Unbound

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty - 160

Felix steadied himself as the influx of essence threatened to topple him. While the amount posed no threat, the denuded melodies of their corrupted essence sang of discord and strife inside of his core. As he'd experienced before, it was the direct opposite of the strains that came from the System. Yet, Felix had not survived the Maw and its machinations without learning to deal with discordant power. A flare of his Will and Alacrity let him push past the pain, tightly corralling the essence cloud within his core.

You're mine now, so stop it.

Inner turmoil quietened, Felix peered over the edge of the hole. Apart from Harn's struggle, he could clearly see Vess fighting the Bishop of Hunger and the beast was ragged as it faced her. Tired as she looked, she danced into it's reach with remarkable grace, nimbly avoiding most of its writhing tendrils and deflecting the rest with her spear. Six more spears floated nearby, darting forward and sending the Bishop bounding out of the way. It clearly feared the agile spearwoman. Felix watched it roar in frustration as Vess dodged again and again, only for it to receive a sharp blast of blue Mana into its sensitive mouth.

"Quiet, you!" Alister shouted, leveling his rapier and releasing bolt after bolt of his Grand Impetus attack. The Bishop winced and reared back after each successful strike, so much so that it had to dedicate two tendrils to defending its slathering maw. Meanwhile Vess had positioned it, leading the beast with her spear and dizzying movements until it was nearly atop Felix.

Felix grabbed at the lip of the bore and heaved himself upward. For a brief, terrifying second, he felt the Ravager attempt to take him again, but his razor-sharp talons found quick purchase in the Bishop's hindquarters. The Primordial-Spawn screamed in pain and surprise, lashing one of its back-tendrils toward the offending party. Felix caught the blow, his enhanced Strength and Endurance tanking the strike with only a little damage before he gripped it and pulled.

The tendril tore free of the Bishop with a fountain of dark ichor and a mountainous bellow.

"You want some more?!" Alister crowed, blasting with another of his kinetic bolts. Hidden by the bulk of its body, Felix rapidly climbed up and over the creature, each handhold ripping terrible wounds in its body. Wounds, Felix noticed, that were not healing as rapidly as the others.

Good. Heal this, then.

Throwing himself onto the thing's back, Felix tore into the cluster of muscles and ligaments that comprised the base of its tendrils. Scaled hide and cartilage sloughed away beneath his teeth and talons, giving no more resistance than softened clay. The Bishop stumbled to the side and screamed, but the others gave it no pause. Spears and bolts of force took it hard, bloodying its eyeless face and belly.

Meanwhile, Felix tore deep. He delved within the monster until he met the rubbery resistance of its putrid organs. Until he hit a hard nodule that sparked with a buzzing energy in all of his senses. Its monster core.

Ravenous Tithe!

Hand upon the core, Felix breathed in the massive Bishop of Hunger, turning its raging resentment into a whimper of despair. Thick, black smoke rotted its flesh, until it burst and swirled in the place it once stood. Felix landed heavily on the ground among the faint remnants of its foul essence.

Ravenous Tithe is level 37!

"Felix?"

He turned to find Vess only feet away, her spear held level with his chest. Her face had shifted into a horrified fascination. "Felix is that you?"

"Who else would it be?" He asked, but his voice sounded deeper and rougher, like burlap over gravel.

"Your...transformation Skill?" She asked and hesitantly lowered her spear. He nodded, and some tension eased out of her shoulders. "We thought you had died."

"Just fell down a hole," Felix grimaced, and avoided her gaze by looking up. Pit was wheeling about above them, fighting off clouds of Rooks. If he focused, he knew he'd sense notifications piling on as the tenku killed the flying monsters with every Wingblade he launched. "You folks've been busy."

"Blighted Night, what happened to you?" Alister came up, his clothes soaked in sweat and rapier hanging heavily from his left hand. His face was twisted with disgust. "You look like a monster."

Felix glanced down at himself and had to agree. The transformation was more full than ever. He had lost his canvas jacket during the most recent fights, now clad in only his self-repairing tunic and trousers which strained against extra body mass. He had gained muscle as if he'd taken up bodybuilding, heavy in the chest, arms, shoulders and through the thighs. His skin had blackened and roughened as before, but actual dark scales had manifested upon his arms and shoulders. Off-white bone spurs stuck up from his forearms and elbows, and his hands were covered in a sheath of flexible scales the blue-black color of midnight. His boots felt cramped as before, and Felix feared how his body had changed where he couldn't see it. Worriedly he looked behind himself before sighing in relief.

"No tail," he said.

"Was that a concern?" Alister asked, eyebrows rising.

"Evie and Atar," Felix began, but the nobleman waved a hand.

"Taken care of," he gestured back toward them, where Felix had seen the two of them facing down Revenants. Most were dispatched, and much of the surrounding area was on fire. "Atar's good with crowds. More so since we've leveled up."

"Alister can help them finish off the Revenants. We have to help Harn, Felix," Vess said, focusing his attention. Across the platform, the armored warrior still fought with the resounding clash of metal on metal.

"We've got more to worry about than the Envoy, Vess," Felix made a gesture at the captives still surrounding the platform. "The Domain's corrupted all of them. I can feel it. We have...we have to stop them from being fed into this array."

Vess' face paled at his words, but Alister looked on in silent agreement. Felix appreciated that, at least. "They're feeding the Ravager King below, in that hole. Once it's fed, it'll rise up and destroy the Domain. We have to cut off its source. Otherwise I'll--" Felix didn't finish the thought. He hoped it wouldn't come to that. He'd barely survived draining the Larval Ravager, let alone a King. He shook his head. "There are three Ravager Queens, evolved forms of the Larval Ravager we fought before. They're eating all the Primordial-Spawn around us."

"All of em?" Evie asked. Felix looked over at her, surprised to find her so close. Evie had an arm slung over Atar for support, while Atar himself was limping but seemed to be managing it well enough. Evie's face was a mask of pain, and he avoided looking at the gaping wound in her hip. But he offered him a wry smile. "Nice face, by the way."

"Highest Flame, Felix, what've you done?" Atar said, his free hand going to his own face. "That's--"

"Not important right now," Felix said. "The Queens are bulking up, pushing their levels higher with every mouthful."

"Yyero's balls, it'll be a fight for our lives then," Evie sighed down at her hip. "And me without my dancin' shoes."

"We can break the sigils," Atar said suddenly.

"I know it's an array and that it's feeding the King. But I had a hell of a time stopping the Envoy from using it on me. How do we break it?" Felix said. He was genuinely curious. Atar had spent far longer learning about scriptwork than he had.

"We have to disrupt the gathering array. We can't let this monster take anything more than it already has," Atar pointed at several larger sigils, glyph-pairs that repeated around the platform. "These should be binding points. Break them, and it might cause decay in the script."

"Might?" Felix asked.

"Unless that thing built redundancies, yeah," Atar grimaced and looked away from the sigils. He rubbed at his eyes with a hand that was red and swollen. "It's the best option I can see."

Felix swallowed and tossed his wardstone to the mage. "Take it. It'll help with the Domain's energies. At least for another twenty minutes or so."

"Felix, are you sure about that?" Vess asked. Felix just shrugged. He couldn't help but feel he should have given it up earlier. The moment Atar cut himself and bonded the wardstone, Felix felt the atmosphere of the Domain begin to limply bite at him. It was barely a sensation at all.

Dangerous. It must creep up without you noticing. Felix flexed his hands. But if it's just this much, I think I can handle it.

"Whatever you do, do it quick," Evie growled and nodded across the bore. "Harn'll need help soon. Not even he can keep that fight up."

Felix quickly pointed out the sigils he had figured out while fighting for his life, leaving the task in Atar's hands. He nodded at Evie who held her chain in a white knuckled grip. She'd been set against one of the doomed sacrifices. "Evie, protect his back. More Revenants are coming, I'm sure of it."

"You know me," Evie said with a wide grin. It almost hid the rapid tattoo of fear within her chest. "I got this."

Felix nodded and turned to Alister. "You and Vess are with me. We take down the Envoy together, then--"

"No. I stay with them," Alister didn't look at Felix when he declared that, but met Atar's eyes. The fire mage looked relieved.

"Oh uh, okay. Sure," Felix stumbled for a moment but recovered. "Good. Keep them safe."

He stepped away, attention drawn inexoribly to the clash of titans happening on the other side of the bore, nearly a football field away. Vess came up beside him, spear in hand. "Are you ready for this?"

"No, but that hasn't stopped me before," Felix smiled at her before remembering his fangs. To her credit, Vess didn't flinch at all.

"A remarkable Skill, Felix. Truly." Vess' eyes trailed down his shoulders and arms. "Does it hurt?"

"Every time," he said. He flexed his shoulders. "Alright. Let's--"

"FELIX NEVARRE!"

A ghostly voice wailed all around them, pouring from the mouths of every unconscious person around them. The words were spoken in near unison, a legion of conflicting timbres. Felix felt his guts clench; despite the new voices, he recognized it.

"The Maw..." he hissed. "What are you doing here, you parasite?"

"Who? Felix what is this?" Vess asked, spinning to look at the mouths moving in tandem.

"The Envoy has trapped me! Held me here at its foul funnel. The profane sigaldry is villainous and vile. It twists my power against me! Vessel! You must help!" True fear shook the Maw's multitudinous voice, but Felix saw something else. As the Maw spoke, the unconscious bodies around them began to decay faster and faster. It was burning them up like tinder.

"Take me up! Bring me back! I-I am slipping!"

"No," Felix whispered, backing away. His hand drifted to his chest, where the ache of their severing still lingered. "Never again."

"What? Felix, you cannot leave me! It is too strong! It will consume me!"

Felix spotted another knot of sigils, each mark twisting into one another until it was a tangle of wild lines that still, somehow, pulsed with eager power. A flash of understanding passed through him, and Felix found a collection of black threads tethering the Maw's flickering Mind to these bodies through those sigils.

"You're holding onto all of these people...they're dying," Vess said, aghast.

"They are nothing! I am everything!" The Maw's voice growled so hard Felix heard throats rip and tear with the force of it. "I cannot die, Felix Nevarre! I will not die!"

Like an ungainly puppet, the nearest Human unfolded her arm and reached upward. Grasping for Felix.

"Save me, hero," the Maw pleaded.

"Fuck off."

"What?"

With an effort of Will, Felix severed the black threads again.

A colossal scream filled the air as all of the trapped sacrifices cried out in heart-wrenching agony. In his Manasight, a complicated tangle of crimson lights was torn from all of them all at once. The Mind of the Maw was pulled in a flash down into the bore. The sacrifices' bodies were torn apart, turned nearly instantly to red dust that sloughed from their blackened skeletons; bones that soon crumbled as well.

"What did you do!?" Atar cried out. "What was that?"

"Break the sigils, Atar! We'll handle the Envoy!" Felix shouted and already started running. He didn't have time for questions. He didn't even have time for the knot of emotions that burned inside him.

Pit! On me!

They had a metal man to fight.

"Break the sigils," Atar muttered, running his hands above the burning arrays. "Just like that, easy as water and shade. And after you go and kill half the prisoners."

"I don't think he did that," Evie said, her eyes never leaving the path down from the platform. The chalk-white cliffs were good for one thing and that was spotting more enemies advancing on them. "Didn't you hear that weird voice?"

"I don't care, it made this that much more difficult," Atar jabbed at a sigil with his inscription stylus. The form didn't budge. It was harder than steel. "I-"

"Incoming!"

The words were followed by a bolt of blue radiance and the shrieking death knell of a Rook. It landed hard on the stone not twenty paces distant, and Atar blinked owlishly before glancing at Alister. The nobleman just grinned, a handsome smile despite his puffy skin and reddened complexion.

"Keep them farther away, Alister," Atar groused. "I've gotta figure this out."

"Yes yes, I know my role. You just use that big brain and do yours," Alister said with a wink. Atar couldn't help the flush that tried to creep up his neck. He hoped his Domain-damaged skin kept it from view. The last thing he desired was--

"Oooh, what's this then?" Evie asked with a grin audible in her tone. Atar didn't even look at her, but that did nothing to dissuade the uncouth girl. "Always reaching up past your station, eh Atar?"

"Shut up, Aren. That's none of your concern," Atar looked down at the twisting sigils before him, wincing at their caustic power. "I can't affect these binding points with my stylus. These are enchanted to inscribe on damn near anything!"

"Then, I don't know, break it another way," Evie said, whirling her chain above her head with a pained expression. She hurled it outward just as another Revenant emerged onto the platform, piercing it's head. Another agonizing grunt and the thing was pulled off it's feet and slammed heavily into the ground. "Burn it or something!"

Burn it-- Atar's eyes widened. Of course. So simple I couldn't see it.

Crown of Ignis!

A fiery crown manifested upon Atar's head before a collection of ten Sparkbolts likewise made an appearance. With a minor effort, Atar pushed the Sparkbolts together, compressing their heat and strength. It was difficult, but the compression technique was one Atar had recently been able to employ. If done correctly, it amplified the output of a Skill immensely. As long as he didn't lose concentration.

Carefully, he maneuvered the oblong bar of white-hot fire down toward the glyph-pair.

"Back up, ya bastards! Bindings of the White Waste!"

"Grand Impetus!"

Atar ground his teeth, and focused. He pushed the bar of heat down against the stone. He winced as black, acrid smoke began pouring out from beneath it. C'mon. C'mon!

Skills rained down all around him, but Atar couldn't spare them a single thought. He had to trust that his allies would keep him safe.

C'mon!