Graces Pov:
Pain.
The world flashed past Grace and all she could do was scream, small bodies moved busily around her. She could feel their hunger, their concern for her life. More pain stabbed into her mind, tearing her thoughts astray.
Corrupted wrapped around her like a suffocating vest, holding her charred insides in her body. She was dying, she could feel it. All she wanted was for this to stop, but it wouldn’t. Tears streamed down her temples. This wound was unbearable, all she wanted was to live without fear, had she really done enough to justify this?
A prompt appeared in front of her eyes, the sounds of a ringing of a bell accompanying it. Hope soared in her chest, please let it be something to end this. Grace rapidly blinked as her eyes focused on the words, it took all her willpower to piece the sentence together through the pain.
Warning repeated use of prohibited energy.
System deemed insufficient to determine punishment.
Contacting Caretaker.
…
…
…
Response received…
Administering punishment: Permanent ban from system assets and all future rewards.
Message from Caretaker: “Power given cannot be revoked, live out the rest of your existence alone”
Grace's irregular breathing and the screeching of Ghasts were the only sound in the warehouse. The tears that she had been fighting flowed freely now. The sounds in the room were suddenly joined by high-pitched laughter, her own she quickly realized, but she couldn’t help it. Even when the panel infront of her went gray and faded from existence.
Grace's giggling fit continued, as she tried to summon the system again but nothing came. Pain twinged across her chest, halting her laughter and turning her thoughts toward the reason for her pain.
Mark was all over this, everything she had wanted had been within reach when her world had been cut in two. Or more accurately her body had, something had almost split her in half from shoulder to navel. The thought brought a snicker to her lips.
At the time all she could think about was survival and before she knew what she was doing she called for the Ghasts to carry her to safety, and it worked. The adorable little things had wrapped her tight, holding everything together, and whisked her away to their home for protection. Even now they worked tirelessly to save her, sealing the wound a little at a time. She knew they wouldn’t make it, the world was already so distant.
In that moment it was not only the physical pain that tore at her heart, but the emotional pain of losing Donavan. God she missed him now, he could always comfort her in her darkest thoughts. Now though she was cold and lonely, her only companions the Corrupted.
In their rush she lost hold of him, now he was probably being locked up or tortured by Mark and his people. All under the guise of helping him, but she knew what Mark really wanted, she saw it in his eyes. The look of someone who wanted her death more than anything.
However, the joke was on him.
Donny was hers and always would be!
Grace's dry lips cracked into and manic smile as her voice rasped out in a wheeze, bearly more than a whisper.
“I… wonder if he'll like my gift”
It had not been long after gaining [Mental Control] that she realized it was more than just manipulating people. Over time and testing, she realized she could erase and create thoughts and memories. Donny hadn’t minded being her test subject, that was how strong their love was. She’d been looking over his memories when she found Mark in one of them. They were simply relaxing at a bar and talking useless drivel but it had sent her into a rage and she’d accidentally destroyed the memory, once she’d started she simply couldn’t stop, it was just too much fun. Erasing everything that even reminded her of Mark but she couldn't just leave Donny with nothing, so she created memories to fill the gaps. Thinking up fun stories of their times together became a favorite pastime of hers.
Her snickering became full-blown laughter. God she wished she could be there when he found out. Her heart hurt, trying its best to pump her thickened black blood. slowing with each beat.
The corners of her vision dulled as the Ghast's excited screeches went up around her.
Grace’s fading mind imagined what she would do if she ever found her Donny again. Of course, he would have to be punished for leaving her, but then so did everyone else. Hers and his were the only lives that mattered. They were Bonnie and Clyde in the end of times, all that mattered was them. She’d kill anyone and do anything to make sure he came home to her.
The pain felt distant now, finally..rest.
Suddenly her constant companion moved in delight through her mind, writhing, waking her from the calling slumber. Pain returned.
She wanted to scream her rage at it for denying her blissful rest.
Then like the striking of a snake, the darkness broke something inside of her. She felt the last traces of light inside herself shatter, and something darker rose to fill the space, she embraced it.
Her companion had never steered her wrong, but as she did, something changed. Her flesh twitched as it knitted itself back together, turning a deeper shade of gray. The pain turned to ecstasy and her mind opened to the wonders around her. Being drawn to the network of thoughts and minds around her. She knew them and they in turn knew her.
There was no word in the English language to describe what she was becoming but one did come to mind, as if whispered through the Ghast’s elated minds.
‘Monarch...’
As Grace Winters faded something more rose to replace her. A ping echoed in her ears and the Monarch brought up the prompt.
Welcome, Ordinator...
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Mark’s POV
They left Henry's old base and headed for the spot Chloe highlighted on the map. The trip wasn't easy but at the same time, it was a reminder of what was to come. Their combined forces were around two hundred and thirty fighters with around fifty non-combatants. Chloe worked hard to keep them moving and still avoid the worst areas. It was rough going but all things considered for a group of this size they were moving fairly well. Much better than Mark would have ever expected. The problem would be when they got back to base and the number of people increased. There was a limit as to how fast Chloe could direct a group of that size, but that was a problem Mark chose to tackle when it actually became one. Right now there were many steps in between then and now.
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For example, the place Chloe had mentioned came in the form of a small plaza. The space was surrounded by shops and cafes, it even had a semi-permanent tarp, and was probably a pleasant spot to take shelter from the sun and have a bite to eat before the fall. It was the perfect place to settle down for the night.
It had plenty of open space, and vision was blocked from the sky -with the exception of the small holes in it, caused by the meteor shower- but it being popular before also meant it was very populated now.
Corrupted roamed the plaza and as they entered the walled-off area, the group was met with hungry resistance
Luckily, though it took some time, they weren’t hard to deal with. They were able to use the narrow entrances to corral them into manageable numbers. Once they were sure none were hiding they moved everyone in for the night. Simple dry foods were passed around, consisting of sealed bags of trail mix and jerky. Mark had grabbed his and Donny's share. The guy hadn’t really said anything during the whole trip and seemed more than happy to continue in this manner.
Mark didn’t hold it against the guy, when they got back to base Mark was going to attempt to draw off more Corruption but right now Mark had to take it easy. Figuring out how the Corruption was doing this was key and that wasn't something he could do here. How was it affecting a spell Mark had erased close to twenty times now?
While he was sitting and relaxing Mark spotted a small bush in the area that had pushed up through the neatly bricked ground. It still looked young but Mark was certain it was here as a result of the system energies, kind of like the tree from Andy's hideout.
It looked like a thorn bush, but other than that it was really unassuming. What had caught his eye was the sheer amount of Aura in the thing. He was already pretty close to it so he reached out a hand to poke it. As a response, the little thing's small branches turned towards Mark's outstretched hand, facing its thorns to stab him if he came any closer. It wasn't very fast at all, lazily moving to obstruct him. If he wanted he could have easily darted a hand around and ripped it from the ground and that was with Mark's very average physical attributes.
Something about the way the little plant tried to defend itself endeared it to him. He started playing a game with it, moving his hand around the small bush and when it almost got to his skin he would quickly change the direction his hand came from. Causing the plant to rush to try and block him from that direction, sadly it could never keep up.
He heard someone walk up beside him and sit down, then another someone.
Looking up he saw Sam and Jonathan there.
Sam was sitting cross-legged next to him and was the first to speak up.
“How’s he doing?”
Mark thought it over and shook his head
“Honestly. I’m not too sure. The damage is mental in nature but that's all I know. It's hard, it’s not like a broken bone I can just heal. I think the continued brainwashing magic took its toll on him and I don’t know enough about what she did to help him”
Mark had been able to repair his legs and arm earlier, but it hadn't made much of a difference. Donny hadn't reacted to the process at all.
Sam looked as dismayed as he felt.
“Mark I’m really sorry”
Mark looked at both of them with a smile.
“Thank you, both of you. And thank you for having my back there, I owe you both one”
Sam made a dismissive gesture and Jonathan just said.
“As far as I'm concerned if Grace is still out there we’ll deal with her in the same way, and next time I won’t miss”
Mark nodded as a thought crossed Sam's face.
“Oh wait as a side, did you get [Joint casting] from the spell we cast? I noticed our method was different but I still got the spell”
Mark thought about it and she was right, their method had been more on the cooperation side rather than just letting one or the other control all of their Mana. Which had worked but it added another layer of difficulty to the strategy, when they both had to match each other's spell casting. Though for them it seemed that was almost easier than willingly relinquishing control, on top of which their combined calculations had drawn more out of the spell than Mark had ever managed on his own.
Mark brought up his Promts for the last two days.
181 x Corrupted humanoid cleansed(181)
22 x Corrupted Ordinator cleansed(44)
232 x Corrupted Ghast cleansed(464)
19 x Corrupted Titan cleansed(190)
879 System Points awarded
Partial exp awarded to (189 users - expand list)(Sector reward applied: 1604)
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(Sector reward applied: 1604)
1225/1225
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
1296/1296
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Partial exp awarded to (231 users - expand list)(Sector reward applied: 2264)
Partial exp awarded to (Mark Young)(Sector reward applied: 2264)
1369/1369
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
1444/1444
Level up!
+2 Prana, +2 Resistance
Mark looked at the exp coming in and there was a definite difference between what he could earn on his own and the amount he got for working together with people. However it wouldn’t be possible if he didn’t have the role he did.
Skill acquired: Joint casting.
You have learned to match the casting abilities of other users, through synchronized calculational matching.
This skill's effectiveness is heavily limited by the number of partners and their compatibility with the user.
This skill is compatible with all other attributes.
Note: The brain's calculational limit determines [Link] effectiveness.
Mark looked over the skill and for the first time, he didn’t entirely understand the limits of the skill. It was definitely more than it seemed. There were implications that one could use the skill with more than one other person, which sounded strong but probably came with increased complexity. It had taken the two of them trusting one another and perfectly matching their wills to coincide with each other for the spell to work. Imagine if they added even one more person to that, its difficulty would increase exponentially. Though the strength of that spell was nothing to laugh at. For a moment Mark imagined battalions of mages working together to cast a spell. All of them channeling their Mana into one massive destructive magic. Mark shivered in excitement, regrettably, he didn’t think that was possible…yet.
Pulling up his status he looked over things.
Name: Mark Young (22 - M)
Level: 38
Next level: 593/1521
Stats:
Resistance
Aura
Mana
Prana
1073 (+8) [965]
0 [+25]
190 (+20)[+20]
442 (+4, +8, +20)[+110]
Unspent stat points - 0
Corruption value: 74.84%
System Points: 9410
Skills: Meditation, Limit release(Physical), Limit release(Mental), Joint casting.
Spells: Passive Regeneration(Self)[7], Force bolt[14], Prana Pulse[6], Regenerate[6], Draw Corruption[5], Corruption recovery[9], Sculpt Mana(Force)[6], Invigorate[7], Cleansing surge[7], Read Memory[1], Mind Spike[4], Earth Control[5], Light Control[5], Bestowal[3], Telekinesis[5], Benediction[2].
World inventory. Marketplace. Trade
Mark had gained a total of four levels for 40 points. So he had split them evenly between Prana and Mana. He wanted to just dump them all into Mana, but he also didn’t want to throw off his Prana. It was still his main attribute and he relied on it heavily. Mana was secondary and the next couple of levels would ensure he reached the threshold soon enough. Confirming with Sam that he had gotten the skill. She wanted to test it right then and there but Franklin came over to call them. They needed to go over the strategy with Chloe and Henry for tomorrow's journey.