---Current Host: Valgraiva, Lord of the Damned---
[Skills Transferred]
1. Spectral Snipe (Grade D)
You launch a bolt of precise energy up to 200 ft from your current location. This bolt deals 200 pts of {piercing}DMG and takes 60 secs to recharge.
Note: You must remain stationary when you use this skill.
Grade E->D Upgrade Acquired!
Spectral Snipe can now pass through solid and {ethereal} matter
Spirit Cores required to upgrade further: 750
2. Summon Illusion (Grade E)
You concentrate to form an illusory entity from you or your target’s mind. The target becomes convinced the illusion is real, although more perceptive creatures can see through the deception (PERS: 50+)
Spirit Cores required to upgrade further: 500
3. Summon Mana Veil (Grade E)
You create a dense layer of fog 50ft wide. Any targets within this fog must pass an Intelligence check (INT: 30+) or be {Silenced} for the duration they remain within the fog.
{Silenced} targets cannot cast spells.
Spirit Cores required to upgrade further: 500
Spirit Cores Remaining: 150
After recovering Klax, Ethan had spent some time plundering the skull of the Obscaurus and found it rich in bounty. Forget physical loot. Skills were the only treasures a Demon hat needed.
His new Spectral Snipe bolt flew from the tip of his scythe and tore through the shimmering towers of the City of Illusions, phasing through their translucent walls like a ghost. The violet beam of energy, a perfect combination of the abilities he had ripped from the possessed snipers, pierced the skull of one of the hidden Obscaurus. The creature’s glistening black eyes bulged in surprise as its head exploded in a spray of ghostly ichor. Ethan smirked. He was a long-ranged Grim Reaper now.
“Gotcha,” he muttered.
This part of the city was practically full of them – and it looked like they worked in pairs, covering every alley and sidestreet leading to the city core and the Nerve Tower that loomed over them all. Whatever mystic force compelled them to defend this place clearly hadn’t accounted for a countersniper to start clipping them one by one.
Ethan leaned back against the cracked stone wall of the alley they were hiding in, listening for any sign of movement from the other towers. He could sense the Obscaurus snipers lurking in their Memory Towers above. But with his newly acquired sniping ability, combined with his Ethereal Phase Shift, they were no match for him. He could shoot through walls, through stone, through whatever they tried to hide behind. Spending the 500 Cores he’d gotten from the two snipers he’d already felled had gotten him another grade in Snipe already, and had built him the perfect fantasy railgun.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Ethan muttered, flexing his fingers as the power surged through him, “but all those years playing Battlefield and Arma in High School are finally paying off.”
From their hiding spot, Tara peered around the corner. "You took down another one?"
Ethan nodded. "That's five. Pretty sure the last one’s scrambling around up there like a headless chicken. Doesn’t even know I’m about to nail him.”
He concentrated again, letting the energy flow through his veins. In Ethereal Form, the world looked different. Layers of reality peeled back, and everything seemed to shimmer. The walls of the Memory Towers flickered, becoming almost transparent, and the faint outline of the final Obscaurus sniper came into view, crouching in the shadows.
"Gotcha," he whispered again, lifting his sword.
With a thought, he phased through the stone wall, releasing a bolt of violet light that shot straight through the sniper’s chest. The creature jerked up, its cloaking ability failing as it fell limply to the ground, its ghostly form dissipating into the air.
“Snipers down,” Ethan said, stepping out of the alley with a grin. “Nerve Tower, here we come.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Tara gave him a dry smile, her sharp eyes glittering with approval. “Not bad, chief.”
Fauna, her floppy ears twitching anxiously, looked up at the massive ivory spire of the Nerve Tower that loomed ahead. The tower stretched into the sky, its organic shape pulsating faintly, as if it were a living thing. Faces drifted across the swirling aurora borealis in the skies above, watching them from the ever-shifting clouds.
“They’re still watching us,” Fauna said quietly, her voice tinged with dread. “The Dreamstriders. They know what we’re doing.”
“They always know,” Ethan replied, glancing up at the sapphire-white manta rays that circled above them in eerie silence. “Let them watch. We’ve got a job to do.”
They took their final steps towards their looming destiny – the great organic tower that pulsed with a life of its own. At regular intervals its physical form would shimmer and bleed into the twilit sky of the city before returning again, pulsing like a beating heart at the center of a singular organic being.
Klax brought up the rear, silent and resolute. In the wake of his near-death experience, he had been silent as a rock, saying nothing but a mumbled thank you to Fauna before rejecting anyone who tried to talk to him – and would say nothing when prompted to explain what exactly he saw and heard beyond what everyone already suspected.
Suddenly, the city seemed so much more silent.
The four of them moved cautiously through the dream-like city streets, the translucent towers reflecting shimmering lights that seemed to flicker in and out of reality. Pale, ghostly figures—the memories of past lives—watched them from the shadows, their hollow eyes unblinking. It was as though the city itself was alive, a place where memories held sway over reality.
And at the base of the Nerve Tower, Klax suddenly stopped.
“Go on without me,” he said, his voice low and gravelly.
Ethan turned, his brows furrowing. Klax’s usually proud and towering figure was slouched, his eyes downcast, as if the weight of the world had fallen on his shoulders.
“I’ve done what I promised to do – I got you to this tower. Leave me here to cover your escape. And then let my spirit finally rest in this place. It is as good a grave as any.”
Ethan whirred on the wolf.
“What are you talking about?”
Klax shook his head, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze. “I’ve been nothing but a liability. I was tricked back there—those snipers had me running in circles like a fool. You’d all be better off without me.”
Fauna reached out, her eyes wide with concern. “Klax, that’s not true. You’ve been—”
“Enough,” Klax snapped, his voice sharp with self-loathing. “I couldn’t even protect you when you needed me. And now... look at me. I’m nothing compared to what I used to be.”
Tara stood off to the side, her eyes narrowing, but she remained silent. She seemed aloof, but Ethan could see the way her fingers twitched, as if she was holding herself back from saying something harsh.
Ethan stepped forward, his gaze steady as he looked up at the Lycae warrior. "Klax, we need you. You're not a liability. You're our friend—and more than that, you're one of the strongest warriors I’ve ever known."
Klax let out a bitter laugh. “Strong? Look at me now, Ethan. I’m not the warrior I used to be. I was so easily fooled. I’ve been dragging you down.”
Ethan stared at him for a long moment before a thought sparked in his mind. He extended his hand, summoning his illusiuary powers.
A shimmering image appeared in front of them—a vision of Klax as Ethan remembered him from when they had first met. Proud, regal, a warrior standing tall against an entire army. The Klax in the illusion was unyielding, his eyes blazing with determination as he fought to protect his people. Every movement was filled with purpose, every swing of his blade filled with strength.
“This is the Klax I know,” Ethan said softly, his voice cutting through the night air. “The warrior who fought for his people. The warrior who stood against impossible odds and never gave up. You think you’ve lost your way, but that warrior is still in there. You’re more important to us than you realize.”
Klax stared at the illusion, his breath catching in his throat. The proud Lycae in the image fought with a ferocity and resolve that seemed to light a fire within Klax’s own soul. His eyes softened, and he looked at Ethan with a mixture of gratitude and sorrow.
“I... I don’t know if I can be that warrior again,” he whispered.
“You don’t have to be,” Ethan replied, stepping closer. “You just have to be here. With us. We can’t do this without you, Klax. None of us can. And besides, Jun'Ei's waiting to see her warrior return to her.”
Fauna nodded vigorously, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “Please, Klax. Stay with us.”
Klax looked between them, the weight of his self-doubt beginning to lift as the memory of who he once was filled him with a newfound sense of purpose. Slowly, he straightened, his towering form once again taking on that regal stance that Ethan had first seen in him.
“All right,” he said, his voice steady. “I’ll stay.”
Ethan smiled, clapping him on the shoulder. “Good. Because I wasn’t planning on losing you, big guy.”
Tara, still aloof, merely shrugged. “If we’re done with the drama, let’s move. We’ve got a tower to climb.”
The group turned to face the towering spire of the Nerve Tower, its surface pulsating like the skin of some great living creature. The Dreamstriders circled above them, their sapphire-white bodies flickering in the light of the aurora, their unblinking eyes following the party’s every move.
As they approached the entrance, Fauna’s voice broke the tense silence.
“There’s powerful magic inside,” she whispered. “Illusions that will test us. We need to be careful.”
Ethan glanced up at the tower’s towering height, a chill running down his spine. “What do you mean, ‘test us’?”
Fauna hesitated before answering, her voice trembling. “It’s said that the Nerve Tower is where memories and dreams collide. The deeper we go, the more the lines between reality and illusion will blur. We could face our worst fears... or our greatest desires.”
Ethan frowned. “So, we’re walking into a place where we might not even be able to trust what we see?”
Fauna nodded. “Exactly. And the Dreamstriders... they’re watching us. They know we’re going in there. It’s like they’re... waiting.”
Tara smirked, tightening her grip on her bow. “Let them wait. I’m ready for whatever they throw at us.”
Klax, standing taller now, his shoulders squared, grunted in agreement. “We’ll make it through. Together.”
Ethan took a deep breath, steeling himself as they stepped forward, the shadows of the Nerve Tower swallowing them whole. The entrance yawned before them like the maw of a great beast, and as they crossed the threshold, the Dreamstriders watched in eerie silence, their ghostly forms flickering in the distance, like sentinels standing vigil over a party walking to their graves.
“Ready?” he asked his party.
They nodded, though he could see the fear that gripped their beings. All of them knew that whatever awaited them in this tower was only the penultimate act of this Delve.
Ethan took one last look up at the tip of the tower, trying to sense the energy of his old nemesis up there, and knowing that the old bastard was probably doing the same right now. Then, without another moment’s hesitation, he walked through the sticky organic compound of the tower’s base.
He wasn’t going to keep the Lightborn waiting.