The only thought in Remus’ mind, as a copycat of his own power washed over him, was that things were going to get very confusing.
Whose fire was whose? Well, in the long run, it mattered little. A sphere of azure exploded out of him, acting as his own earthbound star. It served as a sort of protective shielding, filtering out the force and power from Makalo’s attacks.
What really concerned him was that off-hand comment. And you didn’t even raise an eyebrow when I touched you, either. It was true. Remus really hadn’t thought twice.
Something wasn’t adding up. The Ambition Clan wasn’t exactly an overpopulated sect, and he had never seen the like of Makalo in his many days’ stay there. Had Remus’ power transferred to the man via touch?
When a flashing blur punched into his chest with all the force of a freight train, Remus stopped deliberating. Either way, he was going to make short work of this second-rate imposter.
Hit harder than he expected, spittle flung from Remus’ mouth. He hopped back, clicked his fingers in one, two, three activations of Eruptive Will, and never stopped bounding backwards.
A superimposed fist of flame flew into his fiery corona. It failed to trespass in any substantial way. A few more similar creations shot out from the Makalo, but they were clumsy. More show than substance.
Now Remus was certain of the identity of this clansman. They were of the Inheritance Sect, whose only power was that in which they stole.
Yet second-hand goods could only get you so far.
He had the mastery over the abilities here. Nobody knew his own skillset better than Remus. Well, quite possibly Enrique, but no one living at least.
Despite that comforting truth, questions swam in his mind. How much of his arsenal could Makalo really use? If it was intuitive, as it must have been, would the ancient techniques of the Ambition Sect be viable? Would he have access to them?
He doubted it.
Finding his advantage, Remus allowed Flaming Gold to course through him. His Bank wasn’t yet adapted to the task, but he focused all the Infinity he had regardless on keeping the pain at bay.
He doubted they’d be fighting for that long.
His limbs flew into Makalo like cracks of lightning, bone-crushing power behind each swing. Their body was sent crashing towards the arena walls, but Remus didn’t relent. He flew after him, obsidian gauntlets appearing up his forearms.
The man tried to mimic his levitation technique, managing it for all of two seconds.
Not time enough to avoid a jaw-crushing connection.
The sand was charred from Makalo’s wild sprays of fire, arms now askew. Remus grasped the man by the hem of his tunic. When Makalo started trying to burn a hole into his sleeve, Remus used one last activation of Explosive Will to slap him against the ground. Just for good measure.
The crowds were becoming, for lack of a better word, wild. Even the commenter had sprang mid-sentence into a wild screech.
He held Makalo down, using enough force to keep him at bay.
“Settle down.” He told him. “Surrender before I have to deal some real damage.”
They spat blood at Remus’ boot. “Eat s-”
Remus pushed down a tad harder. It quickly shut him up.
Right before he had the opportunity to repeat himself, three blades found themselves chafing against Remus’ skin. The fire disappeared, leaving Makalo’s command like water down a plug hole. Remus blinked, and twenty more floating razors swiftly joined the others.
“What?” He half-croaked, half shrieked loud enough for those in the audience to hear.
“Get off me.” Makalo’s voice was insidious. “Or I’ll butcher you right now.”
Exhaling, Remus glanced at the material of the blades. They weren't supreme steel — something more akin to bronze. The edges didn’t look particularly sharp either, despite the fact one against Remus’ nape had begun to draw Ichor.
That golden trickle was the most the man was going to get.
Exhaling, Remus raised both of his obsidian fists, and said, rather simply, “No.”
Plasma blasted over the blades, and jolting out of the way, Remus swallowed a scream as one grating sword drew blood. He retained a rigid position a second later, his skin becoming as imperious as steel.
How Thick Skin was going to work, with part of his flesh already lacerated, Remus wasn’t sure. He hoped it wouldn’t be too large a complication.
Steel upon steel rained down on him, but Remus didn’t budge an inch. He was immersed in the eye of the storm, a maelstrom of glinting edges he refused to give in to. He focused on his breathing, fanning the inner embers of his ire, imagining a defeated Makalo at his feet.
His skin held steadfast, and he let the man burn away at his own energy supply for minutes on end. But things could never be so simple. Thick Skin was as draining as any technique in his arsenal, and disputes weren't won by sitting idly and letting your enemy hack away at you all day long. Remus waited for his opportunity, feeling slightly dazed, and took it.
Somewhere along the lines, Flaming Gold had become too strenuous to balance out with his other abilities. He’d silently quit the technique, before its use could warrant any major pains. Now, getting quite agitated with his welcome to this hidden society, he let it run its course.
He launched through a gap in the haze of sharp ends, propelling his body as fast as it would obey to reach Makalo. His skin became vulnerable anew, scrapes and cuts tearing at him. His raucous Ambition was more than enough to silence those little upsets of pain.
Remus’ feet landed a foot away from his adversary, and he could only imagine what his enemy saw.
Two pinpricks of blue, imbued with a depth of hatred, of regret, and of determination to see this all through, drowning in a fiery sea of azure.
Five ticking time bombs were placed around each of his digits, another in the centre of his palm. They accumulated in the fastest jab of his life, Infinity and suffocating loads of untempered Ambition alongside it.
Remus felt a tiny shift in the energy all around, as Makalo altered their subject of power for a third time running. Gone were the stoic, rigid waves of energy known to the Sword Sect. A new beast laid in its stead. The power of the Defense Clan flowed rampant through the air, and it occurred to Remus, as his fist turned Makalo’s hasty shield into hasty molten, the nature of the man’s abilities. The man could likely access the powers of the last few people he had touched.
Too bad there wouldn’t be time to see the rest of the man’s tricks.
Jack of all trades, master of none.
His arm burst from the other side of the metal shield, and before armour could materialise on Makalo’s exposed body, his hit struck home.
Makalo was hurtled into the arena wall again, for the . . . Remus had stopped keeping count. At this rate, their body was going to be permanently imprinted upon the rocky material.
Remus waited for two seconds, gathering his breath. Makalo didn’t move.
A man appeared at Remus' side at the speed of light. Remus blinked, his split-second reaction one of alarm. One last trick from Makalo?
Such concerns were quickly subsided, as Remus felt them raise his hand.
“And the winner is . . . Reemuss!” The announcer’s voice, amplified by some energy manipulation to reach the rows, threatened to deafen him.
Safe at last, Remus deactivated his Mark. The roars of the crowd felt surreal, a kind of confused vertigo overcoming him. Remus wasn’t used to winning so simply. So efficiently. Where was the struggle until he blacked out that seemed to define his usual squabbles?
Those thoughts were appeased when he set his eyes back onto Violet. She was smiling at him from the crowd, the raging charcoals of her eyes unmistakable anywhere.
He returned the ferocious grin. In a sight far more gratifying than putting a two-faced Makalo into submission.
Together, they were going to send the front lines quaking.
----------------------------------------
Violet scampered across a hell on earth in her Unbounded form.
Corpses of other species of her kind rotted away, flecks of Infinity dispersing where fearsome weapons stuck out of their dismembered bodies. A dazzlement of lights, sparks, shapes and incoherent sounds made reality seem like one gigantic acid trip.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
This was the reality of war.
She slipped across a pool of Ichor, catching herself before she could stumble below. It was hard to be certain which state was the safest: Unbounded, or human Violet from the Chaos Clan.
The former meant any passing clansmen might get the bright idea to crush her. The latter resulted in endless waves of Unbounded rushing for her skin. Neither one tickled her fancy.
Violet had come here to learn the lay of the land, or a sense of the real danger that was awaiting them here. Trespassing into the front lines with a little teleportation had been surprisingly easy. Suspiciously so.
Only when facing this atrocity, this hell of hells, did Violet stop being sceptical. Clearly, they had matters more concerning than detecting a strange surge of Chaos energy.
And when Violet had opened up her own inner eye to the divine resources raging here, she understood. Understood why things with the Unbounded were going so crazy as of late.
How this news hadn’t reached the rest of Descent, or the wider masses, Violet had no clue.
The only thing she was aware of was one fact. She needed to report to Remus immediately.
She jolted through rift of purple after rift of purple, never ceasing in her advance. On and on she marched, never faltering. In human form, with her Mark aching with how much strain she’d been forced to inflict upon it, finally, she exited that insane land.
Violet walked the rest of the way back to the rundown outpost. She didn’t bother to make use of her Mark, giving it some rest.
Remus was meditating when she reached him. Legs crossed and concentrated solely on expanding his Bank. She felt bad to interrupt his training, and never normally would do so, but this was important.
“Remus,” she called. “You're going to want to hear this.”
He got up, stretching. “Everything go as planned?”
“Yeah.” Violet had discussed her plans of reaching the battlegrounds prior to leaving. “But I saw things — sensed them, more specifically. I think I know why we keep encountering Unbounded far above the expected power outside of the front lines. Aside from any connection to Nova. I think the Unbounded are making a push to crush the front lines. To flood into the rest of the Mortal Realms. A greater push than ever before.”
“Why do you say that?” His face was the portrait of concern.
“The last four Right Bearers, I’m sure they’ve come here.”
Remus looked at her, face unrevealing. But unrevealing like obscuring ice. Mystifying the truth for now, but that frosty rime was fickle. “And you sensed them?”
“Yes.” She paused. “Well, not exactly, though I did sense one: the Supreme Fiend. Supreme Rot has a very distinct sensation to it. I’ve never encountered it, but that concentration of Infinity, and the decayed knolls I spotted through the smoke . . . I can’t think of anything else it could be.”
Supreme Being or Supreme Fiend; it made no difference. Whatever name you called that freak of nature, his name was enough to inspire fear into the coldest of hearts.
“You’re certain?” Remus eventually questioned, the disbelief clear in his tone. “This close to humanity’s lines?”
“I went pretty far.” Violet tried to convince him. “Far, but not far enough. That golem should be nowhere near where it was. Alas, I have an eye for these things; I know what I saw.
A challenge leaked into her voice, open for Remus to try and defy her. Violet had to get through to him. With the fate of Andreas as it was, she owed it to Remus to make him believe.
“Okay.” He raised his hands. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Remus made to return to his meditation, but Violet stopped him. “Wait. There’s more — I saw- I saw someone from the Carpentry Sect.”
Remus went silent. A deeper silence, one where a lack of words is louder than any utterance. He swivelled round, grasping her by the shoulder with surprising strength. “You did? What did they look like? Who were they?”
“I don’t know. They had ginger hair, as dark as yours, a little taller. And he was . . . throwing planks of wood around?”
He scowled.
“I didn’t think that would be a common ability in the Carpentry Sect. The energy he gave off seemed like it would fit though. Restorative, but in an industrial kind of way. He gave off the aura of a Foot-Soldier.”
“Hewhat?” Remus blurted. “No . . . it couldn’t have been then.”
“Are you sure? I can’t name any other clans that would fit the criteria.”
Remus began to pace, rubbing his chin. “There hasn’t been a Foot-Soldier with a Mark of Arcus in so long . . . if he managed it-”
He cut himself off, adopting a tightness of the lips. He closed his eyes, and for a minute, Violet let him think.
They had been so caught up in Violet’s dilemmas for longer than she dared to recall, and for that, she felt nothing but remorse. Remus’ own plate was full, and she would do everything in her power to help him lighten it. For everything Remus had done for her, it was the least he deserved.
“I made conversation with some of the people in the outpost — my competition.” Remus’ mouth curved at that. “I scored near full points against Makalo, but there’ll be at least two more fights before I can qualify. If I want to leave with the next unit, I have one more match at the end of the Duration, and another the next.”
“Sounds like you need to get training.”
“Indeed. I want you to take me to the highest concentration of Infinity you can sense. I don’t care how dangerous.”
Violet feigned deep inner-thought and reflection. In reality, something had come to her mind immediately. Despite Remus’ reckless demands, she wasn’t keen to suggest it.
“There is one.” She admitted. “But I don’t think-”
“Take me there.” Remus demanded. “You can hone your Infinity usage, and I can develop my Bank. It's a win-win scenario.”
“I don’t know . . .”
“C’mon, don’t be coy. I take responsibility if anything goes wrong, don't sweat it.”
“You mean that?”
Remus nodded. “If I get decapitated by some raging Unbounded, it's on me.”
“Alright then,” Violet opened up a swirl of magenta, “just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Remus didn’t delay a second, diving head-first through the gate in space.
Shaking her head, Violet couldn’t help but let out an amused sigh. He was either ignorant, stupid, too bold for his own good, or drunk on Ambition.
Probably a mix of all four.
Well, too late to go back now. Violet reflected, pulsing away from that clearing. Let’s just hope the shock isn’t too big.
----------------------------------------
Remus manifested in a room trying to kill him.
He had taken all of one step before collapsing to his knees, panting in a futile effort to breathe. The air was dense. Incredibly concentrated with enough abundant Infinity to supply all of humanity’s army with Supreme Steel gear.
It was difficult to tell if he was suffocating, or being crushed. It felt like a combination of the two. Remus was compelled to vomit, but his oesophagus felt too constricted to allow for it at the same time.
It was in this tortuous limbo that agony was inflicted upon each portion of his body. Only after a few minutes of adjusting to the pain, did Remus realise they weren't in a room at all. It was a cave.
Remus vented out Infinity, consumed more, and repeated the process over and over again. It seemed to attune him to the overwhelming pressure, and only through laboriously repeating the methodical actions did he find sanctity.
“Where-” his throat tightened. Only after another few minutes of venting could he continue. “Where are we?”
Violet was in her Unbounded guise, standing ahead of his squirming form without so much as the slightest trouble. Remus’ jealousy knew no bounds.
“The highest concentration of Infinity we may ever come across.” She answered. “The homeplace of the Supreme Fiend: the Silver Cavities.”
That information did nothing to settle his nerves. Remus felt that plunging density strike all over again. Drinking deep, drinking so much Infinity that he could visibly see his Bank increase. Through the discomfort, through that terrific pressure, he still managed a smile.
This is what I need, he thought, any possibility of contracting Rot well out of his mind.
Remus activated his Mark, let his rushing Ambition give the pain no grounds, and continued.
Twenty minutes passed. Then half an hour. Then, maybe after an hour, maybe two, he found the strength to stand. His walk was still a sad sort of shamble, but it was enough to reach Violet.
“Thanks,” he huffed, not realising he was out of breath. “Hard to believe I haven’t been pulverised already.”
“Oh, you would have been.” Violet assured him, very matter-of-factly. “We’re on the very boundaries of the Silver Cavities. We’ve barely dipped our toes into the full extent of this area.”
Remus stopped thinking about venting Infinity in and out, it came as naturally as breathing now. Unless he focused a little too much, it was second nature. Whenever he did return his mind to what he was doing, it was like learning how to inhale all over again. So he soon stopped stressing over the matter all together; he didn’t think, he reacted.
“It's difficult to imagine.” He strolled around as much as he dared, balancing out the difficulty of the movement, with maintaining his absorption of the Infinity. “That my great grand-father caught Rot deep within here.” He chuckled darkly, which in this cave’s reaches, felt like his lungs were having a fit. “If he knew I was down here . . . he’d freak.”
“And if he found out you were treating it like a free training ground?”
Remus' smile became strained. “Let’s not go there.”
For a while, Remus continued to meditate. He blocked out the outside world all together. All that mattered was him and the Infinity. The touch of creation in his meagre hands. After a time, he decided to test how far he could travel through the Cavities.
Remus’s attention was soon caught by what had been occupying Violet for the last hour. He strolled over to a sloping ledge, below which broad sheets sat. He recognised them to be of Supreme Steel immediately.
“You’re progressing fast.” His eyes widened. “How long did that take you?”
“Three hours.”
Remus stared at her dumbly. “What do you mean? Three hours in total, or three hours since I got here?”
Had Violet explored this place before bringing him here? It was the only explanation, and Remus couldn’t blame her. As an Unbounded, she inherently had much more resistance to this place, berserk with Infinity as it was. Yet her amused sneer spoke differently.
“Remus, how long do you think we’ve been here?”
“I’m not sure.” Another wrestling with the Infinity all around forced him to pause. “An hour?”
“Nearly four.”
He stared at her dumbly. “At least time isn’t dragging on.” He eventually muttered. “But come to think of it, I have no idea how powerful my next opponent could be. Emblazed of course, but where along Emblazed? It could be someone on the very brink of Foot-Soldier.”
It was Violet’s turn to glower. After Makalo’s forced rictus, the two of them were working overtime to restore balance. “What would be the point of coming here if they were?”
“I know. But better safe than sorry.”
Remus was walking around frequently now, the pressure of Infinity easier to carry than ever. “What I need is something to one-up them.” He looked slyly her way. “Something like a weapon. I know its a big ask, especially with how preoccupied you are with your armour construction, but if we could work together to create a Supreme Steel weapon-”
“Don’t bend around the bush. Sure. What kind of weapon are you thinking of?”
Makalo’s exaggerated humour blessed his face. “Chains.”