Theo felt strange, like his spirit was separate from his body, but not at the same time. He couldn’t explain it even if his master ordered him to do so. In the fog, his mind struggled to forcefully harmonize with his body while the glorious energy of his master suffused every iota of his physical and spiritual essence. The manifestation born of his devotion, the Three-Eyed Skull of Blighted Wisdom, floated behind him in all its magnificence. He glanced back at it reveling in its presence despite not having the mana to feed its continued assault on his foes. Bolstered by the symbol of his master’s power, he called out to his foolish pursuers.

“Are you two afraid, hounds of Holsburg?” Theo screamed letting himself sink deeper into the blissful embrace of the Laughing Blight’s power. “Don’t worry. You can run and I’ll let you live… The taste of your fear and failures will be enough for me! I’m no glutton after all… Hahaha!”

Even with his faith and confidence in his master’s power, he fell short of recklessly lashing out at those two. They weren’t normal, of that he was certain. The crazy hillbilly reminded Theo of the Archbishop which wasn’t good as far as he was concerned because he had it on good authority that the Archbishop wasn’t human, or at least he hadn’t been since the Shadow’s Passing. Like that man, the giant fool exuded an aura of chaos, madness, and power, yet somehow, amidst that all, his eyes shone with the sinister gleam cunning and intelligence.

And the other one?

Theo couldn’t make heads or tails of the shifter. He suspected that the beast was male, but wasn’t certain. When he looked into its eyes, something inhuman stared back at him, calculating and detached. For that creature, this wasn’t a battle of life and death. No, it was a matter of curiosity and experimentation.

Over his shoulder, a voice whispered in his ear, “You are drawing closer to the truth. Break the fragile chains of humanity and see the with eyes unclouded.”

The speaker’s presence sent shivers down his spine. He didn’t have to look back to understand what had happened. His master, the Laughing Blight, saw fit to grace him with those words of wisdom. His third eye and mana sang soaring to further heights as they resonated with the brief message sent through his Three-Eyed Skull of Blighted Wisdom. He spread his arms tenuously letting go of his inhibitions while breathing deeply of the dark fog. His laughter which had already caused his body to grow numb echoed throughout the mist like a disjointed spirit.

“That’s it, child. Let go…”

As the words touched his mind, everything fell into place like a switch being flipped. The dark fog swirled around his body carrying the wisdom and suffering of countless voices. His body changed losing nearly half of its muscle mass and growing half a meter in height. He exhaled releasing the foolish teethers mooring his consciousness to his former identity.

Theo, the street rat turned acolyte and mage, ceased to be. He was Theo, the Blighted One, empowered by the unfathomable wisdom of the Laughing Blight.

I am— His euphoria came to a sudden halt when an unseen force grabbed ahold of him and catapulted him in the direction of his foes.

***

I didn’t have to wait long after Ricky’s warning. Within my dome of psykhe, I sensed the swell of his chaotic mana moving through the space above the black fog and wondered how he intended to account for the volatility of the dark mana. Unfortunately, I was giving Ricky’s sense of prudence too much credit.

His mana condensed into a barely perceptible hand of prismatic energy which promptly plunged into the darkness. A fraction of the second passed before the energies reacted to one another. An explosion ripped out from the center of the fog and simultaneously, I noticed a bit of movement within the disrupted cloud.

With a thought, I activated a unique version of the Threefold Barrier designed to disperse the hostile mana across its surface which would limit resistance as I moved through the explosion. My coiled muscles launched me forward like an arrow through the air. I collided with the blast of dark mana rippling outward and aside from a sudden feeling of blindness and discomfort, my barrier held. Those sensations only lasted a second before my sight returned revealing a surprise.

Our enemy hadn’t been idle within his dark fog. His form had changed from a battered man with black smoke billowing from his mouth to a monstrosity of midnight flesh and coiled sinew. The visage reminded me of my experiments in fleshcraft on human corpses so long ago, specifically the form with which I confronted Enlil, Enki, and Utu. His bones were extended lengthening his limbs, and his muscle fibers strained against his taut skin threatening to burst outward with every motion. However, Ricky’s phantasmal arm maintained its hold over the man with little trouble despite his struggles.

Purple arcs of energy and black mana danced along his torso and arms as he claws at the power manhandling him. He didn’t have time to react when I shot out of the explosion colliding with him with a staggering amount of force. The crack of breaking bones sounded in my ears, but they weren’t mine. Thanks to my body strengthening and fleshcraft techniques, my bones were comparable to wrought iron in hardness while maintaining the flexibility needed for supporting my enhanced musculature. Still, even I felt a dull ache shoot through my body as we impacted each other, so I could imagine how poorly the man’s extended bones fared especially when accounting for the physical aspect of my Threefold Barrier.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Of course, I didn’t let the pain distract me from my goal. My jaws snapped shut around his arm as he raised it in a last ditched defense. Meanwhile, my left claw raked across his chest barely making contact but successfully delivering the psykhe infused within the strike. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it out unscathed.

The man’s other arm moved, blurring even to my keen eyes. His long, spindly fingers flashed with the strange arcs of purple energy which seemed to invigorate the dark mana. Shadow-coated claws cut through my barrier, flesh, and bone with surprising ease. That wasn’t all though. I sensed the intrusion of foreign mana into my system which set off several alarm bells.

Mentally, I activated the defensive structures that I had constructed within my Astral Domain. They wouldn’t do anything to protect my physical body, but they would prevent any of the energy from invading my domain through my soul. One might question why such measures would be necessary given the power of my soul, but I would remind that person that the Crawling Shadow and all of those under its influence are specifically known for their specialty in avoiding notice. The Crawling Shadow had already slipped schemes past me multiple times despite my vigilance. I’d rather expend a bit of extra energy to be safe than letting my arrogance lead to another humiliating miscalculation.

I released his arm from my jaws and twisted, once again using his body as a springboard to jump away. Ricky’s phantom force lifted him up and unceremoniously smashed the man into the ground. I landed a few meters further from Ricky than where I started.

Ricky, how serious is that? I asked when I saw his arm. Black veins marred the back of his hand and traced their way up to his elbow. At a glance, it looked to be some sort of backlash from his technique; however, as with many things concerning the Mad Titan’s reincarnation, I couldn’t be sure.

“I’ll be right as rain once we finish puttin ‘im in the ground,” he said with a toothy grin. Although he seemed confident, whatever technique that he was using fizzled out. My ears picked up the sound of shifting earth within the small dust cloud created by our enemy’s impact.

I didn’t give it any more thought to it after that. Instead, my mana surged from my Astral Domain into my physical form causing my eyes to radiate an otherworldly glow as I finalized my plan. While the man pulled himself up, I ran over to Ricky and looked up at him.

Can you distract him for thirty seconds? I asked glancing at the foe in question.

“Mhm,” the red-haired giant grunted. A closer look at his face specifically the area around his eyes revealed traces of hidden pain in his expression. My eyes flitted to his two hands each of which was effectively crippled. “I’ll do ya one better and whoop ‘im so bad, he’ll lay down and wait for you to finish.”

Good, I replied. I started to move, but stopped and sent another message. Touch my head. I will use a technique to assist you.

He hesitated, an odd look of reluctance and paranoia flashing across his face as his eyes locked onto my side before finding mine again. He placed his broken hand on my head rather than the black-veined one, an unnecessary precaution but appreciated for the modicum of caution displayed by an otherwise erratic individual. As soon as his flesh met my fur, I pushed into our covenant link. He stiffened slightly, his mouth twitching into a frown for a split second. Once I accessed the link, I initiated my experiment.

Anyone could use techniques on other people, but doing so required the structure of the original technique to be modified from a personal effect to something that sticks to another person. There wasn’t a set formula to the process either because each individual had a unique soul and mana signature meaning that the modifications would be different for everyone. Even individuals who share a mana affinity like those who cultivated akasha, the mana of the Akashic Records, and follow near identical paths would still have nuances within their mana signatures that could make a technique fail if not modified correctly. Some sorcery, like healing and diagnosis techniques, required these sorts of adjustments inherently. Others ignored the necessity completely like attack techniques that manifested energy or other external effects or my domain which worked in a broad area based on my intent and perspective. My goal was to see if I could use the covenant link to circumvent the modifications for my enhancement technique to work on Ricky.

Iridescent energy left my eyes pushing into his hand and traveling along his skin until a shimmering layer of mana covered him. The technique sank into his flesh instantly and I sensed it take hold. I unconsciously let loose a pleased growl.

This success would later mark a significant step in my rise to power in the Great Trial.

Our opponent finally managed to stand. Black smoke and purple lightning swirled around him. He spread his arms in a grandiose display while his laughter rolled across the battlefield.

“Amazing!” He screamed. Despite the damage that we’d inflicted, he appeared more healthy now than when I had first seen him. His third eye pulsed with purple light casting his warped face in a horrid light. In the background, the skull laughed for the first time, its voice low and sonorous. “I feel fuckin’ amazing! You two! Just give up, join me! We can be fuckin’ gods! Everyone can be immortal if we just—"

The sound of cracking asphalt hit my ears as I started concentrating on the final piece of my plan. Where Ricky once stood was a spiderweb of broken road and the warped man’s speech came to an end as my covenant mate landed in front of him. Ricky slammed his fist into the man’s jaw so fast that I almost missed it and spun him almost completely around from the sheer force behind it.

“Gods ain’t shit!” Ricky shouted before wrapping his arms around our opponent’s midsection. “Titans for life, ya walkin’ skid mark!”

Then, he bent backward at an almost unnatural angle smashing the other man’s head and shoulders into the stone road.