You should have seen the little bastard. The bravado. The audacity. The sheer gall. All that wrapped around a broken little heart pasted together by delusion. The Realmbreaker was a precious kid.

And a vicious little shit too.

I should have seen what he was going to do to us down the line… but you know what? Even knowing who he is, who he becomes… I’d still make the deal with him. I still would.

There are some people you just can’t quite say no to. There are some people who are just destined to be monsters of history.

-“The Old Man,” Count of Pride

68

The Task Ahead (II)

"What in ruin is that?" the Shadow Archer said, gaping at the colossal, half-finished construct positioned just beyond the rift.

As the rest of the disciples began to filter through, they too took on odd expressions, and Wei reveled in their wonder. The idea rose as a suggestion from Roggi. Between the moments where he spent hunting Knights, researching the Compendium, and interrogating Severean, he discovered that the Archdevil's Hearted Realms grew ever more severe with each moment you stayed within.

As they were not so different from one's concept core, it slowly leached from you, embodying your worst sins and deepest horror. And thanks to the endless wellspring of essence nested within an Archdevil, it could compose any threat, until finally, it created a demon perfectly designed to hunt down a specific sinner.

And so the problem was laid bare: to linger in the hearted realm was to be worn down and eventually slaughtered—at least without imploring for higher aid. Wei had no intention of succumbing to such weakness, and so he sought to engineer his own solution.

And that led to another suggestion from the Oathbearers. As warriors forged to serve the powers of creation, they were no strangers to engines of war. With just a few swings of their hammer, the requisite materials, and a bit of testing, it seemed the Oathbearers could build just about anything.

And so they created a monster. A mobile fortress, spanning fifty meters high, sporting three castle-like fortifications at its core, a dozen or so turrets within firing slots, four layers of crenelated balconies, with three layered walls, spider-like articulations, and an assortment of sails to help it take flight. What's more, it had strange tubes sticking out from its rear, capable of projecting some kind of incendiary propulsion.

In honesty, the entire thing was far too strange for Wei to fully grasp. Though he tried in his youth, he had no mind or interest in gadgetry. But still, even a layman could appreciate a piece of mechanical artistry. To further cement the awesome moment, Wei called down lightning from high above the sky, and bolts fractured the firmament, bathing the land in light.

This place, a moon-grave of gluttony, was a place formed of open maws, flicking tongues, and slavering flesh. But apart from that, the Oathbearer's construct stood defiant, a bastion of matter standing as a blemish upon a tapestry of defiled flesh.

"Witness!" Wei proclaimed, unable to hide the maniacal glee on his face. "Witness: Mobile Fortress Wei!"

The Oathbearers looked at each other, and the one called Dothi lowered his head and gave a sigh. "He used the bloody name."

"I told him not to," Roggi said, muttering under his breath. "He’s selectively hard of hearing sometimes. And also selectively hard of thinking."

For Wei was a forgiving patriarch, and also because they were the ones who built his mobile fortress, he forgave their insolence and turned to face his gathered fortress.

"When the time comes, all of us will be situated within this fort. We will not be as if ants trying to crawl the mountain, but rather sailors on a grand ship, a ship like no other, a steed of metal and alloy. We will all be riders of Mobile Fortress Wei."

This time, more people than merely the Oathbearers started looking at each other. Ellena placed a palm upon her face, and Agnesia's cheeks took on a bright scarlet hue. Many among his disciples began to shuffle awkwardly, which left the young master slightly confused. Regardless, he pushed onward.

"Within the next two days, Mobile Fortress Wei will be finished, and you will be allowed to explore its inner walls."

A man coughed. Wei pointed his Broken Crescent at him. "No more noises! What's wrong with all of you? Speak!" No one met his gaze. At least they still knew how to show him proper reverence.

"As you can see, my fortress supports three critical bastions, who will be nested within and made to defend its inner walls. Meanwhile, it will pilot us through the chaos of the Hearted Realms at an extraordinary pace. All we need to do is keep my portable fortress safe, and it will see us live another day."

As he finished his speech, he looked at the gathered crowd, and all 108 people under his sect stared on, blank-faced and frozen. He expected more enthusiasm, or perhaps some manner of joy, but most just seemed slightly befuddled, and the few others took on expressions of worry as they looked his fortress up and down. Perhaps they needed to be shown the inside.

A demon briefly entered the edge of Wei's Omniscience, and he jabbed down with his spear. A hyper-accelerated raindrop punched clean through the Demon of Gluttony, and immediately it slumped over, a warning sign for anyone else who desired to interrupt Wei's fine moment.

The Shadow Archer looked at Wei and slowly shook his head. "Listen, it's big and all, but I don't really even know what I'm looking at."

"You'll see once you get inside. You'll see. Don't worry. I'll have a place for you to fire from. There will be a place for all of us within this construct, and I, Patriarch Wei An Wei, will take to the skies above it and use my power of the storms themselves to carry you.”

"So, this thing flies?" the orc chef from earlier asked.

"Yes," Wei said. "It can fly, it can crawl, it can do almost anything."

"Can it float?" the orc asked, seeming a bit dubious about the prospect.

"Of course," Wei said, ignoring the Oathbearers, who were all shaking their heads behind him. Sad notes sounded from theTrine, as Wei merely continued. "The seas will heed my demands. They will carry a mountain across continents if I so desire. So rejoice and relish your opportunity, for soon we all embark upon Mobile Fortress Wei as we pass into the arch-devil of gluttony."

And then he pointed above, and with a trace of his spear parted the clouds to reveal a looming figure composed of many wings and lapping maws. People screamed; several made gestures and invoked the names of gods Wei didn't care about. But the young master stood, nonplussed. He had chosen the Archdevil of Gluttony for a reason. All the others presented even greater threats, but gluttony merely ate at you, starved you. Wei could contend with hunger, and Wei had no fear of any beast.

Pointing to the distance, he indicated a massive spire that rose in the direction of the arch-devil. "Two days," Wei said, "in two days we will bring my mobile fortress to the spire, and finally, we will embark on our final journey. The Circles intend for us to know despair. Well, I say that we shall know no fear, for we will manufacture the means of our own salvation.”

As Wei looked over his gathered disciples, he expected an outpouring of cheers, something to say the least. Instead, he continued getting blank stares and awkward postures. Finally, someone clapped—Ellena, who commanded her six summoned demons to join her as a cohort. With her prompting, the rest of the group all began to clap, and several even cheered.

Finally, Wei nodded, satisfied with the scene before him. Perhaps they were a little bit less passionate than he expected, but this was just as well. They had been through quite the ordeal, and naturally, one would have their moods dampened after all they suffered. Not Wei, though. Not Wei. He was different. He was unbreakable. He would break these hells. No one could break him.

As his demonstration concluded, the real work was about to begin. "Now, for those of you of the inner court, you are to familiarize yourself with Mobile Fortress Wei, for you will be the linchpin of the defense. This means, however, that you must reach class tier ascension within the next two days. No more sleep. No more rest. It is time to hit those essence rifts. As for the rest of you—Ellena!" Wei called out.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Immediately, the quartermistress of the sect took his place and gave everyone a reassuring smile. "Good, uh," she looked up at the sky and frowned, "day, everyone. Let us all applaud Master Wei for his heartening speech." She clapped. Her summoned demons clapped, and then everyone else clapped, with considerably less fervor.

"There are a few things we still require before we embark on this journey. After this talk is over, I need to meet with everyone, one after another, to go over your specific capabilities and also distribute to you your requisite potions of regeneration and mental clarity. Take note: your mental clarity potion will be especially important before you begin every encounter. It is recommended that you drink the potion so that you do not get assailed by something like a False Hydra."

Everyone stared on at her, unsure how to respond. Finally, a hand rose in the back. "Right, but what's a False Hydra?"

"It's a demon that nests itself in your memories and eats away at your mind and also spreads from you to the others."

The orc cook's lip quivered. "I wish you didn't ask that. I would have been happy dying without knowing what killed me."

As Ellena continued going over the logistical details of their upcoming triumph, Wei received a message in his chat function and saw that it was from Rafael.

Rafael -> Wei: “Wei, there's something you might want to see.”

Wei -> Rafael: “Oh, and what is that?”

Rafael -> Wei: “Ser Angeleous. I have penetrated his class and accessed his chat functions as well. He has been in communication with someone this entire time.”

Wei -> Rafael: “And already the fox reveals his leg in the shrubs.”

The young master did his best to hide his growing sneer. He kept his eyes away from the old man and simply responded to the lich.

Wei -> Rafael: “Treason from him is not unexpected, but the pace he conducted it is admirable. Almost. He has you beat, lich.”

Raphael didn't respond to that.

Wei -> Rafael: “Well, what did he say and who is he talking to?”

Rafael -> Wei: “You're likely not going to like this, but I think it is an Inheritor. They are using a fake name, but they have asked specifically about us—about you especially.”

This was troubling.

Rafael -> Wei: “He's currently updating the inheritor on our plans and just messaged him about which hearted realm we intend to pass through.”

Wei -> Rafael: “Well, that might change some things. Pathetic snake. Has he told them anything else?”

Rafael -> Wei: “Yes. The number of our forces, our levels, the changes he sees in you.”

A slow swell of anger rose within the young master as he considered cutting the man down right then and there. However, if there was one thing his growing Aspect of Enlightenment had taught him, it was patience and how to become the master of his own schemes. Right now, his biggest advantage was that Ser Angeleous remained ignorant of just how much he knew.

However, Ser Angeleous wasn't just a serpent, but a valuable asset. With Severean broken and unable to contact her inheritor handlers, Wei needed a new angle to get at them. For the last few days, he tried calling his father, but the man seemed to have blocked him. And though the young master tried to replicate what he managed with his Aspect of Relativity, creating a Liminal Realm between him and another, he failed to fully grasp how the feat was accomplished, and his System proved to be no aid.

More and more, Wei found himself wishing that Asaru, that antediluvian serpent, included a technique manual with this system. But alas, making things easy seemed to be low on the priority list of the ones that came before.

Rafael -> Wei: “So then, what is our plan now?”

Wei -> Rafael: “My plan is quite simple. I'm going to get the old man alone with me, and then he's going to learn how to deeply sympathize with the Knight of Lust.”

It took a long moment before Raphael sent his follow-up message.

Rafael -> Wei: “I understand. We have to protect ourselves. It sounded an awful lot like the lich was trying to justify this action.”

Wei -> Rafael: “You are a strange one, trespasser, Wei said. For all your failings in your undead nature, you are all too human.”

Rafael -> Wei: “You know liches are not actually undead, right?”

Wei paused.

Wei -> Rafael: “You aren't?”

Rafael -> Wei: “No, undead is a very specific thing. They are powered by the forces of ruin. Liches only have their consciousnesses infused within a specific structure. It is more a title gained; a showcase of mastery over the platonic arts.”

Wei -> Rafael: “Then why bones?”

Rafael -> Wei: “Because of the laws of familiarity. It's very complicated to explain, but one has more kinship with their skeletal structure than, say, a metal suit of armor, no?”

Wei slowly nodded at that, as he considered this to be another avenue of power.

Wei -> Rafael: “Could anyone become a lich?”

Rafael -> Wei: “Yes! It only requires patience, a little bit of daring, a lot of psychological damage.”

Wei -> Rafael: “Perfect. We will continue our cipher lessons soon, after we turn our snake to a servant.”

As the demonstration came to an end, the disciples were separated and directed to tackle their own tasks. Ellena took some time to speak to each individual. As their numbers had swelled over the past three days, she took special care to discover just what each and every person was competent at. After that, the support groups would be given unto the Oathbearers to see what they needed to procure and how else they could further bolster their efforts in empowering the fighters.

They would be kept within the three major bastions, protected from the worst of the harm, and used primarily to strengthen the structures of Mobile Fortress Wei, while also healing wounded fighters. The fighters, meanwhile, would go along with Agnesia and raid more rifts. After Ellena finished interviewing them, her daughter would see their actual skills in person. Only those with promise would be offered over to Wei, for he was patriarch, and a patriarch had better things to do than deal with rabble.

And with that, Wei's opportunity came. Ser Angeleous stood far in the back of the group, his face a miserable stain amidst all the others. Oh, how he didn't want to be here. Oh, how he loathed the young master for all he accomplished. But that was well. Wei knew this moment was coming. The old man thought himself a novelty, but people like him were a dime a dozen in a sect. One expected to court a few snakes when they raised a mountain hold, after all.

Instead of approaching him directly, however, the young master intended to get him away from the group, but he wouldn't do it directly. Though he strongly desired to murder Ser Angeleous in front of all the others, to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, he wasn't sure if the men under the old fool's employ would abandon their lives in a desperate defense to avenge him.

Furthermore, Wei was also interested in knowing just how compromised they were. If it was only Angeleous, the others could still serve as useful elder court disciples, have the demons spend a little more time chewing through them before they got to the actual useful members.

And this was where Rafael came in. In the intervening time, over the past three days, Wei kept a close eye on the lich, but also ensured their growth as well. The game he played with Raphael was a double-edged sword, for though he didn't trust the Trespasser, he was beginning to grasp his nature better—or so Wei assumed. The lich was a moral coward. He wanted to reach the claimed hells for an agenda of his own, one he was reluctant to fully admit to Wei. It had something to do with saving his world and meeting with the Trespasser's Lodge.

Whatever the case, however, he also had another critical quirk. He cared for people. Empathy was a commendable trait, but the lich took it to another level. He flinched when the weak were bleeding. He recoiled in scenes of horror. There was a tenderness to him that Wei didn't expect. And slowly the young master's opinion was beginning to change.

That still didn't mean he trusted the lich, however, but he trusted him enough to help him achieve his Class Tier Ascension and progress down the Path of Envy. No longer was the lich a mere Deceiver; now he embarked on the path of a Puppeteer. And, after he gained his own concept core of control, he spent the past few days creating a Skill—a Skill that he could magnify through ciphers: Minor Illusory Lure.

And it was with this spell that the hook for Ser Angeleous was cast.

A green tendril slipped out from Rafael invisible field, and slowly it sank into Ser Angeleous's mind. Weak as the man was, he had no chance of resistance, and almost immediately he began to turn, searching for a presence that wasn't there. Slowly, he saw that the rift was open—the rift from where they came—and realizing that everyone else was distracted and separated into their own groups, he developed a compulsion, a compulsion that was further magnified by a cipher hidden via Raphael's machinations.

It took seconds more to fan the old man's desires to escape. Giving his men a final regretful look, he shuffled away as quietly as he could, making for the rift with all haste.

Rafael -> Wei: “He's moving.”

Wei -> Rafael: "I see him."

The young master only moved when the old man was five meters away from the rift. As soon as he stepped through, Wei shot into the sphere right behind him, slamming hard into his back and knocking him off his feet.

To Ser Angeleous' credit, he was a warrior, and he responded without any hesitation. His wings flared as concrete slabs erupted from the ground, but these were trifling things to Wei. And he swept out with his Broken Crescent, shattering the old man's barricades. He felt his Title magnify the effects of his blow, and a few of the stones shot clean through the old man's torso.

Concept Core: Destruction (Minor)

>Invest Experience — [Battle Against the Dancer of the Calamitous Spiral]

>Infuse Aspect — Perception

>>All-Breaker: Destruction’s coming is heralded by your footsteps. Increases all damage sustained within the boundary of your Perception by 5%

Wei winced as Ser Angeleous coughed blood and collapsed onto his back, gripping at his chest. Wei had been happy about the title, but sometimes it made things a little more devastating. Sighing, he pulled out a potion of regeneration and poured it over the man, not even bothering to offer it as a drink. Afterward, he cast it aside and stomped his foot down on Angeleous' knee.

Once more, the old man surprised Wei. He didn't scream. He merely gave a grimace. He spat, a mouthful of blood splattering upon Wei's boot, and the young master simply shook his head.

"Do what you will," Ser Angeleous said. "Just know that your days are numbered, and your fate is sealed."

To that, Wei only snorted, "Oh, I know all about your friend. In fact, that is the only reason why I'm not going to kill you right now. However…” a scythe colored from the darkest black and the brightest white formed over Wei. "You're going to wish I did."