Most beings in the Fathoms are dichotomous.

On one end, you have your material form—your body. This grounds you to the tangible world or the constructed overrealm, as certain scholars call it. Physical forces, things you can sense, feel, and hear, are all rooted here.

But connected to that and shaped by sapient perception, well, there exists the spiritual realm, or the Resonant Penumbra. Here, beliefs and concepts are like forces and matter. Here, your spirit resides, anchored to your material body. A deeper layer, your person capable, allowing you to manipulate the supernal.

But things don't work ex nihilo here either. You need fuel or force, such as essence, and you need a source to draw upon if you want to manipulate them. Concepts, and most importantly, your aspects, need to be strong. Strong enough to conduct whatever working you're trying to perform. Strong enough to serve as a conduit for all that miscible power passing through you.

A wall of twigs isn't going to hold back an ocean the same way a dam can, after all. And a water faucet isn't quite the same thing as a fire hose either.

Of course, you could try to channel more than what you have. Potentially, if you attach a means of overcharging yourself or overpowering your aspects, you'll even experience higher performance for a little while. But just like your body will come apart if its mechanisms cannot sustain its forces, so too will your spirit rupture and break once it reaches Essence overload.

-The Trespassers’ Compendium (Entry: Essence Overload)

90

Overload

As Seever fired, Wei grinned. The Inheritor and the Dying Queen were one and the same: ridiculous fools who thought themselves gods, telegraphing their attack to the extreme to feed their egos. Thus, as a concentrated beam of searing Essence burst out from Seever’s arm-cannon, Wei used the same trick he did on Dying Queen. The same trick, but a different contract.

When he broke the Middle Manager, he obtained more than few contracts. Most were just promises and pledges of payment, a few were lawsuits, one or two inflicted minor penalties like getting dismembered or castrated if a certain amount of Sins was not delivered on time, but what spared the young master’s life was ultimately the same kind of contract the Middle Manager used to take his Broken Crescent.

Contract of Offensive Impounding: "Should this contract sustain damage inflicted without its holder's consent, it will impound the attack until the holder decides to annul the contract, whereupon all the excess force or material stored within will be promptly returned to the offending party.”

The Inheritor’s eyes crawled halfway up his forehead as his attack splashed—and then sank—into the hellish text scrawled upon the contract’s pages. His head vanished into burning chunks of trailing gore when Wei promptly annulled the contract, sending the beam right back through Seever’s skull.

But though his head was obliterated, Seever didn’t fall. In fact, he barely stumbled. Almost immediately, a jungle of sinews erupted from his mangled stump of a neck and began fusing back together in the shape of a skull. Wei’s elation vanished, and he turned his scythe upon the static field that held time in stasis.

Calcaclwllju CONETPPP INTEGGRTIY ;13]/31

His System was still screaming gibberish at him, but Wei didn’t have time to worry about that. He could feel his scythe cleaving into the concept of temporal stasis—whatever power was keeping the world around him halted. It felt like trying to saw through a steel bar with a sword, but with each slash, he carved deeper nicks into it foundations, and all the static motes around him trembled, steaming with rising tendrils of monochrome.

Wei fed a Source Catalyst into his Eidolon. Transferred his ever-climbing Will into Speed. His reflexes accelerated. His attacks went from the frequency of raindrops to a downpour. Spiritual fractures spread through the field that held him in sway, the strange arms extending from its core groaning with every twitch of movement. But Seever seemed no slower than before—his healing growing faster even while Wei’s Relativity rose.

Break! The young master screamed, willing the Lesser Time Stop to shatter. Break! Ambition surged through Wei, infusing his Form of the Martial Harvester with more power. The surrounding static began to evaporate. Time went from utterly halted to grinding forward by a crawl.

But it still wasn’t enough. Faster than Wei could perceive, Seever moved. His body broke apart in a nightmarish eruption of mutated limbs, whipping tendrils, and spearing bone. Wei used all the Fortification Charges he gained from harvesting Athlon, but it was still barely enough to keep him alive.

A spearing tentacle slammed into his upper right shoulder—and speared all the way through. A blast of dark flame tried to repel the stabbing limb, but Seever was barreled through like the juggernaut he was. Wei felt himself torn from his feet. He found himself cast in the role of the rope as the Inheritor Project Leader conducted a tug of war against the Lesser Time Stop, and as Wei felt his muscles unlatch from his lower spine, he knew he was the only loser in this exchange.

Unpleasant though the pain was, it barely fazed the young master. Here was another gift experience granted him; nothing Seever inflicted could come remotely close to the torture she inflicted. But that didn’t mean Wei particularly enjoyed it when the Inheritor’s midsection opened vertically, showing ribs transformed into a fanged maw before biting down.

Wei’s armor groaned. Things inside him broke. But he kept cutting at the time stop. He could feel the effects slipping. Just a few more and—

FORTIFCANTION ADVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV >>>>>

CORES ASNCEION

Reverting Aspect of (Ambition)

W-w-warning unable to aninbgCannot undo Ascension

EMbranceembraceembrace

jOin the queenenn

A scream of metal sounded from around Wei’s torso as Seever’s new teeth pushed through. They sank and dissolved upon greeting Source and fire, but the Inheritor seemed unbothered. He resembled a man unfurled from within. His torso extended out as deformed petals, with countless bone-like cannons jutting out from his sides alongside extended blades, and lashing tongues. His legs were nothing but flayed muscle and jagged enamel, with joints closer than an insect’s than a human’s. And at the core, his skull stood high from his spine, his face twisting and drawing close upon the nightmarish ruin of a body he now head.

In a great many ways, he looked quite like the Hearted Realm of Gluttony—or even one of its demons. And perhaps he was. Perhaps this was his Path.

Harlon Seever: Skinsmith Lv. ???

Question marks. At least Wei’s System could still identify the bastard, though it didn’t do him much good. As time-stop’s grip slackened, Wei momentarily turned his scythe on Seever, but found himself spiked into the ground before his strike even got close.

Source: [24/200]

Light and dark bleed out from Wei like rising steam, and the young master groaned, clawing to find his feet, struggling to get his bearings. It still felt like pushing through mud. But he never stopped cutting. Even with his catalyst, Seever was faster by a magnitude thanks to the time stop, and if Wei didn’t—

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

An echo trailed through Wei’s skull. He blinked. And barely titled his head in time to save himself from execution. Just not fast enough to stop it from taking a chunk out of his neck.

RALTIVITY NASNVNC>>>

FORTIFICATOIN ANERNA

Giveyourselftome

“Fucking squirrely little shit,” Seever laughed, standing over him. Sounds of ripping skin and breaking bone sang out from the Inheritor’s twisted body as more guns extended out from his flesh, all aimed at Wei. “See if you can dodge a firing squad, then.”

But Wei didn’t need to. With a final cut, the space captured by the time stop detonated in a shroud of brilliance, followed by crushing darkness, and a hurricane of ciphers promptly exploded out from Rafael, symbols imprinting themselves on Wei in another layer of protection.

Everything and everyone moved at once.

A psionic clash sent shockwaves as Bishop and the False Hydra turned their focuses on one another. Rifts bust open over the latter as the scattered remnants of the Inheritors’ forces came spilling through. A wall of piercing projectiles stabbed into Wei as Seever fired, but each one was deflected by Rafael’s working, every impact causing a cipher to wink out.

The young master cleaved with his scythe once more. He split the concept of distance ahead of him for a hundred meters, rematerialized over a slick patch of land, and was immediately attacked by a swarm of giant flying worms that burst out from the ground beneath him.

An explosion of blade-shaped wind carved the Demon of Gluttony apart, and a chain of scythes passed through their spirits as well, siphoning the shattering demons for source and not Aspect Charges.

Source: [49/200]

A faint shroud of armor materialized over Wei as his Scorn climbed. Electricity exploded out from his spear. Heavy rain proceeded falling chunks of stone buffeted by angry winds. Turning his Omniscience on the battlefield, Wei separated Seever from all the others—and found the man staring directly at him.

A vicious sneer lined the Inheritor’s face as he held out his many misshapen arms, beckoning Wei to continue their duel. “Come and get me, then, cretino.”

Wei obliged. But he didn’t draw close. Instead, he used calamity as the edge of his blade, slashing with waves of sharpened wind, stabbing out with bolts of lightning, sweeping with rising tides, and blocking with rising columns of stone. The place where Seever once stood vanished before the young master’s cataclysmic onslaught—but Wei knew his foe was long gone.

And he didn’t need a Dilation-Echo to warn him about the coming counterattack. Wei cut distance again—materialized a hundred meters up in the air as Seever reappeared where he once was. The Inheritor was burning, and the path he traveled blossomed with shockwaves of displaced wind and bursting sound. Even with his Relativity nearing a thousand thanks to his catalyst, Wei couldn’t keep track of Seever at all.

The young master held back a grimace. He had been hoping that was due to deleterious effects from the Lesser Time Stop the man used earlier. Now, it was clear who had Aspect superiority—and that Wei should target something else within the man if he wanted to break him. But what? It was clear that Seever had plenty of Strength and Constitution too. That left Will, Perception, and Mind. But Wei doubted he could break those quickly either—and in that time, it probably wouldn’t take much for the Inheritor to rip the young master apart.

To make matters worse, he sighted twenty-one Knights attacking his comrades as well, a few of among them channeling Skills so potent in Essence that it matched Wei’s Heart of Calamity. Rafael was still constructing new signs and circuits; Roggi and Agnesia had taken flight; Ellena was froze in shock, her summons closing in defense around her; Agate was standing in front of the Trine as they sang, a shimmering shield slowly manifesting around them.

“Wei,” Bishop said, voice breaking through Wei’s thoughts. “Need you to listen carefully: Bring that fucker over. And get the others away. I’m going to overload this vessel and try to catch them in the blast.”

ESSENVVE AOLOVER

O-OVERLOAD IN 313 /13=44

8 seconds

“It will be done,” Wei thought in reply, ignoring his System’s screaming. He gauged how close his Eidolon was to overload by the cracks spreading along its length. It also gave him another idea—one most unappealing and possibly insufficient as well. Bishop wasn’t the only one who could achieve an Essence Overload…

But sacrificing his Eidolon would be a last ditch effort. Channeling his Heart of Calamity, Wei began forming a typhoon around Seever. The Inheritor fired a few probing shots at him through the air. A wall of echoing projectiles loomed. A source-forged scythe materialized above Wei and slashed down, diverting the path of the salvo off at an angle—causing them to rip through three unprepared Inheritor Knights. They fell in cleanly sliced pieces, Constitutions nothing before Seever’s beams.

“Ah, you cheeky fuck!” Seever shouted, laughing under his breath. “You’re… you’re cutting down the bonuses we need to hand out. Wh-whatever am I gonna do, huh?”

Even now, they were mocking him. Hubris. Wei sneered. “You’re going to break.”

Then, Wei expended all of his Scorn at once. First, he had his winds collapse around the Inheritor. After, he created a Lance of Calamity, with the majority of his remaining resources, before Essenceshifting into wind and rushing for his teammates and cut distance once more. He didn’t expect his attacks to do anything—but they might just distract the man for a while. Just long enough to make him realize where Wei was going. And perhaps long enough to get everyone—

As he reappeared among the Inheritor’s forces, he found the False Hydra ready for him. Only a Dilation-Echo saved him from having his mind and body shredded apart by a psionic blast. Assuming his Form of the Resonant, Wei met an approaching wave of Essence with the tip of his spear as returned to his physical form—Scorn spent. He held for just a moment before he was driven back, the power he faced too great. Until his scythe fell and carved another harvest of Source out for Wei.

Rico the Snake: Psi-Shaper Lv. 95

Source: [64/200]

The False Hydra prepared to unleash another attack, but a torrent of energy from Bishop stole its full focus back. Seever must have been in contact with this Rico all this time, for—

Another Dilation-Echo. It passed through Wei so fast, he barely had time to react. He cut. He blinked. A rift of spatial Essence burst out from inside Rico, and Seever shot up into the air like a bullet, spreading translucent wings made from pulsating red membrane as he climbed to an apex.

They weren’t just connected telepathically, they had a Skill that allowed for direct teleportation through each other.

Wei’s prescience trembled again. An Inheritor Knight charged him with a fluid lance raised, his back a ring of spinning blades. Wei barely regarded them—swatted their strike aside with a flick of his wrist. A gust of wind tore the Knight from their path. But it was the scythe that carved through them that proved fatal. They screamed—their voice a slow motion droning, but Wei carved them clean of useful Aspects, shattering them for good.

RELativy CHargannns ++

+FORTN

Wei consumed the Relativity Charges as soon as he gained them and regarded the other Knights with new interest. He might not be able to match Seever’s Speed now, but he had others to draw from. A trickle of Scorn built within Wei with his slaying of the Knight and using it, he seized droplets of moisture around his body before firing them at every Inheritor he could see.

WARNNING

OVERLOANNWE

Aspect of (Ambition) cannot be reverted

StopFIGHTING

WEIIIII

His Form of the Martial Harvester strained his Ambition as more scythes formed one after another in quick succession. They reaped and vanished, ripping the Speed from the unprepared Inheritor Knights. He felt their faces contort in pain—saw one freeze in the air, unable to move, severed from the concept entirely. Charges flooded into Wei just in time for his Eidolon to start hissing excess Essence, on the verge of overload. Just in time for his new Charges to make up for the difference.

But before he boosted his Relativity, there was still a final raindrop seek its target.

Infused with barely enough force, it punched through a psionic shroud and shattered against the twisting head of Rico, the False Hydra. The droplet ultimately had less force than a raindrop, but served as omen enough for a final scythe to come.

What Wei took from the Rico was not Speed, but Mind. And just enough to tilt things for Bishop. Once, False Hydra and Trespasser were unleashing waves of brilliant color at each other, hammering the world with telepathic and telekinetic tsunamis. The ground tore. The air screamed with ambient thoughts instilled with all-consuming emotion. But the stalemate was ultimately in the Inheritor’s favor, for Angeleous was a breaking vessel, and soon, it wouldn’t be much of a vessel at all.

But now, Rico found himself diminished by over a hundred Mind Advancements. His power waned. His spirit wailed. And as Wei consumed his Relativity Charges, he saw two hands shaped from telekinetic power clutch the hydra’s undulating heads as Rico was drawn toward Bishop.