"What are we supposed to do?" Erik stared at the blade. They had gathered around, all four of them with the addition of Sauma, staring at the sword sticking out of the Heartstone. The enhanced hammers slammed over and over into the pommel in a steady rhythm. Cat's spectral Knight's had the blade down to the last inch, the cross guard barely above the iridescent surface.
But it wasn't budging.
The Knights pounded away unendingly. Nothing about their efforts had changed from the second-to-last inch to the final one, but the sword refused to move. Something was preventing that last inch from going in.
What was the source of that problem was up for debate. It was hard to outright guarantee that the Heartstone was the problem. That seemed like the most likely answer. It was some last-ditch effort by the monster-generated item to prevent its seal from successfully returning in full force. But the sword might also be damaged, or any other number of explanations.
None of them could use aura on the sword, and none of them wanted to try. It was a complete enigma. Everything they had done so far was based on several assumptions about how the sword worked and what it did that they simply couldn't corroborate. They didn't even know for a fact that it was suppressing the Heartstone. There was a solid chance, based on sound data, that they were right, but there was no guarantee.
Caeden found himself frustrated. Mere minutes ago, he was wondering whether or not any of them would be leaving here alive, but he had taken some solace in the idea that they had, at the very least, delayed the Magma Titan's resurrection. Now he was almost second-guessing everything.
He had formed a narrative in his head that seemed to tie all the facts together, forming their situation into a smooth story with an ending where they saved the town. It sounded logical, and Caeden felt he had been objective and accurate. Now he wondered if he hadn't been trying to turn a shitty situation into a win through sheer force of will.
"Well, we at least need to try a few things," Lily spoke up. "The specters might not be able to get it any lower, but they were never our only option."
"I could offer my assistance," Sauma added.
"Yeah, let her take a shot! Her webs are a lot stronger than my normal manifestations." Erik said.
Lily glanced at Caeden, and he shrugged. It was worth a shot. So Cat commanded her Knights to take a step back and stop hammering for the first time in over an hour. When the Heartstone had surged and called in the second wave of monsters, it had forced the sword out nearly its entire length. What Caeden had originally predicted to be half an hour of constant hammering turned into nearly an hour and a half.
Sauma's long-fingered hands and back legs flashed into motion, her spinnerets spitting out thick bands of powerful webbing. Her hind legs would take that webbing and flip it forward, filing the line into Sauma's dexterous fingers, where she would make swift and delicate motions to direct the webs to their intended destination. All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
Even though Caeden had been present when the arachne Incarnation had bound all the Ash Reapers, he was still stunned at the speed and precision of her webbing, let alone their strength. It was undeniable, Sauma was powerful, for more than Caeden would have ever expected.
"Sauma, you're quite powerful." Caeden complimented sincerely. He couldn't help but compare her to his own Sharp Incarnation in his head. His Toolset had its own benefits that she couldn't replicate, but it seemed as if Sauma was still significantly more powerful if he objectively compared the two Incarnations.
Sauma giggled demurely, "I appreciate the compliment, Caeden. I can hear the question in your voice. You're wondering how I'm so much stronger than your Toolset."
"How did you know?" Caeden couldn't contain his surprise.
"I'm Erik's Incarnation, as much a part of him as his shroud and soul. I mean that quite literally." Sauma explained, laying layers and layers of webbing over the sword as she spoke. "I know everything he has ever known because I have always been with him from the moment he was conceived and his shroud formed within his budding soul. We are one and the same. Much as your Toolset has always been a part of you, just waiting to come out."
"Ok," Caeden wasn't sure how else to respond to that. "So, about my Incarnation."
"Right, of course." Sauma nodded. "I am an Incarnation myself, so I have some insight into the topic. Though I'm sure, your teachers might be able to explain better. No doubt this is something simply learned later on, perhaps next year."
"Actually, that's probably true." Lily jumped in. "I looked at the new classes added to the roster next year, and there was one on advanced infusion and aura. Which probably means talking about how to achieve Embodiment and Infusion."
"Exactly so. I'm sure my own insights are nothing compared to the millennia of learning the Academy has accrued." Sauma acknowledged. "All I can say with any certainty is that not all Infusions are created equal. Some are inherently stronger than others. It would seem that Toolset is just weaker than myself. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but when Erik drew me out of his shroud, I was granted much more power than your own Incarnation. Perhaps this is a question that Blaine could answer once we leave here."
Caeden nodded. He couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed and also a bit cheated. It seemed odd to him that one Incarnation could be inherently stronger than another, and he wanted a more thorough explanation. But that would have to wait.
Sauma had layered webs over every inch of the sword hilt sticking out of the Heartstone. Once she was satisfied with the thick coating, she yanked her hands back. Fine lines of webbing stood out from the tips of each of her fingers, and the webbing jerked around the sword, pulling hard. Sauma's arms strained and shook as she tried to force the sword even deeper.
Despite all her efforts, there wasn't a millimeter of change in the sword's position. Sauma tried once more, yanking even harder. Still, the sword didn't budge. "It seems that this task is beyond me. My raw strength is simply insignificant compared to the force acting against me." Sauma sighed.
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"That's fine. Physical strength isn't really your thing, anyway." Erik patted Sauma's spider abdomen comfortingly.
"Well, what are we supposed to do now?" Cat asked.
"We could always leave it alone. It's so close to in that we've probably offset the resurrection by hundreds of years. This isn't really a priority anymore. We could literally take the time to dig out of here straight up, and we'd still finish with time to spare before the Heartstone was a genuine threat again." Lily said.
"I'm still willing to give this one last go before we leave," Caeden added.
"I don't know if that's a great idea." Lily said slowly, "Your plan is the riskiest of them all. I don't think it's worth it now that we're this close to done. If the hammer trick hadn't worked, I would still agree. Now that we have centuries, it's not all that worth it."
Caeden nodded, acknowledging Lily's point. "I still want to try. I put all of us at risk when I start this. And I know," Caeden raised his hand, forestalling any complaints, "I know that you all agreed with me and that our plan was sound in concept. We probably went a long way toward saving Mining Station 003. But I feel like I put most of the risk on the rest of you. I don't want to leave here feeling like I walked away without putting myself on the line when all of you already did. I don't want to be that person."
"That's not exactly the best choice," Lily said. She was staring intently at Caeden, hardly blinking.
Caeden looked back, a half-smile on his lips. "I know. This isn't a good choice. But I feel…frustrated that all my choices, even if you all agreed, led us into a situation where all of you would have paid the price instead of me. Now we're just going to leave without actually reaching our goal, just because I wasn't willing to take on the same risk all of you did? That doesn't feel right, and I don't think I can live with that."
"We all knew what we were doing." Lily said, "This is an unnecessary risk."
"And trying to move it the first time wasn't?" Caeden challenged. Cat and Erik watched the back and forth like it was the best entertainment they'd seen in a while. "We didn't need to do anything. We could have just left. I was the one who said we should try and fix this. That choice is on me. We decided I'd be the leader of this team, and I'm owning up to that. I'm not letting you all risk yourselves without putting myself on the line just as much."
"You were there with us! You took on the same risks we did!" Lily insisted. "Doing this just to prove something to us is stupid!"
Caeden's face changed to an expression of equal parts guilt and determination. "You and I both know that we weren't all under the same risk. I would have survived, even if all of you didn't. Physical Enhancement is too strong. Even if I couldn't stop the monsters, they wouldn't have been able to kill me unless I let them. My life was never really on the line. All of yours were. And I'm not trying to prove anything to any of you. This is about who I'm willing to be. Giving up now to be safe when I could do more is something the old me would do in a heartbeat. I don't want to be that person anymore."
Lily looked deeply torn. Pride and fear warred in her expression before shifting to resignation. "Fine, fine. I kinda put you on this path, and I believe in you and the direction you're going. It would be hypocritical if I told you to stop. Just…be careful." Lily pleaded.
"Oh, I'm going to be very careful. I'm not trying to die, just doing my part." Caeden cracked his knuckles. Pulling Forged Infinity from where it was hooked to his sash, Caeden couldn't help but notice the wreck that used to be his pristine uniform. It was slashed, burned, ripped, and melted. The infused cloth was hardly holding together. "Hey Sauma, you wouldn't happen to be able to fix my clothes, could you?"
"Unfortunately, I cannot manipulate cloth in the same way that Erik can. My abilities consist entirely of binding and healing. Even my venom is extremely mild. It's more useful as a healing salve than actual poison." Sauma said apologetically.
Caeden nodded. He had figured there were some limits on Sauma's abilities. Incarnations and Embodiments seemed to take a single aspect of a shroud to the extreme limits, discarding all other facets. In comparison, a shroud in its natural state had the broadest range of effects. "That's fine. I'm sure Erik can deal with it later."
"What are you trying to do, anyway?" Cat asked.
Caeden clicked on Forged Infinity, the dial rolling to 005 as a pneumatic hiss signaled its transformation to a gauntlet. Another click and the dial rolled to 051. Clapping his left hand over his gauntlet-covered right, Forged Infinity expanded to cover his other hand as well. It fit perfectly, even over his missing fingers.
"Alright, I guess I'll just try to shove it in."
{}
Michael watched the shrouded from across the Heartstone chamber. The arrogant children had practically forgotten the five revolutionaries they had tied up and left to die as monsters attempted to end their lives. Micheal would have gladly given his life if it meant these monsters in human skin would have died to the claws of their attackers. Unfortunately, the young shrouded had proven almost anomalously capable.
Micheal had been with the Revolution for five years now as a foot soldier. He happened to have some basic ethertech knowledge, having lived in a town very similar to the one overhead. A mining town with easy access to ether. That knowledge had increased his value in the eyes of the top leadership. After his town was destroyed in a random monster attack, Micheal had shot up the ranks.
He had killed dozens of shrouded and found them far less impressive than the rumors and legends stated. Most died pathetically without much of a fight. So arrogant, they were never prepared for an ether-infused bullet between the eyes.
These children were different. None of the shrouded he had ever killed were capable of the feats he had seen in the last hour. That arachne, in particular, was something new. They spoke of Incarnations and Embodiments. Micheal had no idea what those were. Perhaps it was a secret of islander shrouded. Micheal had only ever killed shrouded on the farthest continents. Ones set to watch tiny villages of little interest.
However, Micheal knew about the gauntlets the boy who seemed to be in charge was wearing. Micheal had taken one mission on a much smaller continent. A large operation with many revolutionaries involved. They were taking down five shrouded at once. One of them had a weapon much like those gauntlets. Colored in the style of the shroud the man wielded.
That operation had been a disaster in Micheal's eyes. The leadership claimed it was an overwhelming success and rained praise on Micheal's head for landing the killing shot on the man with the strange weapon. They had started that mission with fifty revolutionaries. They ended it with three. Over half of the dead had fallen at the hands of the weapon-wielding shrouded.
Micheal had used his newly elevated position to ask about that shrouded and what had made him so powerful. So he learned about things like those gauntlets. A shrouded weapon. An object imbued with the shroud itself. Capable of amplifying the power of the wielder. A fearsome object.
Still, Micheal could hardly hold back laughter, watching the shrouded boy about to try and shove the miracle sword deeper into the monster-generated item. Because he knew something the boy obviously did not. That sword was anathema to shrouds. If the boy touched it with his gauntlets, so deeply invested with his shroud, he would suffer greatly. The gauntlets would likely shatter in his hands; their power robbed from them by the miracle sword.
He watched with giddy anticipation, waiting to see the boy cry out in pain. He might even die outright! Foolish, arrogant shrouded. They thought themselves invincible. He would see. This boy would suffer for the arrogance of his ancestors.
His eyes nearly bugged out of his head when the boy gripped the hilt, shoving it down with all his weight. The miracle sword moved, and the boy was not dead!
Then the gauntlets spontaneously caught fire.