The Wall had taken its first injury, but it was far from out of the fight. It charged at Kyle again, speed hardly impeded by its injured leg. Unfortunately for the large beetle, it lacked the flexibility it would need to change the outcome against its opponent. Kyle effortlessly dodged, though when he struck the Wall with his palm he didn’t get the response he was looking for.

[TOO RIGID, DR. MAYHEW. MAINTAIN THE SPEED OF THE ROTATION, LEAVE MORE PLIABILITY IN THE FORM OF THE MANA.]

The next exchange went much the same, with Kyle unable to replicate the connection using RESONANCE. This is a lot harder than I anticipated, Kyle thought as he finished a third unsuccessful attempt. There’s not much wiggle room, it’s either correct or it’s not. A fourth exchange passed, and a wave of elation passed through Kyle as he felt the connection to the Wall get established as his hand pressed against the beetle’s injured leg. Another push with his Willpower behind it, and a resounding crack much louder than the previous one broke the air. He felt his connection abruptly weaken, though he didn’t stand still to investigate.

The Wall was moving, and Kyle once again gained his distance. Watching as the creature turned to face him, he saw the lower half the right leg had snapped off at the joint, the telephone-pole sized appendage falling to the ground where Kyle had just been standing. Once again focusing on the mana in his hand, he watched intently as the monster lowered its horn and charged, this time clearly hampered as it closed the distance.

The smart thing to do would have been to wear the creature down with continued strikes until it couldn’t move, but that didn’t sit well with Kyle. Causing intentional, prolonged suffering to anything was just against his nature. Strengthening his resolve, he felt the mana moving in his hand. It felt right. Instead of diving aside, Kyle narrowly sidestepped the large horn attempting to skewer him. The horn above the creature’s eye tore into his side as he jumped onto the massive beetle’s head. The amplified pain from HASTE almost causing him to lose focus and fall, and he scrambled to keep his grip on the monster to avoid getting trampled.

The Wall thrashed, shaking its head back and forth as Kyle fought to keep his position. The movements grew more and more violent, the loud clicking of mandibles audible below him. Kyle was bleeding freely from the tear in his side, though REGENERATION was already working on repairing the damage. He rested his right palm on the center of the creature’s skull. It was warm, smooth to the touch.

“Thank you.”

He knew the Wall couldn’t understand him, but he felt like it was appropriate to give thanks. This creature had been the perfect opponent to test the applications he'd theorized, and he knew that when he absorbed the red gem upon its death he would gain even more.

With his palm steady, he activated RESONANCE. He felt the connection as his mana was linked to the monster’s, once again overwhelming it. Kyle held firm despite the beetle’s thrashing, allowing the connection to flow far deeper. In just a couple of seconds, his mana flowed through the entirety of the creature’s body, though he focused his attention on its head. He could feel the energy moving through the channels, felt it trying to fight back and seize control. A swift, powerful surge of mana followed, and the beetle collapsed to the ground, dead.

Kyle vaulted over the unmoving creature’s horn, facing his opponent. His theory was correct, he was the perfect match against an opponent like this. Fast enough to avoid the attacks, enough endurance to force a battle of attrition, and now an ability he could use to turn the tables of a fight. Not bad at all.

He absently placed a hand on his injured side, channeling a HEAL as he watched the red energy coalesce from the creature, forming the largest gem he’d seen yet. The deep crimson pulsed in the rhythm that was now familiar to him, and he braced for the pain as he reached out his hand to touch it. As before, the gem crumbled to dust at his touch, flowing into his outstretched arm and through his body. The sensation of thousands of needles struck, and then his world went black.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Kyle was prepared for the visions, and this time his perspective didn’t drift, rather looking at the whole of the tapestry. He felt the ancient, overwhelming presence as he looked over the arc of his life, waiting to be addressed. Unlike the last two times, it said nothing, and Kyle was content to wait. He remembered well the words it spoke to him after defeating the Infernal, and he was confident that nothing good would come from antagonizing this ancient creature. He was quite confident it could crush him if it wanted to, and he wasn’t going to do anything to give it the opportunity.

As he sat in silence, he focused on the tapestry of perspectives laid out before him. An odd thought came to him. In many ways, the lives of these creatures were a perfect representation of the last command his grandfather had given to him. The only driving motivation they had was survival. That looked different for each – for some it was the survival of a hive, for others it was the pursuit of surviving as the individual.

In each case, it was a pure expression of that simple, instinctive tenet. He reflected on that for a while, thought about it in the context of what he’d accomplished since his grandfather died. He was drawn to two different visions in particular – an ant colony and a grasshopper.

The ants were valiantly fighting against an invading colony, thousands dying until the invaders were ultimately rebuffed. He got a vague sense from watching them, not pride, per se, but a feeling of accomplishment. No matter what they were faced with, no matter the cost, they would give everything to ensure the survival of the colony. It didn’t matter in the least that their survival was built on the bodies of countless comrades, it was simply how it was.

This was a significant contrast to the grasshopper. It was surrounded by many of its brethren, though not out of any sense of community, but because it gave each of them a better chance to survive. He watched as dozens fell, struck down by a seemingly endless wave of threats. Spiders, beetles, wasps, birds, all hunted the grasshoppers with ease. Despite their losses, however, the grasshoppers survived. For each that fell, another avoided the threat. It was the survival of the individual through the sacrifice of the collective.

These starkly different realities painted pictures that honestly frightened Kyle. The colony reminded him of the methods and values of the Central Authority. If everybody sacrificed willingly, they could overcome great odds. At the same time, it had no room for those like Kyle who fell outside the norm. On the other hand, he had to question his current path.

He knew that C.H.A.D.D. was right, that it was important for him to grow stronger to make it in this strange new reality. What was the cost? How many refugees had died or been enslaved because he hadn’t been there for them? How many died to roving beetles, or monsters like the Wall, because he hadn’t been present to help?

Kyle knew it wasn’t his responsibility – at least not directly – but he couldn’t help but wonder how high the cost would grow the longer he chose to stay away. He hadn’t checked his level, but he was fairly certain at this point that he’d gained at least a few since departing Albaum. As awakened went, he was at a stage that virtually no living person had achieved in decades.

With the advent of his new skills, Kyle had the power to make a difference. That brought with it an entirely different set of issues, which were brought to mind as his attention shifted back to the presence that still seemed to be lurking around him. How many tyrants were created because they just wanted to help? At that thought, the visions concluded and his eyes opened.

His body hurt, as Kyle expected it would after absorbing the strange essence from the Wall. It was slightly different than the times before, this time the pain being accompanied by a voracious hunger. He was eager to enter meditation to better understand his gains before snacking, but a sense of unease stopped him. Focusing on his Auric Perception, the cause became clear. He was still detecting faint pulses of mana, and they weren’t coming from the body of the large beetle in front of him.

[DR. MAYHEW, YOU’RE AWAKE. YOU SHOULD –]

“I know, C.H.A.D.D., I feel it too. There’s something else around here. It’s faint, but I know it’s nearby.”

[THAT’S WHAT I’M TRYING TO TELL YOU, DR. MAYHEW. THE SOURCE OF THE PULSES IS DIRECTLY BEHIND YOU.]