Unbound

Chapter Seven Hundred And Nineteen - 719

System energy roared through Felix’s core space, fed to him thanks to the Title benefit he was using. It poured into his Stone Shaping Skill, which now had unfolded into a complicated nest of writhing geometry. Harmony itself seemed to alter as the evolution began, and that would have been fine as his other Skills had been, had he not kept Astrum Ascendence running.

Resonance Detected!

System energy spread through the tongues of his cosmic flame, fully intermixed with his Stone Shaping as well as every single other Skill in his Shaping Array, from Sovereign of Flesh to Manaship Pilot. Instead of the complicated shifting of energies, these shook with an agonizing intensity, the resonance cascading into an ever-growing wave of tumultuous noise.

Blood poured from Felix’s eyes and nose, noticed but unheeded by his waking Mind as he struggled with the complex flux of power. By Intent and Will, he grasped what he needed, hauling along that teeming wave of connection until every single Skill shook like an earthquake.

ERROR!

Skill Evolution In Progress!

Combining May Lead To Dangerous—!

I know! He heaved back until Green Shaping slammed into Stone Shaping, and for a moment they hung in his Mind in two utterly separate images: two planets crashing into one another…and two galaxies of pulsating waveforms flowing into and over one another like an ocean of angular chaos. I don’t care!

Others were discarded entirely, flung from the resonant cascade like a stone catapulted over a fortress wall. Manasight, Multi-Casting, and Manaship Pilot. All rejected.

The rest piled onto the first two in a heap of convulsing patterns: Ferric and Storm and Hand of Calamity. Those three rode closer and easier than ever before, their waveforms spinning in the soup of System energy as external loops of their power clung tight to one another. Pieces matched up, locking into place as the pattern grew and evolved.

Finally, he hurled away the Skills that were already Tempered. Sovereign of Flesh, Magus of the Grand Design, and finally…Astrum Ascendence.

The moment the last dropped away, the resonant song faded too, but Felix wasn’t ready for it to be over. He flared his Affinity and Intent, drawing the song forth once again against the whetting edge of his perfect recall.

It sounded, and the Grand Harmony rolled through him.

Yet with it came Dissonance too, roaring from all directions. It sparked from between his dual cores, summoned from the void between his Skills, and fountaining across the event horizon of his Hunger. It battered against his concentration, attempting to tear the song away with every atonal buzz. Felix held on, grasping the joined Skills together while the evolution worked its complicated magic, and grimaced as his core space convulsed again and again.

I’ve done this before! I can do it again!

He knew Harmony and Dissonance could work in tandem. Yet every single time he’d managed it before it had been by accident or under the influence of something else. All he could do now was sound his Skills, tracing their intertwining patterns and holding them as close as he could.

Closer.

Closer!

Until Dissonance shuddered through his efforts, disrupting the patterns for a single instant. The Skills slipped from him before Felix caught them. Not far, but enough.

The Hierei’s hands inched closer to his neck. He didn’t have the time to fuck this up. He needed to cage his Skills together and force them together. He needed—

Cage… The word sparked memories of the aviary, and flashes of it flitted across his senses. Green upon green, song upon song. Birds on the wing, branch, and pond, all of them singing or shrieking or huddled in wary silence, as if—

Lightning raced across his brain.

It’s all one. He wanted to smack himself. There's Harmony among the Dissonance, and vice versa. They aren’t separate phenomena. They were separated.

They could be rejoined.

Unite the Lost!

Significance fled from him like water down a drain, spinning around the opalescent roots of his Divine Tree and the bright planets of his core space. It funneled down, pouring into the unique patterns of Unite the Lost, until it felt like his stomach was dropping through his legs. A compounding wave ripped outward, arrowing through the dark before it pierced into the heart of his burgeoning Skill.

Harmonic Resonance Preserved!

All Is Not Lost.

Unite the Lost is level 88!

...

Unite the Lost is level 94!

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The united song, the same one he'd heard weeks ago, came back as if he'd never forgotten it. Harmony and Dissonance congealed into something grandiose and terrifying, a thunder that rollicked even the roots of his Tree. It surged, sinking into his Skills as waveform locked into waveform.

A new pattern.

No, his Hunger said, rousing from her darkness. An Old Pattern, Come Again.

Ten Tribulations!

Vess’ Spears exploded, all of them at once. The Oathbound threw up a bloody arm as metal and wind tore through the space around him, but it was never more than a momentary distraction. He blocked the damage with his own remaining Spears, the explosions reducing them all to a drifting mist.

“You wish to do away with our Tribulations?” The man was hurt and clearly as tired as Vess was, but he held himself tall. “Very well. We fight with blade alone, then!” He lifted his mithril weapon into the air.

Vess did the same, hefting her arcanite glaive so that its Dragon-head blade gleamed in the magelights. She buried a pained wince beneath her considerable Willpower, and said nothing before dropping her polearm back into a readied grip. She couldn’t hide the blood that dripped from her leg and arms, however.

Evolution In Progress!

The captain charged, thrusting with his eight foot weapon. Vess danced backward, evading his reach as agony traced across her torso and deep into her channels. Her evolution was searing through her, taking Mana and more from within her core that she couldn’t even see straight.

How does he do this? She’d seen Felix evolve and combine Skills in battle, weathering the storm so that he emerged stronger than before. She hadn’t the store of stats that Felix had, but she had over a decade of training to rely upon instead. With her father looking on, it was simple to bury her fear and pain beneath action.

Yet simple was not easy.

The captain battered her guard, leaving sparking scratches against her weapon as he pressed every advantage he could. Vess did the same, leveraging her On The Wing to stay ahead of his techniques. But her wounds had accumulated. She stepped on her leg only to find it weaker than expected. She stumbled, and the Oathbound capitalized upon it, thrusting directly into her face.

On The Wing!

Vess turned her head just in time to take the spear as a glancing blow—and yet her helmet was knocked loose. It ripped from her head, cast into the crowd before she could recover. The captain pulled back, slashing across her naked cheek as he did so.

She hissed in pain and hot blood poured down her cheek.

“Vessilia!” her father cried out.

Vess parried another strike. The Oathbound captain was grim faced and moving slower, clearly letting her get back to her feet...but his mercy only lasted so long. She heard the Oath around him chime, tightening like a noose around his neck.

He moved before she was ready, spear spinning into her side, and then her bare head. It cracked against her skull, the metal sending flashing spots across her vision and a bolt of newborn torment across her jaw and temple.

Vess…

Her Link to Felix throbbed, and distantly she knew the stars in her core space were pulsating in time. There was something there, something she was missing—

A spear tip pressed against her exposed neck, drawing a pinprick of blood from her dark skin. The captain, neck chained, grimaced. "I do not wish to end you, Lady Dayne, but you have given me no choice.”

He lifted his spear, and twenty others manifested around him.

“Vess!” Beef bellowed in warning.

She saw, of course she saw, but only tasted blood, frustration, and naked fear.

“It shall be swift,” he uttered, and dropped them all upon her.

Before his Skill could materialize, Felix’s core space cried out. He didn’t lack power or revelation, but was filled with a desperate agony regardless.

The Link to his friends screamed out, one in particular blazing outright. Felix seized upon it, the thick cord vibrating with its own melody, one that he understood without words. He saw the spears and the cluster of energy within Vess’ chest. He witnessed the danger and the spike of raw fear that came with it.

His concentration lapsed. The Hierei’s hands closed around his neck, but Felix didn’t care.

Vess! Take it!

Fiendforge!

The Stars Burn.

A Choice Must Be Made.

Vess heard Felix’s words overtop the System’s, a faint echo that nonetheless struck at the very heart of her. She knew what the System meant, now.

She chose.

The stars within her core space burned, one blue-white and one red-gold. They expanded within the night sky, rushing toward the mountains within her chest until they dominated the horizon…and carried with them a wave of power.

Vess! Take it!

Felix’s voice flowed upon that wave, powerful and worried. Vess gasped.

Fiendforge!

A stabilizing might flowed through her Link, flooding her core space in a cyclone of cataclysmic winds that mingled with the System’s painful efforts at evolution. Brush upon her mountains was torn away, rubble and dirt caught up in the whirling torrent until it fed directly into her core. The sky cracked, but the stars burned and held it tight.

Linked Hands Beneath Burning Stars.

Worlds Within Worlds Bound By Choice.

Let Sing The Bonds Of Fellowship.

The Fiend Grants His Aid.

Lightning, force, and wind Mana burst outward, one that could not be contained by the bounds of her core space. It raged, howling from her in a wave that swept up the Oathbound captain and hurled him back, his Spears turned to ineffectual mist.

Congratulations!

Evolution Complete!

You Have Evolved Spear Of Tribulation (L) Into Galebound Glory (T)!

Level Has Been Retained!

Thrown back or not, the captain returned on swift feet to bring his weapon to bear—only to be met by an avalanche of red-gold Spears. His blow was stymied, his mithril spear shattered before a dozen red-gold polearms pinned him to the scuffed flooring.

Vess stood to find fifteen additional Spears hovering around her, all of them serpentine in shape, with the gleaming maw of a Dawn Dragon upon their blades. From the sidelines, her father’s eyes were wide and disbelieving.

She stepped forward, bracing her steps with her glaive before spitting out a mouthful of blood. "Do you yield?"

"I cannot!" A putrescent rhythm struck up within the pinned man, spreading rapidly to all of his allies. "I—must—Kill them all!"