it was too early to say whether or not he would need a similar number or perhaps more. But he knew one thing: he wasn’t content with being Kearn’s second. There was only one acceptable outcome, and that one saw him at the top.

Kicking her corpse as he walked, Abe turned his attention to the submarine.

“So, what exactly is this supposed to be?” He tilted his head, and the worms stirred. They might not have known what the orb was, but they were certainly interested in it.

Fine, we can go take a look.

He crunched forward, jumping several meters through the air to land on the deck.

Dropping back through the metallic corridor, Abe returned to the control room.

He eyed the orb as he stepped into the room.

“So, that’s it,” he shook his head as he approached, hovering his hand over it as the worms wiggled excitedly.

“Alright, alright, let’s see what this thing is all about,” Abe mumbled as he lowered his hand onto the orb.

An electrical storm of energy flooded into him, connecting him to a network of energy that went far beyond the valley. He could see the Deathscape. It appeared to be a layer of necrotic energy draped over existence itself, connecting to other realms of existence that pulsated with energy. Tunnels and overlapping dimensions of broken space melded together, joined by the erratic spasms of the Astral Vale that created tethers of energy bridging everything together.

“It’s amazing, the vastness of it all,” Abe mumbled as his mind journeyed through converging realities of dream and death, superimposed over a distorted image of the material world.

His understanding was nothing. A blimp in the greater fabric of reality. But he saw how it all connected, how dreams twisted into reality and reality into death.

He saw the entries into the Vale, gaining the most basic understanding of how it was all tethered together; the void between reality was filled by the Astral Vale, which connected it all.

His eyes filled with purple energy as he gazed across the endless and intertwined realities. He wanted to see it all, explore the vastness, and gain an understanding of the extent of reality’s expanse.

It made him feel small and insignificant, weak. It was yet another reminder of the possibilities ahead if he could continue to grow stronger.

He had sought strength to break his bondage and make himself an equal to Miss Nia. But this was something altogether different. His eyes had been opened and witnessed a touch of the truth.

The world of dreams and death was bound; with them, endless possibilities were open—if you possessed the power to take them.

He wasn’t even sure if it was all Earth or a tapestry that connected all of life and death.

He looked down at the orb and concentrated his energy on it, his purple eyes glowing brightly.

Energy flooded between him and the vessel, and it felt as if they had become one.

Deathly energy weakly clung to it, and it was immediately clear that it couldn’t travel the tethers in its current state. But it could fly within this domain.

With a thought, Abe pulled away from the ground, metal groaning as he levitated into the sky.

“Now, where to hide this thing,” Abe mouthed as he turned the vessel.