94 In the Flesh

I clicked yes. For once, the evolution began with no pain. The area around me stretched outwards, as if it was being forced out of place. Around me, the space rippled along with a fluctuation in gravity. This subtle change grew in magnitude, becoming a shifting field around me.

Everything around me became foreign. It was the same feeling I got in a rift, like I wasn’t a part of where I was. I was something else intruding here, an entity that existed elsewhere. The difference made sensing gravity and fluctuations in it much easier.

Experimenting with the difference in feel, I stepped forward. As I did, the rippling field around me shifted too. I moved my hands through the air, noticing a pressure and pull that my limbs exerted. Before I took another step, a fresh, new kind of hell roared up my limbs.

The cold extinguished as a fire stampeded through my flesh and into my head. It consumed me, like falling into a vat of lava. Within seconds, my blood was magma and my bones were molten lead. I pulled back my helmet, gasping for air. I knew there was wind, yet I couldn’t feel it. This horrific burning wouldn’t let me notice anything else.

My blood thickened. An awareness of it pressed into my mind like a drill. Within the nerves lining my body, metal tendrils crept through them. Wires of my armor dug into the nerves, throwing my entire body into a firestorm of pure agony. It was a flood of frenzy and fire and force. It was like every fiber of my being was being destroyed and recreated.

It was overwhelming. The pain was shouting at me to bend and bow my head. It told me that it was impossible to withstand, and that I would snap as I endured it. I writhed on the ground. My hands shook. My skin shivered. My eyes watered. I dragged my face across the dirt, gasping and heaving for breath.

At that point, I remembered myself. I sighed out my weakness. I grinned at my body’s misery. It believed it would conquer me. It was wrong. Even as the excruciation grew in magnitude, my confidence exploded. The pain was shouting at me, screaming for me to bow and bend and break. I wouldn’t go down without fighting.

Against that deafening misery, I roared. Against the blistering anguish, I thundered. My voice quaked the ground with my defiance. The might of my own words echoed with my resolve. Within me, my voice boomed louder than the pain. It swallowed the outcry of my tortured body. I was the conqueror, not the pain and torment.

I clasped my shaking hands into fists harder than iron. I clenched my chattering teeth into smile that could bite through steel. I wouldn’t let something as simple as pain overwhelm me. I stood on shaking knees, the pain waning as I did. By the time my knees where steady, the pain roared out no longer. I was free from it.

I shifted my hands, everything fresh and new. I bent my neck before rolling my shoulders. As I did, the resistance was greater than I remembered. It was like I was heavier and harder. I looked around, the pervasive and unfamiliar aura pressing all around me. After turning back and walking towards Hod, the unfamiliar aura followed me. I shifted my hands before it came to me.

The alien aura was me. Curious about myself, I tested out my new limits. I flared my mana. The generation of current strengthened the pulling sensation around me. Deep under my skin, the mana coursed better through my armor.

I walked around, and my feet crushed the ground beneath me. My armor was harder, denser, better. The mass and hardness turned my feet into pikes that pierced into the ground. Without telekinetic pads dispersing my weight, I sunk into the soft ground. Thank Jesus I already handled that issue before now. As I created the pads on my feet, the tug on my mana was smooth and fluid.

After stretching my arms, I felt why. Tiny wires of the armor lined my nerves and veins. They acted as conductors for my mana, like wires through a power grid. I reached out with oppression, but it didn’t respond. The ability was gone. Curious about what the fuck was going on, I opened my status screens. They explained a lot of what was going on.

You have forgotten Oppression.

Unknown skill unlocked, Event Horizon.

Living Dimension(New Body | Unknown Composition | Class Permissible) - Your body is a dimension. This gives you many unique properties. Listed below are these properties. 0/4.3 Trillion Mana left till next evolution.

Condensed Dimensional Fabric - A reinforcing material composing most of your body. Wires of this material lines your blood vessels, nerves, and organs, absorbing impact and damage.

Solidity of Dimensional Fabric - Increases resistance cap by 3.5% | Current Max: 98.5%

Malleability of Dimensional Fabric - Additional 35% increase to health | Current Bonus: 135%

Stability of Dimensional Fabric - 7.5% of health added towards health regen per minute.

Creator of Cosmos - You’ve created your own dimension. This enhances creation abilities involving your dimension.

Dimensional Comprehension - Reduces mana cost of Dimensional Cipher by 50%

Origin of a Cosmos - Self created objects have enchantments and bonuses increased by 100%

Vast Soul - Halves the mana cost of soul forging.

Sovereign Presence - You exist within your own dimensional space and time. Since your own space is condensed and living, you can grow it, and it is resilient to change.

Infinite Mass - Mass is enhanced by total ambient energy absorbed. Current Bonus: 1000 Kilos

Independent Space - You can store objects and energy within yourself. Limited by your mass.

Undeniable Presence - Gives half of resistance cap as Dimensional and Kinetic Resistance.

Event Horizon - Gives unique ability Event Horizon | Current Damage: (20,000 + 100% of your total health/min) within a maximum of 250 ft/76 m radius. Drains 50% of damage dealt as health. If health is full, damage is converted into ambient mana. Counts as physical damage, and is affected by physical resistance.

Unfathomable - Differences are often scorned. Subtracts 20% from total Charisma.

The bonuses from condensed dimensional fabric were insane. The extra damage resistance, even though it was half a percent, gave me a third more tankiness. That alone was an enormous boost. The extra health and health regeneration were welcome rewards as well.

The creator of cosmos bonus was a little harder to understand. Whenever I made the single eldritch rune, it costed a ton of mana, so halving that cost was awesome. The enchantment bonuses didn’t affect the steel legion’s gear because they weren’t made from my armor. It would affect Althea’s rifle though, so I could get a lot out of that. I didn’t understand the soul forging bonus yet.

With time, I’m sure the bonus would manifest itself. The last set of bonuses were a mixed bag. The mass bonus helped amplify my constitution bonuses. As I gained extra mana, my mass would increase. That limitless growth upped my potential heft by plenty. The storage explained were my obelisk went when my armor ate it.

The last two bonuses were very powerful though. Dimensional resistance might affect a sentinel’s spear or an overseer’s dimensional rupturing. Considering I was fighting Yawm who had a sentinel’s spear, that resistance was key. The kinetic resistance would help versus giant enemies like the sandworm. The last perk was the most exciting bonus though.

I mean it was called event horizon. The name itself just sounded epic in my ears. It worked just like oppression except it drained half the damage it dealt. That meant groups of enemies would desperately struggle to kill me. Having another viable source of getting ambient mana was nice too. Considering I needed four trillion mana for my next evolution, I would need it. The last effect reduced my charisma, but at least the debuff had been reduced.

Wondering what Event Horizon felt like to use, I activated the skill. Controlling the field reminded me of gravity magic and oppression if they combined. As I shifted it over a few plants, they died. As they did, tiny sparks shot into my armor. The sensation of consuming an eldritch corpse washed over me, like satiating a deep hunger.

After getting a grip on the different feel between the two skills, I walked over towards Hod and my grimoire. I sat down, folding Event Horizon around us like a protective shield. The night has a few hours left in it before it was over. Maximizing my fighting potential was my goal right now. Finishing some basic eldritch runes and putting them on my armor was the first step for that.

It was a fact I had to face. My old runes weren’t cutting it anymore with the amount of mana I generated. That was before my evolution. With the added health and regen from Living Dimension, I doubted the magic runes would even last seconds.

With that in mind, I picked up my grimoire before opening my status screens. I wanted to get an idea of what I was working with now.

Level 1500

Strength – 1353 | Constitution – 1721 | Endurance – 4006

Dexterity – 430 | Willpower – 2319 | Intelligence – 831.2

Charisma – 117.1 | Luck – 273.3 | Perception – 199

************************************

Health 263,411/263,411 142,468/min or 2,374/sec Phys Dam Reduction - 98.5%

Stamina 120,771/120,771 1,319/sec Elemental Res - 98.5%

Living Dimension 0.00 Trillion/ 4.33 Trillion 74.3/per min(conduit) Plasma Res - 98.5%

Event Horizon – 20,000 + (100% of your health)/min Rad Res - 98.5%

Phys Dam Bonus - 14,639% | Total Damage Bonus 20% Mental Res - 98.5%

By far the biggest improvement was in health regeneration. The scaling of my stats crossed a threshold now. My tankiness was better than Kessiah’s by now, and tanking her mythical skill wouldn’t be impossible anymore. I might already have been the strongest member of our team.

The fact I got there so fast didn’t surprise me either. For all the age that Kessiah and Torix had, they hadn’t honed their skills much. Torix spent most of his time learning, but he never applied it to the real world. Kessiah was just messing around until very recently. The distinction between us was clear. They grew bored with progress while my life was dominated by it since Schema took over.

That’s not to say they were inferior or anything like that. Torix’s pursuit of knowledge was admirable on its own merits. He could probably get several legendary skills if he wanted them. Kessiah seemed more like a case of rotten talent. She was born powerful, so she never had to earn that power herself. That meant she lacked the ability to learn effectively or the willpower to strengthen herself.

I still had a lot to learn from them, but if they wanted to keep up with me now, they’d need to level and train like I did. Torix might keep up, but Kessiah...Well, I doubted it. Maybe it was unfair of me to think that, but I was calling it like I saw it. So far, she lounged around like a cat more than fight like a warrior.

Which was fine. Not everyone should have to rip monsters apart just for a decent life. If it wasn’t for the circumstances with Yawm, I wouldn’t be pushing this hard anymore anyways. In fact, the idea of just enjoying life after Yawm’s disappearance was one of my primary motivations. I might even try and get together with Althea.

I pushed those thoughts from my mind. I needed a laser focus on these runes, and daydreaming wasn’t about to help me out anyways. With about an hour left before sunrise, I crossed my legs as I sat down and carved in my grimoire. The first rune symbolized strength. The next rune would symbolize speed.

As I etched my first line into the paper, I voided the distractions around me. I ignored Hod’s snoring, the dark around me, and the death of nearby insects. I needed the speed and strength rune so that I could use my runic channeling. A large portion of my combat power was tied to it after all.

With that in mind, I etched into the black paper. As I did, writing the rune was simpler than I remembered. Of course the difficulty was still there, but it wasn’t as all consuming as before. Despite this, I pushed myself, concentrating as I worked. No matter how simple the rune was, a near flawless execution was necessary for the rune’s completion. Otherwise...well I didn’t want to know what would happen.

With an inkling of fear guiding my focus, I completed the body of the rune. As I etched the inner markings of the letter, I kept visualizing what speed was to me. It was the sensation of acceleration. It was the exhilaration of danger that came with scenery passing by my eyes. It was the freedom of having no limits. I could go anywhere with no inconvenience. The world was at my fingertips.

Those thoughts filled my mind as I carved out the single letter. The complexity of it grew with time, becoming an enigma of lines and crevices on the paper. Sweat poured down my forehead as I struggled with the tiniest lines. The entire process devoured my attention, burning through the remaining hours in moments.

As the sunless sky brightened, I finished my last marking that completed the rune. Like a lock clicking into place, the space around me warped once more. The rune reached out for my mana like a starving child. I fed it with a torrent that it greedily gobbled up. As the rune’s hunger evolved, my own stream of mana did as well.

It was like I was feeding my book a beam of energy. The absorption enhanced until it surpassed my new, ridiculous mana regen. Minutes later, my health reached around half of its maximum before the sapping ended. As I stared at the rune, it was speed. The way I understood the entire concept was embodied on the page.

Redoing strength would be necessary considering how much better my speed rune was. On the same sheet of paper that I used for the speed rune, I cut into the paper. With a sharpened hand, I stayed steady as I maintained the same approach. I envisioned strength as I marked on the page. I found my understanding of strength was different than I first imagined.

Strength reminded me of boldness. It was taking risks for great rewards, and doing anything to get those rewards. A relentless, overpowering will for success, that was strength to me. It was going on despite hardship. It was overcoming unfair circumstances, and standing up in the face of them instead of crumbling.

On the page, the density of the lettering increased. I stretched the limits of my own precision, making subtle slits and lines throughout the rune. With no idea how much time passed, the pull on my mana began. The deluge of energy poured into the rune before I reached halfway through my entire health pool. It took about five minutes of draining before I reached that point.

I gasped as the rune completed on the page. This was my masterpiece now, two runes of incredulous complexity on the same page. Each letter took up a quarter of the page like I was writing in size four hundred font. From behind me, the sound of a deep breath and stretching wings let out into the open. I turned around, and Hod stood up,

“Hod feel great after long rest.” He turned to me, his eyes opening wide, “Are you Harbinger?”

I pursed my lips, “Well yeah. I’m still me.”

Hod shook his head, “Harbinger not Harbinger anymore. Harbinger spoke with words of coming cataclysm. Harbinger spoke with words of a great change. No more speaking with words. Now Harbinger speak with actions. Now Harbinger the coming cataclysm.”

I pointed at my chest, “Really? Do I look that different.”

Hod walked up, “No, Harbinger look similar. Though Harbinger may look similar, Harbinger is different. Hod no longer smell other energies or forces infecting Harbinger. Harbinger is Harbinger now. How Hod put it...”

He spread out his wings, “You more you than others are themselves.”

For second, I just gave him a blank stare. I shook my hands, “Nope. Just stick with no pronouns. That made no damn sense.”

Hod laughed for a bit before shrugging, “Hod not talk Hod’s way. Hod can’t help Hod’s self.”

He offered me a hand, so I pulled myself up, “I wouldn’t have it any other way. Come on, let’s kill the rift keeper.”

Hod pointed at my grimoire on the ground, “Those...Same words Hod’s parents use?”

I nodded. Hod took a step back, “Hod warn Harbinger. Words dangerous. Words hold knowledge. Words like doors in hallway. Harbinger walking through hallway. Some doors bad to open. Other doors bad to close.”

The white, ominous glow around Hod’s eyes amplified, “Bad doors bad to open, but bad doors not worst. Worst doors are bad doors that once opened, cannot be closed. Words on page are door that cannot be closed.”

I bent over and picked up the grimoire, staring at the intricacy of my own markings. I placed a palm onto the page, feeding it mana. Like draining a vast ocean, the pull on my mana was incredible. The icy sensation of the white energy of the cores pierced into my arm. It numbed as my blood and body drained into the book.

Hod glanced up at me, “Hod wonder what Harbinger doing?”

I grimaced as the grimoire sapped my health, “I don’t honestly know.”

The booklet drained from my mana at a slower pace than completing the runes did. Unlike completing the runes, the process kept up for well over ten minutes. The process proved so lengthy that Hod and I walked deeper into the dungeon during it. We paced for a long time, Hod keeping aware as I probed the area with Tactile Cognition and my gravity sensing.

We didn’t want an ambush while I was weakened. Still, standing still for so long ate away at both our patiences. Waiting chewed through my patience in particular. By then, I did at least one thing all the time. I wasn’t used to sitting around.

So we crept deeper into the dungeon as my grimoire sapped my mana. We reached an island floating higher than even the tallest skyscraper in Springfield.

Once we reached the edge of the floating island, the view opened up for us, along with distant echoes. The far off sounds of fresh monsters reverberated into our ears. A few abstractions floated off in the distance, their jittery, twitching movements both eerie and unnatural.

Off in the distance, the solar beetles covered every inch of the islands. The density of writhing creatures instilled awe and a bit of anticipation. Once I finished these runes, culling the horde would be a joy. Hod tapped his teeth together at the sight of the monsters. He wanted blood as well.

Those monsters covered the nearby islands floating near the center of the rift. A gray cloud covered most of the world tree and everything nearby. As sat and stared, the gray cloud floated away, uncovering the tree in parts.

The roots wrapped around every surface of the dead city, coming together into a single, colossal mass of wood. It expanded in sight as the cloud uncovered it, like a mountain growing in size as you neared it.

As the edges of the trunk appeared, eldritch language blanketed the bark, creating a mural of the forbidden code. The intricate language smothered the surface of roots, nearby buildings, and the trunk itself. Above the trunk, other clouds floated in the sky.

The red sky ended where the branches and trunk of the tree began. It was like the leaves where the sky. As we reached closer towards the world tree, we found that was the case.

Leaves from it littered the abandoned high rises of Springfield, looking like tiny dots of the sky. On the roads, piles of these leaves created portions of the ground that looked like holes leading to another world. A pile of them were collected nearby, clumped against the edge of the island.

Hod walked up, stepping on the leaves. Even though it looked like he should have fallen through, he didn’t. The leaves were what this sky was made of. If anything, this rift seemed like it was made of the world tree. For all we knew, maybe it was.

the gray cloud kept floating away from the tree, revealing more. Near the center of the trunk, green lines of pulsing energy streaked into a tremendous green blob. These lines condensed, becoming a vibrant green center.

Specks of the green energy filed into this green mass, like blood being pumped into the green clump. Once it swelled up till it was close to bursting, the emerald green blob pulsed downwards.

The bulging green mass deflated. The energy filled into a speck at the center of the tree. As the blinding emerald sheen dampened, the center of the tree became visible.

There was a minute, tiny ball there. The green veins on its body leaked out into the emerald sea surrounding it. The ball was surrounded by a deep brown, like the color of earth. The ball shivered with violence, if it was containing some unknown force.

Dense, strong, those words failed at describing him. The eldritch runes covered every inch of his body, lacing him like brands. The skin of bark rippled as something like muscle shook underneath it. As I peered closer, his hands were colossal, the size of car doors.

His chest heaved as he breathed. It was like sustaining his form required an entire gust of wind. As I stared at his runes, they flowed into a single, immaculate form. It was like staring at infinity, something my mind couldn't fully grasp.

I was staring at something unknowable, a presence that shook time and space. Across his back, a spear with the same runes was etched. The violet blade sparked with an intense aura, sending ripples outwards. It was a humbling sight.

The overseer had given a sense of absolute order, like a pillar that helped support Schema. This was a different pillar, a darker, chaotic entity. It was the corrupted king of a species. A prodigy, volatile like entropy, he bided his time, waiting to unleash his energy and tear worlds apart.

Nothing would stop him, not gods, not immortals, and certainly nothing as insignificant as man. Here was the killer of the unkillable and the destroyer of worlds. Here was the maker of horrors and aberrations. Here was a presence that oppressed all around him.

At the center of the world tree, there was Yawm of Flesh.

Surrounding the behemoth, plants flourished near the roots of the world tree. Nearby trees, bushes, flowers, grass, sprouts, vines, and even weeds leaned towards him, as if worshipping a god. They wilted in the face of him, but none of the plants died. They endured.

Waterfalls fell from curves in the enormous trunk, giving the plants nearby nourishment. Those waterfalls poured downwards into elegant trails of fine mist. This mist collected on the surface of plants, creating a display of light. Literal rainbows arched near these waterfalls, the beams of light reflecting off the mist.

This water pooled into an enormous lake underneath the world tree’s trunk. The green glow from Yawm’s energy reflected off the top of the lake, turning the water seafoam blue. Black forms swam under the lake’s surface. Insects crawled across the water, fish splashing up out of the water for a quick meal.

At the center of the lake, there was an island. At the center of the island, a set of stone stairs led downwards. These stairs circled a pillar beaming light into the world tree. It was the same white energy that sustained the other rifts, except it fed into the world tree instead. The greater the distance from this lake and white beam of light, the more feeble and fragile the plant life was.

I tried analyzing Yawm, but the system couldn't affect him for some reason. I guessed it was the world tree and the green aura.

Interrupting my trance, Hod whispered, “Hod thought world tree suck up life like...like Dry Man want to suck up water.”

I turned to him, almost falling over at what he said all of a sudden.

Hod continued, “Hod not know why Dry Man not drink. Dry Man not be dry if Dry Man drink to not be dry.” Hod shook his head, “That’s what Hod think at least.”

I chuckled, the tension of seeing Yawm fading, “I needed that. Thanks.”

Hod puffed out his chest, putting his hands on his hips, “Hod glad Hod help Harbinger.”

The feeling of dread dwindled as I glanced down on my hand. The grimoire’s ironclad lock on my palm finally released. The eldritch rune floated off the page, an almost miracle of ingenuity. At least to me it was.

I lifted my left arm, watching the glowing rune fall onto my forearm. It landed in the perfect center of the outer edge of my forearm. The other runes carved out and left smoothed metal behind. This rune worked differently. It glowed with the same color as my ascendant mana. A gentle hum radiated from it, and the rune created an invisible shift around me.

The sensation almost threw me off balance before I planted my feet. I rolled my shoulders before lifting the hand in front of me. This was the time for finally getting the rune working. All the hours were either wasted now, or they would pay off in spades. With no idea how the runes would work, I put a drop of mana into the rune.

The rune hardly responded. I raised an eyebrow before pouring more mana into the rune. It swallowed the mana, eating even more of the energy. It amazed me how mana hungry these runes were. Even with all the setup time, they required more and more and more. The demand was hard to maintain even for me, and my mana generation was second to none.

Still, the rune wanted more so I relented. I ramped up how much mana I was giving until it matched my own health regen. What amazed me was how the rune didn’t even hesitate at the amount. The other rune cracked well before my current max. The eldritch rune didn’t show any signs of reaching its potential.

After a few minutes of waiting, I sighed with a bitter disappointment. There was no rush, no surge of power. I expected a godlike increase in my potential. I expected something ridiculous. Schema outlawed these runes, and despite the rune showing signs of completion, it hadn’t done jack shit. It was like spending months working day and night for the reward of a shit sandwich.

I shook off the resentment, keeping the torrent of mana flowing into the rune. At some point it might payoff later, just not now. I didn’t need immediate pay off anyways. I needed the other runes instead. The eldritch runes didn’t seem like they were meant for conflict. With that in mind, I pat Hod on the shoulder,

“Let’s go.”

Hod nodded, “Harbinger still walking?”

I frowned, remembering the impotence of the eldritch runes, “Unfortunately, yes. I have to finish the other runes for my armor.” I raised the eldritch rune, the rune’s red hue darkening over time, “This piece of shit isn’t going to give me the oomph I need.”

We walked down from the top of the high island. As we stepped down the vine, I admired the view once more. The gray cloud covering the tree was gone now, exposing it in its entirety. With that unveiling, Hod and I discovered the complexity of Yawm’s base of operations. It wasn’t just some tree. There was so much more.

The most obvious anomaly were the effects of the floating islands. They only increased in intensity was we went on towards the rift’s core. This explained the four largest islands orbiting the world tree.

On the island closest to us, the crimson edges of a volcano spewed black smoke. There was a lack of life there, though a few of the stone eater’s scrambled on its surface. It looked like the rift I locked Etna in. The magma even has rats and crystalline fish in it if I looked closer.

On the island farthest from us, it was the polar opposite. That particular island was like a planet floating in space, oceans shimmering on its surface. Giant slugs and a few kraken sized squids swam under the waters. The gravity defying lakes hid their black, shifting forms, but they were the same as Krakow-Wahl. They were just giant squid monsters.

On the leftmost island was a vast desert surrounded by high mountains. Even from so far away, Hod and I glimpsed at vultures and snakes slithering on its surface. Dunes formed on the biome, like a tiny slice of the Sahara. Giant worms slithered on the surface of the island as well, snapping towards any creature that neared the sand.

On the right most side of the four islands, the entire landscape was a bustling metropolis. The futuristic city floated with the island, the buildings covered in glass and metal. Insulated bridges hung between this island and the world tree, pinning it there. Several smooth hunks of metal floated over these bridges.

They were like space ships in a sci-fi movie. With everything made of sleek, edgeless designs, the island was aerodynamic and seamless. What it lacked in character it made up for in practicality.

Three of these islands looked like they were made as tiny ecosystems for eldritch. The metropolis one looked like a research center, somewhere for noncombatants to dabble. What they did there was more than likely abominable, like what the scientists did to Althea. It made my blood boil.

My hands clasped into fists without me realizing it before Hod nudged me,

“Hod understand Harbinger frustration. Hod think Harbinger focus on book rather than giant tree. Harbinger need markings on armor. Otherwise Harbinger weak. Not Hod or Harbinger can afford weakness.”

I sighed, relaxing my hands before shaking my head, “Yeah...yeah, you're right...Thanks for keeping me focused.”

Hod nodded, “Hod glad Hod help Harbinger like Harbinger help Hod.”

It took me a second to put his words through my Hod language translator, but I nodded back before we trekked deeper into the rift. Hod kept a lookout as I etched out my runes onto another black page. By now, creating the runic carvings on my armor was simple as breathing. I maxed out the skill for it a while back, and I had carved almost everyday for months since.

So using those skills I honed, I wrote in my grimoire as we walked towards the rift’s center. The faraway screeching of abstractions heightened in tone and pitch as we came closer. Before we reached them, I wrapped up my runes on the page. It took about fifteen minutes for the whole thing.

As I channeled mana into the grimoire, I contemplated the differences in eldritch and magic runes. The magic runes were more like etching out memories into words now. Airy, light, and spacious, they were like the fogginess that surrounded a memory. Of course they still held power, but they weren’t in the same league as the eldritch runes.

If magic incantations were pages, then eldritch runes were books. No, not books but dictionaries. It was like I had to argue them into existence, justifying every aspect of it. The meticulous detail was exhausting, like running a marathon. The razor thin margin of error and exact structure required for each glyph made them as fun as stomping on a rusty nail.

Combine that with the eldritch runes not amounting to much, and it was downright depressing. I had hope for them though. Yawm was covered in them, and he was one strong guy. If they were good enough for someone who killed a sentinel, they were good enough for me.

With that in mind, I added runic lettering onto my upper arms, shins, chest, and back. They were similar with my previous runes, but a tad more precise. The grimoire let them come through better than marking them on my own.

Once I completed them, I turned towards Hod,

“You ready to get going?”

Hod spread his wings, “Hod ready. Hod been ready for long time.”

I charged my magic runes, limiting the flow of my mana. I overcharged the runes until they were about to burst. Instead of letting them crack, I siphoned all the excess mana into the eldritch rune on my left arm. Even if it didn’t do anything, it could act like a mana sink for me, preventing me from rupturing the other runes.

As I filled the runes with my mana, the familiar sensation of strength and control surged. I cracked my neck, relishing in the renewal. Without the runes, I was bare, like I was unclothed. Considering I could feel with my armor like it was skin, maybe I was naked.

I pushed the thought from my head before jumping upwards. The ground crumbled under my feet, a gust of dusty wind rippling over the island I was on. I fired towards another island as Hod flew behind me. I grinned as the ground closed in on me. I reformed my armor, gliding into the ground, more at home in the dirt than the sky.

The mana cost involved with The Coming Tide wasn’t a burden anymore. As I leveled the skill, my efficiency with the movements increased. I wriggled through the earth before firing off the top of a different island. I shot over the skyscrapers littering springfield before smashing into one. I drilled through the concrete and drywall, shifting through the buildings floors with ease.

Reaching through it, I burst out the other side of the skyscraper. The quake of my leap crushed the glass around me, making the sharp pieces fall through the air. I turned back, observing the damage I dealt. The skyscraper wiggled, dispersing the weight as a wave traveled through it. Across the side I leapt from, broken glass fell like a glimmering rain. Hell yeah.

I turned forward, gliding through the islands as I leapt between them. Hod tried keeping up, but this terrain was perfect for me. Bouncing from island to island, I was ready for a fight from an anime at this point.

The manic grin on my face grew before I reached an island near the world tree. On its surface, hundred of the Solar beetles crawled. Their after images formed as I neared them, their shapes shifting. It was like I just chugged a fifth of vodka, leaving me unable to see or stand up straight.

I closed my eyes and covered my ears. This time I felt outwards with my sense of gravity. These tiny creatures released ripples in the space around them. Using that as my new sight, I molded my armor for landing.

Just like that, I flew towards the island like a nuke dropping onto an unsuspecting city. I slammed straight into a beetle, crushing it into a wet splat. I reached out with Tactile Cognition, getting a more concrete view of my surroundings. Without eyes, my armor grinned with jagged teeth.

I unleashed Event Horizon. As the aura reached out, the damage covered the cost of my runes without me even trying. As it reached over hundreds of insects, the surge of mana from it exceeded my own production. It raised in volume, becoming a torrent running into the eldritch rune.

It was an amount of mana I hadn’t handled since making the grimoire. I suppressed the growing hunger the mana caused as I dashed forward. A solar beetle snapped its jaws towards me. I side stepped to its right side, countering the blow with a right hook. My heels rotated on the ground as my fist pulverized the mandibles of the insect.

The sound rumbled through my armor like a far off bomb. The warmth of the beetles blood covered me, soaking into my armor as it fed on the monster. Before it could escape, I stepped forward, gyrating another blow into the monster.

My fist collided with a telekinetic pad, disintegrating the remains of the monster. Another beetles snapped towards my right leg. I turned towards it, lifting my leg. The jaws snapped beneath me, so I stomped the beetle’s jagged mandibles. They crumbled before I reached out a hand towards it.

The impact of my foot landing on the ground sent out a shockwave, knocking the beetle back. I grabbed it, digging my fingers through its hardened shell. Harder than steel, the shell cracked like dry wood as I clasped it. My armor dug into the monster, sapping its strength before another beetle reached towards me.

I roared at the monster, giving it pause. During the monster’s hesitation, I dashed forwards and slammed my held beetle into it. The beetle in my hand cracked in half, the insides rupturing. The beetle beneath it had its exoskeleton crushed inwards. A beetle snapped from behind me. I dashed forwards, stomping the head of the grounded beetle.

With the remaining half of a beetle in my hand, I spun around. Dragging my arm behind me, I mauled the beetle with the other half. The insect pulped before I turned on my heels, arcing a fist over my head. It spun over me before crushing the beetle into the island. The mush splattered against my armor as I unleashed my overcharged runes.

Firing forward, I drilled through three beetles before converting another one into paste. An abstraction dived towards me. I grabbed its deformed face with both my hands, pulling it downwards. I raised my knee, squashing the abstraction’s head against it. Another abstraction dove from behind.

I turned around, creating a gravity warp in front of me. The abstraction wobbled before losing control of its flight. It spun towards the gravity warp before I torqued a fist into it. The monster evaporated, and a thin, light sheen of humidity ran into my skin.

It was a mild sensation, like walking into a cloud. My attack had left a fine, orange mist in place of the abstraction before. My armor stretched out needles towards the blobs of flesh around me, draining them as I passed.

I smashed my fists together, walking into an oncoming horde. Each of my strikes killed the monster’s making them fall apart. I kept killing, ripping the wings from abstractions and tearing the legs from beetles. Hordes came. Hordes died. It was a massacre. Even if a monster attacked me, they did little to no damage. The condensed dimensional fabric was too dense.

Their teeth cracked against my skin. Their bones crumbled against my fists. Their shells shattered against my murderous intent. With each strike, I took at least one life from a monster. I kept each strike sharp and malicious, crippling and killing like a plague. Each moment, I fell into the motions of my strikes.

Everything molded together, becoming a dance of sorts. I shifted my momentum, following a flow of battle. With each blow, I gave destruction. With each second, I took life. My aura sustained me, giving me an unstoppable endurance. My mana was limitless, fueling the carnage and decimation.

I sunk into the earth, dodging attacks and unleashing The Coming Tide. I shot forth rippling attacks that disintegrated the monsters. I pulled them close with gravity and telekinesis, preventing their escape. Time disappeared during my bloodlust, the onslaught all there was. Everything faded away but the blood.

My shifting form was death. It was a malignant force unleashed on the unsuspecting souls. Battle was my haven, a refuge from everything. There was no future or past, only that moment. A fight consumes you, freeing you from everything else. It offers a chaos, forcing a resolution. It was simple, something I savored.

But like all things, the battle ended in time. Whenever I finished the last abstraction, I glanced around. This was no longer a field of battle. It was a field of corpses. It was a canvas painted with the red and orange blood of the monsters, grinded into nothing but pulp. Nothing remained near me that was living, no plant life, birds, or chirping insects.

No, only a dreadful silence remained from where I passed. That, and the steady drip of leaking blood. I walked around, cleaning the corpses with Event Horizon and my armor. Event Horizon disintegrated them over time while my armor was a sponge. The needles drained any corpse in seconds.

Once the island was devoid of life, I turned Event Horizon off. I glanced around, looking for Hod. He flew above the island, so I shouted, “You can come down now.”

“Hod wonder if Harbinger sure?”

I waved my arm, “Yeah, it’s fine.”

He dived downwards before spreading his wings, slowing his descent. He landed on the ground, his feet thumping against the ground. He turned towards me, “Hod told Harbinger. Harbinger the cataclysm now.”

I waved him off, “I’m just fighting. It’s easy to destroy anyways. It’s building that’s actually difficult.”

Hod shrugged, “Hod not know.” He pointed towards the rift’s core. “We go now?”

I clasped a fist, “Of course.” I turned towards Yawm, “I wish we could just kill him.”

Hod shook his head, “Yawm awaken. Yawm strong, so Yawm kill us. Dry Man lose time for assault. Followers and Yawm impossible to kill. Yawm alone, maybe.”

I sighed, “Yeah, I know.” I shook off the bit of the desire to just run in and punch Yawm. I ran forward, firing off the island. Hod followed behind, darting through the air. We passed the islands, my teeth clenching as we passed the city covered one. Hod and I could try and kill the people there, but we might end up doing more harm than good.

It reminded me of my outing with Bloodbull and the Freedom Fighters. I ended up killing everyone. No matter how I justified it to myself, that’s what I did. I gritted my teeth, fearing the same outcome here. I didn’t want to kill a crowd of normal people. The thought of doing so made me sick to my stomach.

I remembered the man I strangled with telekinesis. His eyes were full of fear, bloodshot as he wallowed in his own filth. It was an awful way of dying. There was no mercy. As I dashed through the air, I stared at my hand. It was the one that clasped his throat, taking his life away.

I clasped it into a fist. This wasn’t the time nor place for brooding about what I’d done. This was the time for taking a dungeon core. It was time for killing. Even if these hands were covered in blood, they were the hands I needed. If I was going to live through this, that was the only way out.

With that resolve, I drilled through another island before jumping towards the ground. I dove into the ground, firing off of it before reaching the lake underneath the world tree. I shot myself onto a branch before climbing up the edges of the tree.

The bark minced in my hands, soft and pliable. Over the next ten minutes, I reached over the lake’s center island. I dropped from the top of the roots covering the lake. Landing beside the stone stairs, I created a rippling wave across the lake around me. The forms under the water stayed there, not coming at me like some ravenous horde.

Hod landed beside me. I could have used Event Horizon for drawing in agro before killing the monsters in the lake. We didn’t have the time. Before stepping down the stairs, I checked out my status for how many levels I gained.

I gained fifty. Before putting in my attribute points though, I scrolled down my notifications. Two were very odd, both of them red. It was outlined with white, like an overseer’s status screen. It read,

Dimensional Cipher completed. Changes assimilated into Living Dimension.

+4 Strength and Dexterity.

Dimensional Cipher completed. Changes assimilated into Living Dimension.

+4 Strength and Dexterity.