When the dust had settled, Ma’Z could clearly make out Heaven’s entire team standing over a body each.
Unlike when he had seen them last, each of them were dressed in identical battle armor the likes of which Ma’Z had never seen before. Each one had an identical base layer black bodysuit that reached up to just under their chin around to the base of their skull. They had matching breastplates that didn’t seem to account for gender, which Ma’Z guessed was probably the strongest piece on their bodies.
From there was a mix of light and heavy armor, with a range of colors based on their individual likes.
One of the few details that particularly stood out was the emblem of Anubis on each of their left shoulders.
A light tether leapt from Heaven to Voltaire as she moved to join her crew. As she walked, she made a flicking motion towards her StoCar, causing her own battle armor to pop out and attach to her body.
One by one, she walked to each body placing one of the coins she took out over their bodies before putting a bullet in their heads.
While she was placing the coins, Striga made his way towards Ma’Z. He could see his own battle suit showing prominently from beneath his open jacket.
Sparing a glance over his shoulder, he nodded to the rest of the group who immediately split up to go secure the perimeter.
“Well, that was a rather unpleasant ordeal,” he began. “I must admit, I’m rather surprised. I haven’t seen this much action since our first arrival. So, I can’t help but find it rather surprising that you volunteered to formally join our fraternity.”
Ma’Z was quickly greeted by a prompt, seeking his permission.
The Fraternity Headmaster, Striga, formally invites you to become a full member of the Fallen Reapers, gaining full access to its facilities and all of the benefits that entails.
Do you accept? [Yes] [No]
Ma’Z mentally accepted the invitation and shrugged.
“Guess I was kidding myself to think I could move around in a mercenary guild and not catch the collateral that comes with it. ‘Course it doesn’t help with the destroyer coming. I got to level up too if I want a chance to survive its arrival,” he said.
“Indeed. I’d give a formal welcome speech, but with present circumstances and your general demeanor, I gather that to be unnecessary.”
“Yeah, that sounds ab-“
Ma’Z stopped mid-sentence as a light began to emanate from Heaven’s body. The sudden burst of energy caused his body to buzz in reaction to the surge of æther.
Voltaire had backed away as far as the tether allowed him, shielding his eyes from the intense light.
Heaven’s body lifted itself off the ground, hovering just a few inches before another surge of light pulsed, causing Ma’Z to reflexively throw his arms up over his face.
Despite his eyes being shut, he quickly realized he could still see. His third eye seemed to activate, showing him a cirrus cloud of multicolored æther surrounding Heaven’s body. Each colored strand seemed to be emanating from each of the dead bodies.
While it only lasted a few seconds, all of the accumulated æther quickly flooded into Heaven’s body and disappeared in a final flash. She landed shortly after, gently touching down onto the broken tiled flooring.
Ma’Z looked on at his fiancé in awe. He’d never seen it until now but understood immediately that it was her inheritor power at work.
“You didn’t use that on the shade stalkers. How come?” he asked.
“Too weak. Even with all of their corpses, I wouldn’t have gotten much advancement from them. These guys though,” she said, downing the ampoule she had prepared. “Unless I can find some particularly strong monsters, they’re about the only way I can advance anymore. Look.”
Tier: Hunter – 77%
Æther Slots: 10 of 10 + 1/2
Physical Slots: 60 of 60 + 0/2
“Ah. Wait. Was that why you put a bullet into each of them? Were they not dead?”
Heaven callously shook her head. “Nope,” she said. “As our tiers rise, our bodies quickly become resistant against even fatal amounts of punishment. A snapped neck? Either the nanomachines will reset it, a special healing spell for the instant reversal of damage, or a good ol’ trip to the doc. Either way, you’ll be good as new in a few hours max. On the flip side, you’ll also be paralyzed until it gets healed, so there’s that.”
“I see. So what were the coins for?”
“To collect their DNA. Magic can morph our bodies in all kinds of ways, but no matter how much we change, we’re still the same on the genetic level. So if you want to know definitively who you were dealing with, this is how you do it.”
Looking around the shattered remains of In-Grid, Heaven took it all in and sighed. “Well, I know I’m not paying for this. Did we get a positive ID on our vics?” she said.
Striga nodded.
“We were finally able to identify the corpse that Ma’Hiz brought in and managed to decipher the letter he had with him. I suggest you take a look at it when you have the time. As for this lot, they’re all from the Sphere of Prosperity,” he said.
“Well that pretty much confirms what I suspected. Brigand, what’s your assessment?”
A moment later, the big man came back through the hole with his signature claymore resting against his shoulder. Ma’Z noted that he looked much different than he had when he was tailing him as an assessor. He wondered if this was their official battle dress.
Brigand walked up to Heaven, handing her a StoCar. “Notice anything familiar?” he asked.
Heaven took it, turning it over and looking at the insignia on the back.
Almost instantly, she tossed the card back out into the street as she recoiled slightly in disgust.
“Are you falshing kidding, Brig? The Tourmaline Eye of Nephthys?” she spat.
“Who’s the Tourmaline Eye of Nephthys?” Ma’Z asked.
“Basically the boogiemen,” Seth answered.
Ma’Z turned towards the towering Mekaloid, having completely forgotten that he was there.
“That’s some bad juju,” he added.
“We believe it was a plant,” Brigand clarified. “We haven’t yet confirmed if these guys were commissioned by our old client, Harphin, but I think it’s reasonable to assume that it was put up by a third party in order to give him plausible deniability.”
“Is that why old Baron Gies’Lan has been riding you guys so hard lately?” Seth asked. “You guys just stay in trouble.”
“You’re one to talk,” Heaven grinned. “By the way, I’m glad you were the one to show up when you did. Though, a part of me wonders if that was for real or not. Our shield strength was dropping rapidly until you switched to your ætheric rounds.”
Seth scoffed, “You bet your sweet auhs, I was serious. I spent the entire trip over trying to come up with a good monologue, and you just kept shoveling your face full of food. Made a guy a might bit upset, I tell ya.”
“Sorry, pal, but I’ve had a bit of a day, and I was hungry besides. Had me falshed up if you thought I was going to waste fresh food.”
“Bugger that. A man’s got a reputation to keep. Now, is that the infamous boyfriend I’ve heard so much about?”
“Man, does everybody know?”
“At least half the city if I had to guess. Wouldn’t have pegged him for an I’Lu, though. Heard that race was really hard to get a handle on.”
“He’s actually kind of a natural. Brig can attest to that.”
“Ah, I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t let bias skew your assessments. Not in this world, anyway. Now, if it’s alright with you, I’ll be taking my leave now. Nice you see you again, by the way, Headmaster.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Striga nodded, looking tall despite the height disparity and said, “Likewise. Take this as a token of my gratitude.”
Seth’s eyes glowed momentarily before his sculpted jaw opened and shut almost as fast. He nodded, then motioned for his guys to leave, who filed out in the same order they arrived.
Seth lingered a bit longer, before turning to duck back out of what was left of the doorframe and said, “Voltaire, it was good of you to call, but I think we’re going to have to have a little chat about where your loyalties lie.”
Voltaire slumped his shoulders, his guilt weighing him down even further.
“Come, boy. Let’s get you home,” Seth’s voice boomed as he walked away.
Voltaire looked at Heaven, who dropped her Light Tether and nodded for him to go.
When they were gone, Heaven turned to Ma’Z and said, “I’m guessing you have some questions.”
“Oh, quite a few, but mostly I’m curious about that tourmaline group,” he said.
“Yeah, I’ll fill you in on that detail later,” Heaven said. “The problem right now is that Brigand was right. That card was a plant. So either there’s a plant somewhere within Harphin’s sphere, or he’s just a puppet himself. I think the best option right now is to assume he’s no longer our main priority, and keep a look out to what’s going on behind him.”
“I have to concur,” Striga said. “I’ll put the word out with some trusted contacts, and get started on purge protocols. I don’t want a repeat of last time.”
“Oh, I bet everyone will be thrilled to hear about that. How are we looking outside guys,” Heaven called out.
“Area secured,” War reported in. “Still a few onlookers, but everyone seems to have gotten the hint to steer clear.”
“Copy,” Heaven said. “Vivi, can you confirm?”
“Can confirm. No visual anomalies dat I can detect in da area,” she said.
“That’s good enough for me. Alright everyone, let’s pack it up and head back. Escort formation.”
“Copy,” everyone said in unison.
The next thing Ma’Z saw was Brigand’s body shimmer from sight as he turned to walk away, followed by Striga. He saw War shimmer out of sight from beyond the destroyed walls of the building and the rest soon after that.
“Function of the suits,” Heaven said. “Uses a bit of æther to activate, and even has a hardening function. Now that you’re a member, you’ll get one too.”
“You mean, I wasn’t going to get one before?” he asked, disbelieving.
“I mean, absolutely not,” Heaven said, equally incredulous. “These things are custom tailored to each of us and members only. Good Goddess, the entitlement.”
“Hey, you better be nice to me. I just survived two assassination attempts.”
“Good thing you joined the club then, otru’fin. That’s practically Marth for us.”
“Uh, what?”
“Tuesday, dear.”
“Fricking native.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go. We got a lot to discuss.”
A few minutes later, they were back on the road. Heaven was still in her battle attire, and Ma’Z felt grossly underdressed for the occasion.
He started to reflect on the day, the attack earlier, and the attack now. Normally, in games, there was a level of removal because it was easy to dissociate and recognize the situation as fake. This was total immersion, however.
He was stabbed, burned, beaten, and then bombarded with bullets and explosions. He played it as cool as he could in front of Heaven, but now that he was alone in his Erzalis, the shock was finally setting in. His nerves were utterly shot.
“Completely different than dealing with monsters, isn’t it?” Sparkplug said.
“Reading my mind again?” Ma’Z responded.
“I’ve done it before?”
“You trying to say you haven’t? I know I haven’t exactly practiced much with my powers, but I got a bit of an idea of what it feels like when a person’s thoughts enter my head. And I felt that with you.”
“Oh? Maybe that’s a muscle you should start flexing more.”
“Can’t say that you’re wrong.”
“Is that why you didn’t use your telekinesis?”
“I uh… yeah. Probably. It’s hard to explain. It’s like if I don’t feel all that pressured, then I don’t really look for it.”
“Yeeeeah, I’m going to beat that mentality out of you, if Heaven doesn’t. Those abilities are there for you to use, not to hold on to like trump cards.”
“That’s fair.”
“So, anyway, do you want to talk about it?”
“Hmm? No. Not this time. I think the initial shock is starting to wear off, and it’s not like I haven’t faced situations like this before.”
“Hmm, something like that.”
“What’s that?”
“What?”
“You just said- Nevermind.”
“Sorry boss. But hey, tell you what, as a consolation prize, let me teach you how to use your third eye.”
“What? You don’t want to wait for my memories to return?”
“I do, but you’re being gloomy, so I thought I’d cheer you up. Plus I don’t want you to get caught with your pants down again.”
“Behold my saddened visage, for it is so gloomy, even my Frame feels the need to flip my frown.”
“Uh huh. Now, close your eyes and read this description first.”
“What? No! I’m still driving, dummy.”
“Pah! I’m a whole ass vehicle, dipshit. I’ll handle the driving. Just keep your hands on the rings, and I’ll take care of the rest,” Sparkplug shot back. Before Ma’Z could protest, however, it cut him off and said, “No no, I’m the car. I autopilot just fine, thank you very much. Now, shut up and close your eyes. You’re going to want to see this anyway.”
Unable to get a word in, Ma’Z groaned, but did as instructed. A moment later, a window appeared with a description he hadn’t seen before.
Umbral Eye of the Keeper: One of the rarest lineages of the I’Lu circles. I’Lu born with an umbral eye are said to be directly touched by fate itself – their actions always guided, always pushed toward an unknown destination. When faced with keeping the Balance, few I’Lu ever reject their destinies, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make every effort to bend it towards their will.
Touched by Fate (hidden trait): You have been marked by Fate itself. Those marked by fate are incredibly hard to kill. Whenever you suffer a lethal blow, your body automatically expends the æther of your lifeforce to restore you to life. This action can take effect three times before you lose the protection of Fate.
Ma’Z started to open his eyes, but Sparkplug interrupted him again saying, “No. Wait. Just one more thing. You need to learn how to channel æther. Up until now, you’ve been doing it instinctively, so let’s get this basic ability out of the way now. Imagine trying to breathe with your skin. Draw the surrounding æther into your body, and then try moving it towards your eye.”
Ma’Z attempted to do as instructed, imagining his pores opening wide as if to suck in the wind itself. Unintentionally, he ended up trying to suck air down his throat, nearly choking himself.
“Dummy,” Sparkplug laughed.
“I swear to god-” Ma’Z said through gritted teeth, eyes still closed, shaking his head.
He tried it again. Unlike the first attempt, however, Ma’Z felt a familiar rush of energy seep into his body.
“Yes. That’s it! Now direct it towards your eye,” Sparkplug said.
Ma’Z imagined the æther moving into his eye, and said, “Ok, and then what?”
“Now open it.”
At first, all he could see was blackness. He could still feel the wind whipping against his body and see the passing of streetlights on the backs of his eyelids, but otherwise all he saw was darkness.
He was starting to think it didn’t work. He was starting to think Sparkplug was just messing with him again. He nearly opened his eyes again, but then he remembered a shimmering light coming through a window. A man standing just beyond the veil, dressed in various shades of blue, an I’Lu like himself with a shimmering blue eye.
Who the hell was that guy? Why was he in his room? Ma’Z was starting to get frustrated, but his unconscious mind drew him back to that shimmering curtain of light. Except it wasn’t light at all. It was æther. It was pure æther.
The moment Ma’Z had the revelation, he opened his eyes.
“Oh, what the hell?” he said a little too loudly.
“Something the matter, babe?” Heaven asked.
“I uh,” he started to say, suddenly curious as to just how good her hearing was. “You might not believe this, but I can see our escort detail.”
“I’m sorry, say that again? Did you say you can see the rest of the team?”
Ma’Z nodded, then shook his head knowing she couldn’t see him and said, “Yeah. I mean sort of. I can see a kind of silhouette of them. They look like outlines of shimmering light.”
“Oh Goddess. If you can see us then-” Heaven dropped back, now riding parallel to Ma’Z and said, “Reaper 1 to Anubis Squad, switch to delta formation, Steel sign. We have a problem.”
Ma’Z watched as the team’s formation switched from a line to a spread-out triangle. As soon as they did, a dome of silver ætheric energy encompassed the group.
“You going to fill us in, Reaper 1, or are we supposed to guess,” Oraria said.
Now that they were all talking on comms, Ma’Z was privy to their conversation, and was worried why they were suddenly on high alert.
“Hold, Reaper 3. Ma’Z, can you repeat what you just told me? You said you could see the team?” she said.
“Yeah. Kind of. Like I said, they all look like a silhouetted outline of rainbow light,” Ma’Z explained.
“Pinche. How the falsh did you pull that off? We’re supposed to be invisible to all spectrums of light,” War said.
“Cálmate factice. Let the kid explain hisself,” Vivi said.
There was a moment of silence, and Ma’Z realized they were all waiting for him to clarify himself.
“It’s my third eye. I think I finally got an idea of how it works. At least, I think I did.”
“You think you did?” Oraria nearly shouted.
“Still new to this, woman,” Ma’Z said back.
“You little- Look, sorry, I’m not trying to blame you of anything, but you guys understand what this means right?”
“Now we know why we were nearly wiped out,” Striga said.
“Ma’Hiz, is there anything else you can see with that eye of yours? I’m starting to feel kind of naked now,” Brigand said.
“I- Uh, I don’t know. Sorry. I just now did it. I mean- Sorry. Agh. Let me look.”
Ma’Z couldn’t help feeling frustrated, having just gained his third sight, and now being put on the spot. He didn’t know what had them spooked, though he knew it had something to do with his sight.
He just didn’t know why.
Looking around, he saw everything he had seen already. He saw the team outlined in shimmering light. He saw the drone lights that lit up the street, and the intermittent lights from the dragonmoths. Looking up into the starry sky, Ma’Z’s eyes went wide when he noticed a shimmering outline directly above them. Several, in fact. They didn’t look like normal drones, but something more akin to helicopters. They were massive.
“Oh, fuck me sideways,” Ma’Z said. “We got company. Four helicopter-sized drone things are flying directly above us.”
“Reaper 1?” Oraria said. “When we get done hobbling back to the fraternity, we got a lot to talk about this boyfriend of yours.”
“Cut the chatter, Reaper 3. Besides, he’s probably doing us a favor. We owe these yautshis for the last time,” Brigand said.
“Reaper 5, on Ma’Z’s mark, deploy the chaff,” Heaven said. “Assume Ma’Z is their secondary target. Anubis takes priority. Copy?”
“Copy!” everyone said in unison.
“This is the part where you take a breath, Ma’Z,” Sparkplug said. “Don’t think for a second, you’re outclassed just because you’re a lower tier. When the battle starts, treat this no differently than when you fought the shades. And by that, I mean you better fuck them up!”
Despite himself, Sparkplug’s pep talk caused Ma’Z to laugh. He did as instructed though and took a deep breath. He quickly saw that even with his eyes closed, he could still see the drones above and everything around him.
The drones held their position, but Ma’Z quickly realized they were just transports.
The moment they detached Ma’Z called out, “They’re coming.”
Heaven, not missing a beat, switched to Assault mode and said, “Reaper Squad, the light’s green. Now time for some payback, you traitorous bautras. Let’s go!”