Athena’s eyes had dried up long before night had fallen over the little outpost the where she had been beaten, collared, and caged. She was alone in a metal cage with bars think enough to lock a down a bronze ranker, let alone an Iron ranker like Athena. Not that it stopped her.
Her upbringing had been a strict one with an endless procession of lessons, training, and even mock scenarios within a mirage chamber. Her education spanned any number of subjects from mathematics, magic, history, and politics. What it hadn’t included was lock picking, something she hadn’t considered an oversight until this very moment.
A mundane lock would have been bad enough, but her captors had used several locking formations that Athena only vaguely recognized from seeing them on her families’ grounds. They were the kinds of formations used on rooms Athena had never seen the inside of because the formations were just that good at keeping people out.
Even her more precocious cousins failed at breaking those.
It was all overkill for a defective iron rank healer like her, not that she had a way to tell the rude tribesmen who had captured and beaten Athena. They didn’t speak any of the common languages she had been taught, nor did she have her translating charm on her anymore. That had been left in her room half a world away, an oversight she was regretting.
Right now Athena was full of regrets. Athena regretted trying to go south on her own, even if this area was low ranked that didn’t make it safe. She regretted running away from home, the decision had made sense at the time, but now she was having trouble recalling the reasons. And more over she regretted that her parents were now dead.
For weeks now she had been wondering if there was something she could have said, something she could have done to stop them from leaving on their expedition. The logical part of her mind said that the life of adventures was a dangerous one, and that they knew the risks going in. That they hadn’t gone out alone, they had a team of other elite adventurers by their side and decades of experience.
But no amount of logic and reason could pierce the cloud of misery and doubt that had engulfed Athena’s mind since the day their adventure badges went dead.
Little tears were once again welling up in Athena’s eyes when she heard a load ‘BANG’ and saw the bright flash of light towards the front of the camp.
The strange tribal men in leather jackets jerked upright and began shouting. A second bang and a wave of fire had them running for the camp entrance, weapons drawn.
Soon shouts of battle and the bright flashes of essence abilities reached Athena’s ears.
She was staring intently at where the fighting was taking place, she was so distracted that she didn’t notice the person sneaking up on her cage.
A hand reached through the bars and clamped around her mouth and jerked back against the bars.
Athena tried to scream through the grip, but a sharp sensation against her neck shut her up.
“Good,” a husky female voice whispered behind her, she spoke in Athena’s native tongue but with a curious lack of accent or dialect. “Glad people react the same way to knives in every world.” The knife left her neck and the person relaxed her grip on Athena, though hand didn’t leave her mouth. “I’m here with the adventure society, we’ve been sent to rescue you. I’m gonna get you out of this cage and then we’re gonna spring the rest. But I need you to keep quiet. Can you do that? Nod if you can.”
Athena nodded her head once and the hand released her fully. Athena whirled around to see a celestine woman with dark steel colored hair and eyes. She was wearing dark clothing and was quickly working on the cage door. Instead of messing with the lock she had instead gone to where the hinges were and began to saw at them with a metal wire.
“Dumbasses went all out on the lock and forgot about the hinges.” she muttered as her wire went through one hinge, and then then the next. She then held onto the cage door with both hands before it vanished into nowhere, little blue sparks came from the celestine’s hands as she utilized a storage power.
Athena stepped through the now empty doorway and emerged stood up straight for the first time in half a day.
“Give me your neck.” The woman ordered.
“My neck?” Athena whispered back in confusion.
“Suppression collar.” The Celestine whispered urgently.
Athena bent down and the woman’s hands gripped either side and pulled.
Athena’s eyes went wide. “don’t you have a key”
“Don’t. Need. One” she grunted as the pressure mounted around Athena’s neck. The metal of the collar deformed and bent, and at one point it was briefly choking Athena, and then all at once it all vanished with a sharp pinging noise. The woman made the bent halves of the collar disappear in a wave of blue sparks and grinned, “they’re designed for iron rankers, with iron rank strength in mind, I’m just a bit stronger than that. Now come on I need you to help me get the others out of here, we’re gonna funnel them out the secret entrance you were dragged in from.”
“The others?” Athena asked.
“Yeah, battle out there’s gonna be a tough one, last thing we need is civvies in the cross fire, or used as meat shields. Gotta guy on the other side who’ll cart them out of this dumpster fire.”
She pushed and metal wire into Athena’s hands and then she was off to another cage, as she ran her skin seemed to shift and change to match the environment. Some sort of stealth ability. For a brief second Athena reveled in the unfettered feeling of no longer being suppressed by the collar. Her aura extended out and Athena rushed off to the other cages.
The people saw Athena and became animated, it looked like they wanted to shout, but one of the smarter ones silenced the others. Athena got to the cage and got the wire around the hinges and began to saw through just like the woman. The wire cut through the metal like it was soft clay, and in no time, she was slowly lowering the cage door and ushering the people inside to the false wall that lead to a short dirt tunnel that led to the other side of a hill.
A second group of people were right behind the first, and Athena turned to see that the woman had just finished up with the third and final cage of people before an arrow sprouted from her shoulder.
The Celestine hissed and dropped into a roll as one of the bronzes ranked tribesmen emerged from a shadow. He said something Athena couldn’t understand, and the woman growled something back at him, then she threw and ball that had emerged from her storage space. The archer jumped back, and a brilliant flash of light burst out from the ball.
Athena’s own eyes were blinded by the weapon, and she was dozens of meters from the explosion, she couldn’t imagine what it was like to the bronze rankers. But the Celestine kept moving as if it hadn’t blinded her eyes and had drawn a long staff from her storage space, pressed it against her shoulder and used it to cast an attack spell.
CRACK!
She pulled a lever on the staff back and a small brass tube popped out, she slid in a similar one. Her stealth ability was canceled and her iron rank aura burst forth with aggressive defiance against the presence of archers bronze rank aura.
CRACK!
Another loud bang rang through the camp, it smacked right in the bronze ranker, and made him stumble a bit. But whatever initiative the Celestine had was spent, and he summoned a knife to his hand and ran in close. His bronze rank speed closed the distance in an instant and the fight was on.
Athena had kept one eye om the engagement, and another the third group of prisoners. The last person had just ran through when the Celestine took a deep cut through her stomach. Though no entrails or blood spilled out from it Athena could still tell it was a brutal attack.
In that moment Athena held the celestine’s life in her hands. She could run to safety with the other prisoners and leave all of this behind, or she could use her abilities on the Celestine and get involved with a fight against a bronze ranked warrior.
Athena was not an adventurer, despite her family’s hope for her to take up the family tradition Athena did not have the temperament of a fighter, she couldn’t live that life. Its why she tried to become a healer, unfortunately her abilities were broken and brought her only misery.
The Celestine was a fighter, Athena could see it in her every movement. It reminded her of her cousins, aunts, uncles, and even her own parents. They all moved without any hesitation, they capitalized on every movement and held nothing back.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
She was the adventurer here, not Athena, she knew the risks coming into this daring rescue. Athena didn’t ask for any of this.
Maybe that more than anything else was why she did what she did. Because the only reason the Celestine was facing such a deadly threat was because she was here to save lives like Athena’s. People who didn’t ask for trouble but found it anyway. Just like what her parents did.
Athena reached out and spoke the words to her spell, “I claim your pian as my own.”
The gash on the Celestine closed rapidly, just as a new cut appeared in Athena’s gut and blood soaked her already stained clothes.
She put a hand to her stomach and whispered her second spell, “balance the karmic scales.” She felts the internal well of good karma within herself drain as the wound began to rapidly heal.
That was her power set, a broken healers’ abilities. Life, Magic, and renewal for an immortal confluence. The first awakened ability she got from her immortal confluence was the ability to transfer other wounds to herself. An ability that usually required an awakening stone of pain, harm, or flagellant, and it was her first from her confluence. An immortal healer who could only work by stealing the injuries of others for herself.
But worse yet was that she couldn’t limit the range of her abilities, and she took everything.
The pain in her stomach was nothing compared to the brief crush of pain that shot through her. She felt her own aura tremble as fell to her knees with a scream of pain.
~~~*~~~
The girl had collapsed to the ground the moment Seras felt the cut on her gut close. More than that, for a brief instant Seras felt the soul deep pain of her Soul/body disconnect vanish. For a single second Seras realized just how used to the endless pain she had become. It never left her, and it never grew easier, but for a while it had become normal.
That brief second was enough to let Seras feel just how stark the difference between the two states of being were.
Then the pain returned, and in her brief loss of concentration Seras felt it grow worse.
Reinforce metal 1 103% has advanced to Reinforce metal 2, 3%
Soul/body disconnect has advance to 4%
Seras didn’t even have time to curse the girl for causing the lapse in Seras’ concentration of holding the ability back. Now the pain had doubled at literally the worst possible time.
The archer had seen the whole exchange and had paused in confusion for one blessed moment before drew back his bow to fire upon the girl.
Seras took the second of distraction to leap back, lift her rifle and blast the bronze ranker point blank.
During the fight Seras had noticed that he was now wearing some tough hide armor, magically enhanced to better handle her bullets. Meaning her first shot after the flash bang had been wasted, while the second did minimum damage.
This one was better aimed, and it went straight through his hand.
Blood and bone sprayed out, but it was enough to save the girl. The arrow had flown free of the bow an instant before Seras shot.
The black feathered arrow flew forward with startling speed straight for the crying girl.
Only to be swapped out for an armored blonde elf woman. Alecia Caras took the arrow with her golden shield as behind Seras the girl fell from the air and next to the chasm into the labyrinth.
She thudded into the ground and Seras winced a little at the way her hand folded up. She wanted to help, but the Omeda archer was already wheeling around to stab at Seras.
Seras dismissed her rifle and lifted her pistol for an eye shot, control bullet locked on.
She pulled back, the hammer fell, and a bullet whizzed straight into the archer’s eye.
Her mistake before was forgetting how tough bronze rankers were and resorting to old tactics. Seras was an excellent shot, but even she hadn’t been good enough to hit something as small as an eye while both her and her target were moving. And before she had jumped worlds a head shot was just as good.
The archer screamed as blood spurted from his vision.
Ten instances of enfeeblement have been applied to Komeru Omeda
Her shot didn’t kill him like it should have, or even stop the knife that slashed across her own eyes.
Left ocular system is offline, nasal olfactory system is offline. Time to repair 49 hours and eleven minutes.
Seras sped up the repair process, then did again, and again. Twelve bronze rank monsters cores, 129 iron rank iron quintessence, and five bronze spirit coins vanished from her storage space as the timer dropped to five minutes, not enough to help her.
Then a second after she had done all that her vision and sense of smell returned, and the pain disappeared.
Aura of the immortal is in effect. All healing abilities have been boosted, all regenerative abilities have been boosted, all pain has been reduced.
Seras felt through her aura sense that the girl was still conscience and had once again taken Seras injuries away.
A second after that another aura went over her.
Aura of Pheonix is in effect. All fire abilities have been boosted, mana cost for abilities have been boosted, healing effects are boosted.
And then more auras.
Aura of the Inferno.
Aura of the earth guardian.
Aura of the master.
Aura of the beast.
Aura of the moon.
The aura of her allies washed over her, and with them came the hostile auras of the Omeda’s.
Aura of the night is in effect, all vision is reduced.
Aura of the mystic.
Aura of the Eagle.
Aura of penance.
Aura of the master.
Aura of the magister.
All around her Seras felt an invisible battle of wills take place, bronze ranked auras battered themselves against the other bronze ranked auras while simultaneously trying to shield the iron rankers from suppression as the iron ranked auras did battle as well.
Seras felt like she was in the middle of hurricane of power. She felt her eyes opening wide as her head began to spin with the effects.
All her training before with Dustin felt like a child kicking around in the sand box compared to what she was feeling now.
One aura above all the others stood out as it slowly pushed out smothered other bronze rank auras. With a firm but warm grip it latched onto and guided the other allied auras and organized the resistance against the Omeda. Warm as a long summers fire for his allies, and as hot as the inferno against his enemies, Dustin’s aura slowly claimed ground in the ineffable battle of auras.
He didn’t have any formal training, he had no backing, no secret techniques. All he had was decades of time spent in the saddle and nothing else to do but train his aura. In that regard Dustin may have one of the strongest bronze rank auras around.
Imagine what a man like him could have done with a better head start in life.
In seconds the battle had engulfed Seras’ position, whether that was from the Omeda falling back to use the hostages, or the adventurers pushing them back was unknown. All Seras knew was that things had gotten crazy fast, but her opponent remained.
Komeru Omeda, continued to charge at Seras, only to be blind sided by a bronze ranked elf in ornate bronze armor.
Seras had before only seen her round shield and bits of her armor. Now up close Seras saw that it had an overarching ‘bird’ theme. Long feathers were embossed around the rim of her round shield, little wings sprouted from her helmet, and the fierce visage of an eagle like bird was molded into her pauldron’s. A red feathered cape hung behind her back, and her spear had vermillion feathers tied at the base of the blade.
Caras reminded Seras of the hoplites of old, though with a distinctly different style.
The archer jumped away from her and wearily stared at her shield and armor, then he sneered and two dozen black feathered arrows appeared in the air around him. The wind kicked up and the arrows whirled around Alecia Caras, though with far less speed than when launched from his bow.
Seras dismissed her pistol and once again drew her rifle, she slid the bolt back, slid another bullet in and raised only to see four of the arrows coming for her. Blue lines ran along her arm in a circuitry like pattern as she braced for the attack.
She watched her mana drop by a quarter as the arrows slammed into her exposed head. But it was worth it as only superficial cuts in her smart skin remained.
Seras aimed and fired, the archer ducked, and the bullet had no time or space to course correct. It flew off and hit the iron ranked mage who had been readying some sort of spell to assist the archer.
Komeru’s eyes went wide as he felt the spell castors aura falter and fade away. He glared at Seras, but had no time for a reprisal as Alecia Caras moved with a lunging spear attack.
Seras was already reloading her rifle and aiming at another iron ranker, a young women with a turquoise beads braided into her hair who was throwing out white bolts of energy that were healing the Omeda. She was nice and unguarded.
Komeru roared with rage as the healer clutched at her side. Not a killing shot, but it held her in place just long enough to give Flint a chance to cast his spell and turn the earth into a liquid that entombed the healer.
He tried to hit Seras with more arrows, but Alecia was now wise to that trick and rushed him to force him to change targets.
Killing the iron rank mage and healer marked a turning point in the battle. The dozen or so iron rank warriors on the Omeda side lost their support, and were slowly overwhelmed. The loss of more iron rankers freed up some of the adventurers to put pressure on the five bronze ranked Omeda.
Seras even helped with taking down a bronze rank mage with well timed shots, Komeru kept trying to take out Seras, but Alecia stood her ground resolutely, taking arrows meant for Seras.
Their side was not immune to reprisal. Seras saw Petra take a blast of magic head on while trying to shield Rohan. Petra flew back with an awful thud that broke a wooden post, while Rohan was knocked head over heels by Petra being flung through him. Flint took an arrow to the chest for killing the healer, and would have been dead if Dustin hadn’t ridden up at the last minute to cut down the attacker.
It was a messy and brutal melee that could have gone against them in an instant if one factor had been different. Without the civvies to worry about the adventurers were allowed to fully cut loose.
The camp was already engulfed in an inferno from Dustin’s elemental attacks and the smoke would have choked Seras out if she had real lungs still.
But as things continued to turn against the Omeda they began to get more and more desperate. Healing potions were drunk, as well as mana potions, and stamina potions, a frenzy potion, and one that gave an elf man onyx scales. Silver ranked spirit coins were devoured, and the surge of berserk strength the higher ranked coin gave them tore the Adventurers apart.
As things continued to become more frantic, and another Bronze ranked Omeda fell a point of no return was reached.
A Bronze rank Omeda woman in the center of their formation pulled out a gold crystalline coin and plopped it into her. She had been fighting with exploding fists and ground shaking stomps.
With the coin however her pattern of attack changed, “protect me while I destroy these curs!” she roared as booming energy began to fill her hand.
Alecia saw it and cursed, “rotten ashes, suicide attack! Run! She’s an onslaught user.”
She gave Komeru one last jab before she turned and dragged Seras backwards.
Seras was of a mind to follow, when all of a sudden the pain returned. Her feet stumbled and she collapsed to the ground, a hand jerked her up and Seras was forced to stumble around as Alecia tried to drag her onwards.
But the return of the pain could only mean one thing. Seras looked to the fissure in the earth and saw that the healer girl had collapsed to her knees, her face pale and clammy with tears streaking down her cheek.
Throughout the whole fight Seras had forgotten the pain, and had unconsciously ignored its absence. Good riddance.
Put the reprieve came at a price, it required the healer girl to step up and take all Seras’ suffering. And more by the looking of it. Broken ribs from an impact meant for a Leonid, several dozen arrow wounds meant for Alecia, and half a dozen other injuries. She had taken them all while holding off Seras’ pain.
Now she was out of will power, and incapable of getting herself to safety.
Seras had the chance to run away, get to safety. But at the cost of the girl.
“DEAD FUCKING GODSDAMMIT ALL!” she roared as her legs pumped beneath her to cross the battle field.
In a blink of the eye she was next to the girl and throwing her over her shoulders as fast as she could. Which wasn’t fast enough.
Seras stumbled as a knife cut through her back and into her spine. A paralyzing blow if she were still meat. Instead it cut one of the connecting wires to her legs and the limb locked up. Seras turned and pointed her pistol at her attacker and saw Komeru with his knife.
His eyes were wild. “Why won't you just die?” he roared with a second slash, and then a third.
Gone was the façade of an honorable warrior, in its place was a maddened beast.
A cut went through Seras’ neck and hot fluid began to pour out. But it wasn’t blood.
The man’s skin burned as black, oil-like, cyborg blood coated him, and Seras felt her whole body losing strength.
Internal fluid cycler has been punctured. Fluid levels dropping.
A pop up alerted her
Repair time 14 hours and… recalculating. Repair time 15 hours and…recalculating.
Seras watched in horror as the time kept going up, and her body continued to feel weaker. Still she couldn’t help her response. “The. The. Pinnacle of, en, en, engineering and science.” Her voice was crackly and full of distortions. Like a broken speaker.
Since Seras was facing Komeru and had her back to the fissure she had a perfect view as the Omeda woman finished channleing her power and plunged an ord of power into the ground.
With her strength already failing her Seras knew there was no leaping upwards to escape the ground tremor. That only left down.
She let her knees go limp as she leaned backwards and into the fissure.
The deep fissure.
The deep fissure that led into a monster infested cave system.
Seras was sure it would all be just fine…
THUD!