(II) Bone

22 (II)Bone

An explosion of lightning and water detonated against Shiv. This time, though, Shiv didn’t go flying. This time, as he braced against the blow, as he pushed back, he felt the ground groan beneath his feet as hisswelled.

Shiv budged.

The absurdity of the moment made both golem and Deathless pause.

Then Shiv launched into the golem using his Biomancy, and he proved to be more like a missile than his bone drill ever was. Getting dragged into motion by his exoskeleton didn’t feel good, but it was far better than ripping his tendons and veins out of place.

Regardless, the effects were Between the velocity offered by Biomancy and his spontaneous implacability via Might of Mass, Shiv smashed the golem’s constant rockslide of a chest and

Shiv cheered mentally. Somehow, the dynamic had shifted. He was now the juggernaut in this brawl, and the golem was the underdog in a head-on collision. The golem stumbled back. Shiv used this opportunity to recall his bone drill—right into its exposed back. The weapon struck this time, and at an angle. The golem lost its balance and crashed on its side. Shiv called the drill into his right hand, letting his small dagger fuse with it.

Then, as the groaning golem fought to rise, Shiv pulled himself high up into the air using his Biomancy—and himself back down. He hit the golem drill-first, straining both Biomancy and Might of Mass as much as he could. A shockwave tore through the room as the golem’s outer shell of stone cracked like an egg. Now, Shiv felt himself standing on the inner crust of ice, so he released his bone drill and made it spin. Ice chips filled the air. The golem tried to roll over—but Shiv punchedin the back of its burning skull, and it felt like he dropped the weight of a small building down on its head. The golem’s burning eye fracturedas it crashed into the ground, and jets of flame sprayed free in all directions. Shiv ignored the heat licking at his body as he continued drilling and punching.

Through it all, he pressed his body weight down against the golem—and despite everything it tried, it couldn’t move him. Even when it reached behind its back and tried to toss him off—it yanked, but by Shiv’s will and his Might of Mass, he stayed in place.

Shiv realized.

And that was another thing working against the golem. Shiv was at once both small and heavyat the same time. Even if it was bigger than him overall, it couldn’t apply all that strength against him easily. Not when he was pressing everything he had into its already broken body. Then, it applied its last ditch effort. Shiv felt fingers of electrified water rush up to flood his skull helmet.

He responded by fusing his sockets and jaw shut. Water splashed against his face but found no point of entry. The golem’s struggle grew more frantic as Shiv continued driving elbows down on the golem while his drill pushed ever deeper. Then, he felt it. The last bits of ice broke away and his drill sank all the way in.

The golem stopped struggling. Shiv expanded his eye sockets again and studied his enemy. The rocks lining its body were scattered around it in a mess. Its limbs were more like sparking puddles than electrified jetstreams. Wisps of faded flame spilled free from its head as if it were weeping tears. Slowly, Shiv walked over to his drill and ripped it free from the behemoth’s back. At its tip was a gleaming core of shifting colors—a mixture of different elemental mana.

The golem let out a low, mournful groan as Shiv clutched the monster’s mana core in his hand—and it.

A final detonation of uncontrolled, elemental mana washed over him, but Shiv held himself in place using his Biomancy and Might of Mass—refusing to yield an inch even at the very end of the fight.

Finally, the golem’s burning eye fizzled and died to an ember. And then what remained of its body came apart as well, crumbling beneath Shiv’s weight. He splashed down into the remains of his enemy, and Shiv found himself shivering from leftover adrenaline.

Biomancy > 31

Knife Proficiency> 28

Spear Proficiency > 6

Grappling Proficiency > 37

Striking Proficiency > 22

Shiv laughed. Looking down at his own reflection in the water, he studied his new appearance. The skeletal armor looked intimidating enough—but it was the glowing white rings within the skull sockets that really did the trick. There were a few nicks and cracks lining the bones, but he could sculpt over those pretty easily. The only part of him that was still exposed was his torso and—

Shiv was always reasonably tall and well muscled, but now he was built like a brick wall. Still, it would be wise to fill in the places between the ribs with bone plating when he next died. That would complete the external protection.

Shiv triggered Might of Mass out of curiosity, and to his surprise, his muscles visibly grew thicker and denser.

Shiv said, shaking his head.

And then he looked at his bone drill in the water’s reflection. It hovered in the air next to him, adding to his menace. This was a weapon for him. It was even a modular weapon, Shiv thought as reached into it and pulled out his small shiv again. Even with his Biomancy field in the throes of exhaustion, he could still keep it aloft.

Still, he wanted to give his mana a break, so he attached it to his exoskeleton for now.

He didn’t even feel the mass.

The last two deaths had made him a stronger. Even his Reflexes were close to reaching the Adept-Tier Threshold.

Shiv had a feeling he might find out sooner rather than later.

Just then, the door to the chamber snapped open, and Shiv saw—

A smashed into his mind. Shiv’s consciousness reeled.

he realized. There still wasn’t anything he could do against a Psychomancer’s attacks.

Two more mental hits blew holes into his focus. Shiv clutched his head and nearly doubled over.

Then, someone slammed something over his head. That broke. Shiv remained absolutely fine.

More hits rained down on him. He felt pinches of pain like someone was jabbing a needle into his torso. A swarm of hairy hands grabbed and pulled at him—and Shiv just shrugged them off. Growling, he reached out with his Biomancy and—

—realized he was surrounded by Umbrals and Weaveresses. Blinking, Shiv’s mind stopped spinning long enough for him to realize that a groupof Umbrals and spiderfolk were stabbing at him, using their skills on him and restraining his limbs. Behind the group, a few dozen mages were shaping new spells.

All of them except for one.

Uva stood at their center, her eyes wide, her mouth open.

She said, her mind brushing his.

Shiv replied lamely. An Umbral’s nightglass spear left a skin-deep cut under his left pec before bouncing off. Shiv winced as he looked down at himself and realized why they were attacking him—his appearance practically evil assassin. That, and the Umbrals probably all thought he was dead.

Shiv used his Biomancy to unlatch his armor from his head. “Can you all please stop hitting me! I killed the raven. I killed the summoned golem. The fight’s over. Stop!”

He held up his hand, and slowly, the Weaveresses and Umbrals all halted.

Most of them looked at him with expressions of astonishment or disbelief. “I am not Risen,” Shiv added. “I will explain later! The Composer knows about this! But we’re not done.” He stepped past the Weaveresses—several of whom were of the invisible cloak variety, and even they were leaning in, staring at him as if he was something unbelievable. “There are still more enemy spies. They’ve infiltrated your order.” He checked his Quest and saw that it was still active. “We still have time to find Yunni and stop this.”

He marched past a dozen Umbrals—all of whom gawked at him, and came to a stop before Uva. “I need your help. I need you to scan the minds of those we’re not sure about—I don’t know how deep this goes or who we can trust, but… Uva? Are you listening?”

She reached out and touched him, feeling at his cheek. “It’s… really you?”

“Yeah,” Shiv said, sighing. “It’s a… It’s something to do with my Path. It’s the reason why I didn’t want you to read my mind. I’ll explain later—I swear.” He chuckled weakly. “And it’ll be the best godsdamned dinner and dessert I’ll ever make. But right now, we have to stop New Albion.”

She blinked twice and then swallowed. Then, something broke her focus. “I—wait, what are you wearing?”

“And did you get even bigger?” the young Umbral said, hobbling closer beside Shiv. She pointed at his bare torso. “More… ”

Uva reactively dragged the other Umbral away by the scruff of her neck, as if she was a small kitten.

“This,” Shiv said, gesturing to his exoskeleton and bone drill. “Yeah. Got it from myself. My last few corpses.”

“Corpses,” Uva muttered.

“I wasn’t really using them anymore,” Shiv joked.

She kept staring at him like he was insane.

“Uva. Bombing. Passage. Adam?”

“Right,” she said, snapping out of it. She looked over the rest of the group and drew in a breath before speaking into her brooch. “Operator: Public frequency. Mass broadcast: I am Sister Uva Mettabon. Esteemed Sister. Designation: Intel-0122. Everyone not of my team—I am invoking Contingency Albion. Submit yourselves to emergency detention. Prepare for deep-level mind scans and switch to emergency mana frequencies on your brooches. We have been infiltrated.”

And that was all she needed to say. As she looked away from her brooch, she eyed Shiv again and shook her head. There was a lot she wanted to say—and a lot he had to say to her, too. But that needed to wait. She reached behind herself and handed Valor back to Shiv.

Valor said, speaking to Uva.

She didn’t say anything.

“Oh. You know. The usual. Died twice. Got a Skill Evolution. Made a set of armor out of my old bodies using Biomancy. Smashed an elemental golem apart.”

The dagger let out a sentimental breath.

“That’s good,” Shiv said, licking his lips. “I’m still pissed at them for burning me to death.”

“Come on,” Uva said. She twisted the sides of her brooch as if it were a dial, and a different spell pattern flashed. “I’ll see if the operator can get me a lock on Adam’s location. We secured the control center earlier—there were crows there. Right now, an Honored Mother I trust is manning all stations for this sector of the building. But that’s all I am sure about.”

“So. That means no reinforcements or support past a certain point?”

“Something like that,” Uva muttered.

Shiv sneered. “That’s fine. More ravens for us, then.”

***

Adam Arrow proved surprisingly easy to find. All they needed to do was follow the bodies.

Ten dead crow-helmed assassins were left in the Young Lord’s wake. All of them had arrow wounds left where their eyes used to be. Then came a dead Weaveress, a smoking automaton, and a headless Umbral. A few steps away from her, standing in front of another teleportation chamber was Adam Arrow, glaring at something. He bled from several shallow cuts, but his own blade was drenched in a deeper red. Close to his back quivered a Hydromancy-forged bow and several watery arrows.

The Young Lord sensed their approach even before they turned the hall. He almost put a shot through Shiv’s eye socket before he paused and lowered his weapon. “Uva? Is that you?”

“Adam,” she greeted, looking over the carnage he left behind. The Umbral Psychomancer regarded the Young Lord with a bit more respect in her voice. “You did all this?”

“Most of them,” he said. He kicked the headless Umbral. “This one was a traitor, I think. She stabbed that spiderfolk in the back before she tried going for me.” He snorted. “That was her last mistake. She was slow. And the friends she had waiting in ambush weren’t as sneaky as they imagined.” Adam looked at Shiv and narrowed his eyes. “Who’s this? Do you Abyssals have some kind of Necromancer?”

Shiv opened his helmet again. Adam blinked. “Shiv?”

“Hey, Young Lord,” Shiv said. He looked appreciatively at the bodies. “I see you’ve been busy too.”

“I would have been less busy if I had my armor,” Adam said, frowning at his cuts. He paused and looked at Shiv again. “Shiv—what the are you wearing?”

“Bone armor,” Shiv said with a straight face. “I harvested them from my corpse. Now I got an inside and an outside skeleton. A dagger and a bone drill too.” He made the bone drill hover beside him. “Pretty cool, huh?”

The Young Lord hesitated for a moment. Shiv saw him wanting to disagree, but then Adam sighed. “ Yeah, it really kind of is.”

Shiv grinned. “I knew it.”

“But still, your own body? That’s… I always knew you had , I just didn’t know how severe.”

Shiv frowned. “Some of us have to be resourceful, Adam. Some of us don’t have Legendary armor gifted to us by daddy.”

“Well, until I see Legendary armor, I’m not going forward.” Adam said, cocking his head at the chamber.

“Why?” Shiv asked. “What could be so—.”

And there, in the corner of the teleportation chamber, was a dark, narrow crevice framed by a dense weave of webbing. A stream of blood led into the blackness—and three severed Weaveress limbs lay in a puddle right before the portal.

“That Yunni elf—whatever her name was—vanished down this hole with two crows while I was occupied. A couple of the invisible spiders went in after them and didn’t come back out,” Adam said. “That was ten minutes ago.”

“That,” the young Umbral from Uva’s team began, “should not be there. That is not an approved spatial tunnel. I’m sure of it. I’m not much of a Jump Mage yet, but… that spell pattern is —it’s stealing parts from the existing containment spells. It doesn’t lead anywhere.”

“Maybe not outside,” Shiv muttered. “What about to another teleportation chamber? Or all of them.”

The young Umbral stared at him for a moment before her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, ”

“Composer protect us,” one of the Weaveresses whispered in the back.

Shiv stared off into the darkness for a few moments and sighed. “Well. Looks like we’re taking a walk into the dark.” He reached out and extracted another bone dagger from his drill—a dagger he offered to Adam.

The Young Lord arched an eyebrow at the weapon. “Really? I already got a bow and a sword. I just need my armor.”

“It's for when the claustrophobic knife fight inevitably begins,” Shiv insisted.