182 (II)

Dark [I]

The Vulteg pushed harder. The ground beneath their feet groaned and deformed. Shiv sent all his Shapeless Tides back against Urri–and found his vectors a magnitude stronger than they were at baseline, thanks to Adam's Unique Skill.

The huge Vulteg let out a frustrated roar as he was driven back. He tried to headbutt Shiv—only for the Deathless to intercept him first. Shiv channeled a burst of innate tides through his forehead into Urri's massive eyeball. The Vulteg let out a snarl as Shiv pinned him against the wall. As the two Legendary-Tier bruisers struggled, Shiv felt his strength climb while blue flames seared Urri's very being.

The Vulteg flung himself against Shiv over and over again, but however his Physicality Skill functioned, it wasn't a good match-up against Shiv's Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides boosted by Adam's Righteous Dawn Prevails.

"Urri," Shiv growled, activating his Dread-Tainted Feat and channeling it through his Shapeless Tides. "Stop. You don't want this." With every vector he directed into the Vulteg's body, Urri flinched slightly. The shadow of Daughter came into shape at the center of his eye, and he let out a groan of fear. Even so, the High Marshal was made from some stern stuff. His fear chain hardened, but only slightly. Like before, the other Legendary-Tier prisoners were spectating, but there was a new reason this time.

A row of golden shadows stood before them, barring the other prisoners from approaching Shiv or Adam.

The Deathless noted the stern-faced elven Chronomancer from the corner of his eye and noted how Kura was standing guard herself—with one of her arms shape-changed into an extended blade, no less.

Well, she's taking her oath pretty seriously. Shiv chuckled internally. Who says violence doesn't get you friends?

"Urri will gouge your feeble eyes and drink your fetid blood," the Vulteg spat.

"Yeah, I've had worse," Shiv deadpanned. "Look, Urri, we don't have time for this shit, and there's a lot that you—"

The Vulteg had no interest in conversation. Instead, his single eye came aglow with a pitch-black light, and Shiv saw the magical attack coming. A wave of Dimensionality struck out at Shiv. A static-black hand exploded free of the Vulteg's eye and tried to drag Shiv into the High Marshall's gaze. Shiv's enhanced Shapeless Tides held the Dimensionality at bay while the two continued their struggle.

Yet, it wasn't just Dimensionality that the Vulteg assailed Shiv with; it was also Geomancy. A layer of grain-sized pebbles pressed against Shiv's flesh. They almost burrowed into his skin before his Shapeless Tides drove them back. Urri writhed, and the wall behind him folded inward. Before he could throw himself backward and escape from Shiv's grasp, the Deathless inverted his tides and whipped the massive Vulteg over his hip. Free-flowing vectors made it easy for Shiv to control the Vulteg's center of gravity, and with Urri's struggles feeding Shiv with more Overflow Tides, he effectively had him at his mercy. He drove the High Marshal against the ground and kept the big bastard there with a grunt of exertion.

"Don't have time for this shit," Shiv grunted. He applied tides against the Vulteg's neck and began strangling Urri. The High Marshal released several snarls of displeasure as he failed to break free from Shiv's hold.

The Deathless brought his Vitaemancy and mana-hydras into the fray as he struck Urri's Magical Resistance from all sides, but Shiv's magic broke apart against the Vulteg's soul like sand.

"The hells?" Shiv tried again, but he found himself unable to crystallize any spells against the Vulteg at all. Urri wasn't just durable against magic; he felt destabilizing. And that's when Shiv realized the Vulteg was vibrating beneath his carapaced skin. A loud scream sounded from inside the Vulteg's body, and Shiv snarled. "Inertium bones? Seriously? That's a Skill Evolution?"

"No," the Vulteg spat. "Not Inertium. More than Inertium. Let Urri show you."

And show Shiv Urri did. The Vulteg flexed, and a rush of nullification traveled out from Urri's body. Shiv blinked as his tides scattered like dust claimed by a passing gale. Urri twisted back and flicked an elbow at Shiv's head. A rush of water intercepted the blow on Shiv's behalf. It didn't stop the Vulteg's strike completely, but it slowed it just enough for Shiv to dive off Urri's body.

Shiv's Shapeless Tides returned to normal. He got to his feet at the same time Urri did. A crazed look filled the Vulteg's eye.

"I thought you were a proper warrior, Deathless, but now I see you are a mongrel beast that seeks the company of monsters. Urri will see you punished for trying to stop this Quest of justice. Urri will—"

Shiv left context.

Outside Context Problem 94 > 95

The next thing Urri—and anyone else for that matter—knew was Shiv driving his fist right into Urri's eye. A spray of dark red blood squirted out from the corners of Urri's eye. The Vulteg's cry became a shriek as the Icon of the Paindrinker flared over Shiv. The Deathless winced as well, as he found himself with a torn elbow. Between his Shapeless Tides and his Inertial Overdrive, the stress afflicting his body was building to a point of collapse.

The inertial sheath coating Shiv's body thundered with every movement he made, and his Shapeless Tides only fanned those flames higher. He was faster than he had ever been before, but he was also starting to come apart. Instead of juggling three different skills at once, Shiv reverted his personal timeline by three seconds and rendered his injuries a thing of retro-continuity.

He also decided that he was done trying to fight or knock Vulteg out. By this point, Shiv guessed Urri's Physicality wasn't Legendary, but his Toughness and Magical Resistance damn sure were. It was like he nullified any physical or magical attack he noticed.

Just a shame he didn't have a good counter against Shiv leaving context again.

The Deathless seized the Vulteg once more, and as he unleashed a surge of vectors into his chest, he sent Urri blasting down the tunnel at an angle. The Vulteg struck a wall and tore right on through. Then, he punched through another wall, and a chain of holes was left in his wake. He finally struck something he couldn't break through after a good five seconds. A resounding crunch followed, and a mess of destruction followed as the tunnel around them shook and groaned.

Shiv turned to the other prisoners and sighed. "Alright. Anyone else wanna start a fight on behalf of a foreign god? Because I'm not taking you out of this prison with me if you do."

"DEATHLESS! ARROW!" Urri's voice made the entire structure tremble. "I WILL HAVE YOU! I WILL… Oh, Oh, no—Not the darkness again! Not the dark again! Harlock! Give Urri mercy! I will serve! I was merely—"

A bloodcurdling scream sounded from the distance instead of further words, and Shiv felt his gut tighten.

"Five, teleportation. Get us out of here. Now."

"I can't," Five said. "Not without access to the right mithril support. One with the correct Dimensionality spells flowing through it."

"Godsdammit. Alright. We're getting out the direct way. Everyone with me."

"Lord Arrow," the only surviving Raven said, sliding beside Adam as Shiv tore through the walls. "What happened to the others? What happened to—"

"Your Owl is dead. This place is compromised. The Ascendants—"

"The Midnight is coming!" the steam around them whispered. Slowly, a putrid blackness began filling the white vapors. "He's here… I can't… Run! Run now! Flee!"

Patches of darkness burst out from the steam like pimples popping off flesh. It began to spill across the ground and crawl upon the walls. Shiv caught a glimpse of more darkness spreading out like branching fingers, and his instincts told him coming into contact with that was a bad idea.

"Everyone! Move! Through the walls!" Shiv called out. "Bonk! Rebis! Five! Cape. Now!"

He shifted his Forest of Alloy in position and was about to call for Adam when the Gate Lord merged with the moisture he was carrying. "Candles!" Adam called out. "Burn us a path."

"Where's my keys?" Candles said. He came alight as if a conflagration was contained within his body, and it exploded out in a rush of focused Pyromancy that turned everything before him to slag in an instant.

Shiv and Adam shared a nod as they both plunged through the leftmost walls of the tunnel to escape into the crawlspace beyond this cube. The other Legendary prisoners were punching through as well, with all group cohesion lost. However, as Shiv hollowed a new exit into the structure, shredding through the smooth metal impeding his path, he felt a faint heat building inside his bones. A strange prickling sensation tickled his skin, and Shiv wondered if this was some kind of subtle disease skill unleashed by the Ascendants.

This thought was promptly lost to him as he ripped through the final layer of wall and pushed his way out from folds of bending metal. Regret filled Shiv as soon as he did, as a tide of deepest black came crashing toward him from all sides. It was an animated darkness. An active darkness. A living darkness that festered with hunger and ill intent.

"Well. This is convenient," a cold voice echoed out from the blackness. "It seems that both of our escapees have found themselves in the same place. How useful. There is no need for me to continue assuming your guise, then."

"Oh, shit—"

Strands of darkness crashed into Shiv. He was flooded with Overflow Tides as a massive tendril of shadow stabbed against his flesh. The blackness pulled at him. Shiv pointed his vectors backward and resisted. More tendrils whipped and lashed at his body from all sides, and Shiv cycled his Shapeless Tides as best he could. The onslaught the Ascendant unleashed against him was physical, mental, and spiritual, and Shiv found each whipping limb of darkness carving small cuts upon his body, slicing through his Voidmantid armor with ease. Needles of pain were driven into his mind, and a building sense of despair and malaise washed through Shiv. Even his soul ached with every blow. In the corner of his eyes, he saw the first of the prisoners burst out—and get driven back by the ocean of blackness.

This is your fault. You led them the wrong way. You led them into the jaws of the beast. You never think ahead. You never do the right thing for other people. They always suffer and die when they try to follow you. Still just an Omenborn. Never anything more than just an Omenborn.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Psycho-Cartography: Shiv. Stop thinking. The darkness is laced with negative emotions. Don't think. Just react.

But— Shiv wanted to argue against his skill, wanted to say that he deserved this. Yet, that thought was a step too far for him. Shiv had known hunger, cold, loneliness, discomfort, and all manner of misery. But he had never gone against himself. Whatever he faced, he stayed his own pillar. He had to be, because there was no one else for him.

For him to use his own voice to abuse himself was unnatural, no matter the feeling. And so he turned away from the feeling and focused on his actions. In the depths of his depression built a burning rage as well. A rage pointed at the shadowy Ascendant.

It was one thing to rip into his body. It was another thing to make Shiv feel pathetic about himself. To have your sense of self changed was a kind of death as well.

Psycho-Cartography 67 > 68

Philosophy 17 > 18

The shadows tried to overtake Shiv, but he drove and battered them aside. His tides scattered the dark and opened a path of retreat for him once more. As soon as he cleared a patch of space for himself, his depression also abated, and his mind cleared. Shiv cast himself back in time using his Chronomancy, but the darkness followed him immediately. As he winked back through one of the many holes he'd made in the walls, Shiv found Adam and his two new companions rushing along the exit. "No! They're already there."

"What?" Adam cried aloud. "What do you mean they're already there?"

"I swallowed this place within myself," the cold-voiced Ascendant proclaimed once more. His words passed along Shiv's ears like a traveling whisper. "There is no escape. You are no longer in the world. You are within me. Traveling here has damned you to the void, and soon, I will take you. All of you will vanish beneath my embrace."

Adam grimace. "Oh, gods."

As the darkness came surging toward Shiv, he pushed Adam back and seized the nearest wall with his tides. He bade the vectors twist, and soon the alloy became a dense knot that sealed the darkness from an easy approach. But then, as he looked over Adam's shoulder, he saw more tendrils already seeping in from behind, crawling along the tunnel walls they were just in.

"Shit," Shiv muttered. "Adam. Brainstorm."

The goblin accompanying Adam narrowed her eyes at Shiv. "What are you two—"

Shiv cast his Psychomancy into Adam's mind, and the Gate Lord triggered his Commander's Foresight again.

"Not even five minutes," Adam grumbled mentally as they were both placed in a top-down view.

"Hey, eat shit. I wasn't the one who led the Ascendant here. How was I supposed to know this was coming? Godsdammit. Uh, you got any ideas on how we can get out of here? Because if we stay here, the darkness is going to eat us. Or give us depression. Depends on whether your mind or body is weaker."

"Give us depression?" Adam murmured in horrified disbelief. "Are you joking?"

"No. Even getting hit a little just now had me feeling all kinds of low."

The Gate Lord shuddered. "Magical?"

"Yeah. I think so. My Shapeless Tides resisted it pretty good, but the darkness just keeps coming, and I don't really have any way to hurt it."

"Right. No idea how the darkness works. So. Best that we avoid it entirely. You can hold it back for a while, yes?"

"Yeah," Shiv answered. "Why? What's the idea?"

"Okay. We do this quickly and in bursts. I need you to hold the darkness at bay while I try to get Candles to use his flames. If that can disrupt the darkness, then our chances might not be as dire as they seem."

"Got it. Oh, wait. I got these boots right now that let me dive into darkness for a while. You think that might do anything?"

"I have no idea, Shiv. But we best not experiment in the midst of battle unless we're absolutely desperate. So. Maybe in about a minute."

"A minute? Yeah, right, you optimist. Give it twenty seconds."

Adam snorted. "I hope the Ascendant eats you and gets the shits."

"Let's keep that as Plan F for now," Shiv replied.

Adam ended his Commander's Foresight as Shiv launched himself at the encroaching darkness in a rush of activated vectors. He crashed into the black and braced himself in both mind and body. As the Ascendant clawed at his being once more, Shiv was prepared. Prepared to endure. And prepared to strike back.

"This is futile," the shadows declared, driving themselves as if bladed lashes against Shiv's body. He gripped a few tendrils and activated Dread-Tainted.

"Yeah. Daughter screams to differ."

For a moment, the darkness around him shuddered as the trauma of another Ascendant pulsed through the black. A gasp sounded, but that gasp became a laugh of wry amusement after no more than a second.

"Quite the Feat. I see why she's so scared of you now. Veronica was right. You're worth keeping alive—"

A crackle sounded behind Shiv, and then there came a roar of flame. A loud moan of euphoric pleasure came from the burning man Adam called Candles. His Pyromancy carved a brilliant lane through the darkness now flooding the tunnel, and Shiv caught sight of a few Legendary-Tier prisoners writhing within a tightening nest of shadows. Yet, despite parting before the fire, the darkness mended itself nigh-instantly thereafter.

"Shiv! Sync!" Adam's call came from behind, and Shiv cast his Psychomancy mana out as a net to trap Adam's mind so they could continue their scheming. Time went still just as a wave of blackness curled over Shiv. A loud scream of bursting metal sounded from behind as well, and Shiv knew the knot of metal he'd made was compromised, and they were about to be pincered from two directions.

"Well, the fire did something. Just not enough. Can you get Candles there to spit out more?" Shiv studied the burning Pathbearer, and his jaw was open in an expression of delight as he rubbed his own shoulders. "Because the noise he made earlier didn't sound like he was spent. It sounded like he had a lot more to give. And, uh, he kind of liked giving it. Where the felling hells did you find this guy, Adam? He doesn't look like he's all there."

"Shiv. Don't be rude. Are you all there?"

"I don't sound like I'm about to empty my balls when I'm using my Pyromancy, so yeah, I'm more there than this guy."

"It's probably because your Pyromancy is too weak and soft," Adam sneered. "Whatever the case, this is a good thing. Light does affect the Ascendant. We just need a sustained burn for a moment. Maybe if I can get him to channel it outward as a sphere…"

"I managed to hit the Ascendant with some of my Dread-Taint too."

"Your what?'

"Dread-Taint. New Feat I got from scarring Daughter's soul."

A beat of silence followed. "You… scarred one of the Ascendants. And got a Feat for it?"

"Yeah. Legendary Feat. I can sprinkle a bit of fear into all my skills now. Lets anyone I target with it get a little taste of what it's like to be Daughter."

"Shiv. That's absolutely vile. I… I love it. Damn the Ascendants. But… did it feel good? When you scarred Daughter?"

The Deathless grimaced. "Not really, man. She started screaming like a kid. I don't think she's really all there either. And she uses a bunch of kids as her Avatars. I didn't like that shit at all."

Adam's enthusiasm dimmed immediately. "Ah. Sorry. I expected a more triumphant tale with you as usual, I suppose."

"I didn't really have a choice, and I was pretty pissed at her while I was doing it, but that didn't make it any easier."

"Because you're not nearly that much of a bastard, Shiv," Adam said. He spent a few seconds considering Shiv's capabilities and sighed. "Alright. So. There's something else we can try on top of Candles' flames. If he can keep the dark at bay, I need you to dive in and out of context in the dark. Is your Dread-Taint Feat cumulative? Does it add up each time you use it on someone?"

"I… don't know."

"Well, time to find out." Adam sighed. "And we're desperately experimenting already. I think that took about 15 seconds. Fantastic."

Commander's Foresight came to an end. The curled wave of shadows crashed down upon Shiv, but failed to fall completely as Shiv caught it with a pair of raised hands. He was a man holding a falling tsunami at bay. The mass was immense. Shiv's bones creaked, and his spirit shuddered. It wasn't nearly as bad as trying to contend with Cripple, but whichever Ascendant he was facing right now was far stronger than Daughter in a direct clash.

The Deathless gritted his teeth as he tried to keep the dark at bay. Smaller tendrils erupted from the wave he was wrestling and stabbed into his torso. Pangs of hopelessness spread through him while blood spilled down his body. Instead of succumbing, Shiv struck back at the Ascendant's mind in return. He channeled his Dread-Taint through his Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides over and over, and the darkness he gripped twitched.

"Candles! Make a ring around us. Or a dome!" Adam's frantic cry echoed in Shiv's ears, and he felt the repeated shudders of someone using their Chronomancy Skill repeatedly.

"OR A CASTLE!" Candles screamed. "Don't mind the heat!"

"Wait! Don't burn Shiv too—" Adam's yell went ignored as something smashed into Shiv from behind. If not for his Shapeless Tides, he would have disintegrated in an instant. Because of it, he only suffered third degree burns. The back of his Voidmantid armor dissolved into nothing, while his skin turned to a raw-red stretch of pulsing boils before sloughing away in patches. Shiv winced and grunted with something between pain and annoyance as the new Innate Tides he generated finally arrived to drive the Pyromancy back.

My Legendary Skill still has openings. Times when I'm slightly vulnerable to magic. I gotta keep cycling, and cycle faster.

Multi-Tasking 29 > 30

A colossal, blazing structure with the rough outlines of a castle exploded out from Candles as he laughed manically, his voice booming like the heart of a burning star. Massive stretches of the structure surrounding them were outright vaporized, and Shiv thought that the entire thing might come crashing down on them if this kept up.

Adam and the golden-quilled goblin were mostly spared, as Candles seemed to half have a mind to direct his burning mana around them. Darkness dashed itself against the flame, but the sheer brightness unleashed by Candles became a near impenetrable bulwark against the Ascendant's foul touch.

But that didn't mean Adam was safe. Even without standing directly in the pulsating inferno, his Hydromantic body was turning to steam at a staggering rate as he protected the goblin within himself, and Shiv doubted Adam's evolved Toughness was going to hold up to this even at Heroic-Tier.

Need to work fast. See if I can get us an opening.

He left context. As soon as he did, the darkness pressing against him faltered briefly, unable to remember who or what was holding it at bay. The answer returned with Shiv as he blinked in and out of reality, ripping through the shadows around him like they were shrubs. Though the dark was fluid, Shiv's blows carried with them doses of fear, and slowly, the Deathless felt a rising swell of terror rush into him like fuel.

He was injecting bits of terror stolen from one false god into another. And it was working.

Shape of Monstrosity 121 > 123

Then, there came a flash of azure light that cut through the dense walls of fire surrounding Candles, Adam, and Gone. For a moment, Shiv thought Adam was trying to empower the Pyromancer some more, just like he did to Shiv earlier. Instead, Adam's Unique Skill slashed into the shadows, and for the first time, Shiv heard the dark-born Ascendant let out a weary gasp. "What… what is this?"

"The wicked get burned, asshole," Shiv sneered. He vanished back into his Vitae once more and felt his lifeforce veer toward the cold precipice of oblivion. Okay. Time to see if I can take a quick sip of Vitality from the darkness too. Can't really sense any lifeforce there, though…

Outside Context Problem 95 > 97

Shiv surfaced once more and reached out into the darkness. As soon as he did, he felt a rush of warmth wash into him. A feeling of elation lit his soul as he discovered the darkness was rich with vitality indeed. Yet, somehow, it masked that fact from him. The Ascendants were capable of all kinds of strange powers, and so were their—

Shiv's stomach dropped. "Shit. Where the hells is your Ava—"

And from the darkness before Shiv emerged an old, weathered face. It was the last thing Shiv saw in that life as a needle-thin rapier was thrust up under his chin and out through his skull.

"Nearby," the old man said with a low chuckle. "And the name is Legend-Councilman Anthony De Diego, at your demise."

Inertial Overdrive 137 > 140

Farsight 60 > 64

Outside Context Problem 97 > 100 (Skill Evolution Imminent)

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