Somedays, I wonder what might have come to be if she didn’t die. If she could have kept her daughter from becoming what she did. If her survival would have grounded Wei—given him a better influence than the Claimed Hells or an old killer like myself.

I wonder. And I wonder. I wish it were the case.

But life don’t work that way.

And the Claimed Hells? It will take your heart in the end. It always does.

-John Bishop

91

Trauma

“Rico!” Seever said. He rushed down with naked urgency, all hint of playfulness gone.

At the same time, Wei blinked over to each of his companions. They were moving—far slower than he, Bishop, Rico, or Seever—but still fighting. He caught Roggi—looking badly burned—in a shroud of wind and sent him flying into the distance. With the damage he inflicted on the Inheritors, a swell of Scorn rushed into him, and pushed his power further, using his elements to shuttle his companions away to safety on rising waves—and in the same direction to ensure they could make a stand, and wouldn’t just be eaten by Demons of Gluttony.

A coruscating pillar of Essence exploded out from Bishop, rising as if a tower into the sky. To make matters worse, as they lit the clouds, Wei saw a truly gargantuan shape approaching—its body looming like a falling moon.

Leviathan of the Starved Sky: Lv.???

They needed to be gone from this place. Immediately.

Waves of water lifted Agate, the Trine, and Rafael from where they stood, rushing away from the battlefield. Agnesia took a moment to locate, but Wei found her in the throes of battle, tearing a Knight in half using her draconic avatar. The young master almost did a double take—the girl had acclimated herself to brutality, if nothing. As for Ellena—

Ellena?

Where was she? Why couldn’t he—

His Omniscience swept over the every inch of space, trying to locate her. He could still feel something of her Essence, so she couldn’t be gone, but then where—

And suddenly he found her. His Omniscience passing not only through the land but into bodies. Inside Seever himself. She was struggling, Pushing against walls of gripping flesh that left her caged and lost. Cold terror flooded Wei’s veins. How could he have missed that? When? When did Seever capture her? Was it as he crossed? Wei didn’t even think—he just knew that he needed space earlier—did he expose—

“Wei!” Bishop cried. “I’m out of time. Get gone! I’ll be waiting for you at—”

The connection broke. The young master turned to see the hydra trying to fight, digging heads and tendrils of telekinesis into the ground to halt its movement, but finally arriving right before Bishop regardless. The amount of Essence flooding out from Angeleous’s body was staggering—it was like a dam about to collapse. Just how powerful was Bishop normally?

Wei cursed himself. He should have given the man a body worth having. The Knight of Lust’s perhaps. But it was too late now. All of it was too late. Psionic supernova consumed the world, and Wei blinked toward Seever, trying to intercept him along the path.

“Rico! Teleport! Teleport outta here now, ya jabroni—the fuck you doing!” The horror Wei felt about Ellena’s present state was mirrored by the expression on Seever’s face. He reached out—two hundred meters away and descending to get to his ally. And Wei materialized just along his path, still far slower, but catching him by surprise. “Shi–”

The young master drove his Broken Crescent into the Inheritor like he was jousting with a missile. The flesh of his foe burst apart—and started healing immediately. But that was enough. Wei caught a glimpse of Ellena, her face half-caked in viscera, green eyes meeting his own. The Form of the Marital Harvester followed suite. Seever yelped in surprise at first. What the Eidolon gave him was a wound of the flesh. But the scythe that followed took from him his Perception—his weakest, Aspect, judging from how he had a harder time navigating the chaos.

“You little—” Wei didn’t react; he predicted. He was gone before Seever’s stabbing fangs ever shot out. He blinked back above the Inheritor leader, slamming his heel into their jaw. “Mawfhakwer!” Another harvest. Another bit of Perception. But Wei’s momentarily boosts were running dry as well. He needed to do this quick. Twirling his spear, he tunneled down into the Inheritor’s body, shredding through the canvas that was Seever’s winces before carving a path of gore to reach his companion.

For all Seever’s power, he was no warrior. He struck reactively; predictably. No apparent skill at all. Peeling through the Inheritor’s flesh, Wei exposed more of Seever’s innards, and thereby Ellena. His Shroud of Scorn lit his body in a layer of black-gold armor, and he reached out, preparing to pull Ellena free—

Her flesh twisted and changed. A cannon made from jagged bone extended from her neck. A Dilation-Echo followed. Far too late. Wei took the impact on his chest and his Shroud shattered immediately. His armor caved in with a scream of metal, and he felt his sternum crack in half as well. Ellena’s face contorted with pain as she reached out for him as well, the cannon sinking beneath her skin once more.

But with a final flash of Essence, she summoned a demon, and they materialized before Wei, trying to absorb the hit. The beam passed through regardless.

Wei was flung backward. But barely made it a meter before Seever caught him with a chitinous claw. Inhuman pressure closed around Wei’s hip. His pelvis lasted less than a second before it broke in half. Wei tried striking back with his spear—landing another blow as he damaged more of Seever’s Perception. But a hail of Essence blast spilled over the young master. Wei felt his flesh cook, his ears pop, his eyes melt, his lungs fry. The reason he could still see was thanks to his Omniscience, and witnessing himself from the third person as his body wailed and screamed without his willing consent proved nightmarish dissociative.

Then, he felt something finally dissolve inside of him. Something so small and diminutive he barely perceptive before a lucky shot from Seever blew it out of his body.

Thequeensheloveyou.l…

S-system compromised! System reconfiguration in process

More text came, but Wei didn’t was too distracted by his left arm getting ripped off to notice.

The last of his Charges vanished. Time resumed. Ellena was screaming. “Stop! Stop! Please! He’s just a child!” A blade pierced out through her shoulder and she gave a shrill cry of pain. A ragged cough came from Seever, and he reached out twice with a tendril before he found Wei.

Somewhere nested inside a cocoon of pain and impending death, Wei noticed.

Source: [14/200]

Was the Inheritor blinded? Deafened? It was like he were feeling around in the dark when he used his tendrils. “Fucking… little shit! Can’t hear or see right now, motherfucking—”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Wei tried to laugh, but he only managed a wet cough. So, his attacks did manage something in the end after all. Well. That was good. That meant Seever was going to notice what was happening right next to him.

“Harlon!” Rico cried. “Harlon! Helllpp—”

Turning his Omniscience over to the False Hydra, Wei watched as Bishop’s singularity blossomed, and swallowed it completely. The world tore. A chaotic vortex of unbridled power roared across the Hearted Realm. What few surviving Inheritors remained fled. Few were fast enough after what Wei did to them. Meanwhile, their master didn’t notice. Didn’t notice at all.

Swinging his head around, Seever blinked and snarled. Wei’s laugher grew louder, despite the claw closing around him.

“The fuck?” Seever spat. “Are you—”

Wei flared his scythe one more time. But he didn’t strike at Seever. No, instead he blinked into the Inheritor’s wounds and bounced off Ellena just as the blast hit. It was the best he could do. He didn’t have the focus left to reach across space. He just had to hope that the Inheritor’s Constitution was enough for them to survive.

Wei felt Ellena’s arms wrap around his neck just as a crushing hammer of power swatted them from the sky. The world outside turned to nothing but screaming Essence, and Wei’s consciousness grew hazy as a second burst of force pulsed through Seever—and into him.

***

From ten kilometers away, Mulver blinked as what looked like a Marquis-Tier Essence overload spread across the horizon. His Chat-tether remained, so he knew the kid wasn’t dead, but still… “What the fuck.”

From above, the enshadowed forms of hungering leviathans drew close. At that, Mulver froze.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Kid might be fucked.

Might be.

Mulver winced. “Shit.”

***

System restored

Hostile System [Ichor] fully cleansed

Repairing Spirit…

Wei coughed. The world greeted him as if it was a nightmare. Enormous shapes displaced the clouds in the sky, and they resembled large jaws with wings, coming to swallow the land. Around him, he heard chattering, sensed minor Essences approaching him. And just beside, he saw the headless form of his mother standing over—over…

A mangled mess of flesh lay merely meters away from Wei. He coughed as he realized what he was looking at: Harlon Seever’s body. It looked like a mound of boiled flesh. Bones were half melted. His head was nowhere to be seen. Tendons burned like candles, flesh exposed to the sky. But there was still a signature. Of him. Of Ellena. They were alive. And a body exit lining its side spoke of where Wei was flung out from the body like a bullet.

Source: [3/200]

Darkness crept along Wei’s vision. A rush of weakness pulsed, and he nearly blacked out again. But by some miracle, he held on. Reaching out with a single arm, he drug himself toward the Inheritor. “Ellena,” he wheezed, one lung popped. He tried triggering Lesser Hollow Mind, but a spike of agony rushed through his Spirit.

This time, Wei did pass out again.

Until another voice woke him a moment after.

“Wei! Mother!”

“A-ag…” Wei couldn’t finish his words. Pushing himself off the ground, he heard Agnesia’s cries drawing close. But before him, the mess of flesh and mangled tissued stirred. The young master winced. Damnation. He needed to hurry. He tried to move his legs, but they proved little more than numb anchors behind him. His left arm was missing. And so he made due with his right. “Ellena.” He hissed. “Q-quartermaster.”

A series of snaps sounded from inside the Inheritor. A peel of flesh lifted. A disfigured face attacked to a drooping skull rose up, clutching Ellena between fractured ribs.

“El—” Wei snarled. System! System! Stop! I need to use—

Repairing Spirit…

No! Stop! Cease whatever you’re doing and give me access to my Skills! I need them! I need them now!

Repairing Spirit…

WORTHLESS!

Driven back anger, Wei pushed himself. And only then did his mind clear of pain-wrought haze. He resummoned his Eidolon, spear manifesting in his remaining hand—

But he was dry. Dry of Scorn. Utterly used.

Nononono!

Seever rasped. Seever groaned. Seever… wept? “Rico? Rico? You out there, buddy? You… you out there? Anyone?” He breathed a few times, his eyes blinking. His face didn’t look so good now. Most of its right side was like melted wax, eyelid fused with his upper lip. “Fuck. Fuck me. Goddammit. Done in by some fucking… Can’t see nothing. I can’t hear… Can’t even smell.”

Between his bones, Ellena twitched. She opened an eye and saw Wei crawling toward her. Her legs were pointing in the wrong direction, and her breaths were shallow, like she had a collapsed lung. “Wei,” she gasped.

“Wait. Hold on,” he said. He stabbed the ground with his spear and pulled himself forward. “I… almost.”

The ribs holding her suddenly speared through her body. She reared back and shrieked.

“Mother!” Agnesia was close now! She was close. Wei could feel her! The young master spat Source and pain as he whimpered. He flopped and crawled. Just a meter away. Rolled onto Seever’s body—and the Inheritor still failed to notice him. The ribs sank deeper into Ellena, and her eyes rolled to back of her head as she gurgled with pain. Slowly, Seever’s nightmarish spine rose, extending high up into the air and holding Ellena high for all to see.

“Wei! Wei An Wei! You FUCK!” His voice echoed far. And above, monsters roared, bringing with them smaller demons like a veritable tide of locusts. “You out there? You still alive? Well? You did it, kid! You broke me! YOU FUCKING DID IT! Good for you! GREAT FOR YOU! YOU FUCKING FUCK MOTHERFUCK!” The Inheritor shuddered as he sobbed. “Goddammit fuck me me man fuck. It wasn’t supposed to be like this, I wasn’t supposed… to… oh, Rico, I’m so goddamn sorry—I’m…” His voice trailed off. Wei reached around his spine, pulling hard.

Slowly, Seever looked around. “You’re… you’re right here, aren’t you? Are you?” Wei clenched his teeth, seething with hate. “Alright…” Seever chuckled. “Alright. Well. That… that’s something at least. I get to do this to you… at least.”

“Come on,” Wei said. “Come down, cur. I’m not dead. Let’s finish this—”

But though Seever felt him, he didn’t see him. “Well. There or not. It doesn’t matter. Because… because I have something of yours, right? And, well, if you gotta go out, as they say—”

“Mother!” The air grew hot. Agnesia’s cries took on a desperate quality.

“---you shouldn’t go alone. Hey, kid? How was it that your pa did your ma in again?”

Something inside Wei plunged. “NO! NO! NO! DAMN YOU! STOP! I RIGHT HERE! KILL ME! I’M RIGHT HERE!”

And suddenly, Wei’s mother appeared before him, her beheaded body covering Ellena’s. A horrible nausea swelled up inside him, and he watched as two new bones extended out beside Ellena’s neck.

The young master thrashed. He pushed through his mother’s form, grabbing onto the Inheritor’s body with hand and teeth, climbing. A spill of drool and blood painted his shoulder as Ellena looked down. Tears too. They dotted his face as he crawled faster.

Ten ribs away. Nine.

Ellena drew in a breath and looked upward. She saw something in the distance, and she smiled. “Agnesia!” she cried, speaking despite the bones buried through her body. “I love you! I’ll always—” She blinked, out of breath and fading. The blades next to her head shivered.

Four!

Two!

Wei caught her by the hem of her armored dress and pulled himself up. One!

“Wei,” she said, face calm, “you’re a good lad. Take care of—”

Seever’s guillotine closed.

“No!” Wei cried. He thrust his spear out, behind her, trying to lock his foe’s closing fangs in place.

But the Aspect he damaged was Perception. Not Strength.

His Broken Crescent endured for but a paltry second before it was cleaved clean through—and dissolved into unstable Essence. Ellena’s flesh provided no resistance, her Constitution a feeble thing, and Wei’s struggle worthless in the end. Worthless.

Wei’s despair found a voice in Agnesia as the girl slammed into Seever with an anguished wail that would follow him into his nightmares. He was flung from the Inheritor’s body. Flung alongside Ellena, and she landed atop him as they finally slammed down to the ground, her head rolling right next to his, green eyes open in death…

In death…

In death…

Once more, Wei’s mother superimposed herself, and this time, her body connected with Ellena’s head, the Hearted Realm tasting the young master’s pain.

And savoring it.

Something inside Wei wilted. Something inside Wei withered. Something inside Wei died.

System Repaired

Failed to resist trauma with Aspect of (Ambition)

Failed to resist trauma with Aspect of (Ambition)

Failed to resist trauma with Aspect of (Ambition)