Path of the Deathless

238 (I) Cancer [I]

- by Helix (Rated most pretentious manual ever written by Tutorial-wide literature polling)238 (I)

Cancer [I]

Sage of the Enkindled Heart:

Shiv's anger was a bomb that was constantly going off. And it wasn't the only thing he struggled against right now. There were other emotions inside him, other emotions he couldn't control as well as anger: exhaustion, disbelief, frustration, and… more than a little sadness.

Adam ranted on inside Shiv, accusing him of provoking the System, but there was only a dull ringing in the back of Shiv's head. This wasn't amusing like the initial shock of the Faebread situation, and he couldn't bring himself to curse the System either. People were going to die no matter what he did here, and that certainty settled heavily in his mind.

Nearby, Maxime Van Stormhalt was giving him information, gesturing wildly as even more white-beret wearing Biomancers filtered onto the scene. Apparently, everyone had been in the middle of punching in for class or work when a series of alarms went off. At first, the Biomancers assumed that an Awakened Virus had manifested from one of the patients—and that necessitated a containment and withdrawal procedure due to the absence of Hero-Biomancer Javelina Van Erren, who specialized in handling intelligent and mobile diseases.

However, after one of Javelina’s senior residents went to the oncology ward to secure the residents, he uncovered the truth and proceeded to catch a bad case of rapid, terminal eye-to-everything cancer right after.

Now, most of the wings were warded on the inside, the building was warded on the outside, and the academy militia and Biomancers were calling in reinforcements and massing their forces to begin a push to retake Last Chance Sanatorium from the two fighting Hero-Biomancers that once swore to uphold the sanctity of life and preserve the health of all patients they treated.

The front lawn before Last Chance Sanatorium was a well-manicured and emerald-green expanse. Now it was a staging point, with hundreds of Biomancers and medical teams supported by martial Pathbearers. The trench lines were filling with even more students, and Shiv felt like he was a member of an army preparing to storm an enemy stronghold, rather than a student medic volunteering for his first shift.

“Marcus? Marcus? Are you all right?” Maxime's words finally got through to Shiv. “Did you get all that?”

Shiv nodded absentmindedly. “Yeah, I… I've just had a long day. And it seems like it's getting even longer now.”

Something in Maxime's gaze softened for a moment, but only for a moment. A second thereafter, it hardened, and a flare of resolve came from her. “Well, that's what being a resident is like. I can't say this is a usual day, but…” She shrugged and looked toward the hospital. “It is a day, and we are called to service, even if it is against one of our own.”

The Biomancy mana being projected up into the skies by the apex of the Sanatorium's tower grew even brighter, and it bathed those around her in dancing shadows. Maxime's skin complexion turned almost marble-like in the light, but her eyes flared with the deep red of Biomancy.

Here was a Pathbearer—perhaps not a martial, but one ready to do battle all the same.

Shiv looked around him, taking in the grim expressions of the hundreds of massing Pathbearers.

In his exhausted state, he was tired of seeing people die pointlessly for whatever reason. He was mentally exhausted and dealing with threat after threat, problem after problem, weird enemy after weird enemy, and he wasn't going to take it anymore. No, he was going to strangle the problem to death before it could crawl out of its cradle and experience childhood. The System was determined to make him fight? Fine, but he would resolve every fight he could as soon as he could.

Shiv asked, his voice cold.

A note of discomfort bled over from Adam.

Shiv replied with a growl.

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Adam rebutted.

Shiv said flatly.

Shiv let out an exhausted breath.

He swept the crowd. He looked at Maxime.

Shiv's Sage of the Enkindled Heart was fueled by a new and existential rage. Rage and hatred against the very world that spawned him, against the very thing that nourished the skills that made him so powerful, against that formless, shapeless thing that seemed confused about what it wanted from him: to empower him or to see him dead, to create an apex predator across all worlds, or simply the most sublime prey any Pathbearer within its grasp could ever hunt.

Adam let out a frustrated breath, and Shiv felt the remainder of his resolve succumb. It wasn't that Adam didn't want to protect the students of the Academy. It was simply his anxiety. They were still being hunted, and if they were discovered, that meant that every good deed they could do, every well-intentioned act might collapse in on itself.

For if Harlock truly found out where they were, there would be nothing that Veronica could do to protect them. And Shiv sincerely doubted that the Ascendants cared much about their own population, at least not more than recapturing a Unique Pathbearer and the Deathless.

Adam breathed in.

Sage of the Enkindled Heart:

Just then, one of the militia members landed. It was an automaton with six flaring wings jutting out from its arms and legs. Each of the wings emitted a pale green flame, and Shiv soon realized they were thrusters. The automaton held a spear with a cannon barrel at the end, and its head had a strange bladed design, one that made it more aerodynamic.

“Attention all militia members! Our Scouts have a report: the pediatric ward has been breached! Attention! And I repeat: the pediatric ward has been breached! The spells protecting that section of the hospital have collapsed!”

Bodies around Shiv tensed, and he clenched his teeth. Pediatric ward. Shiv barely knew that word a few days ago; now he understood it was where the sick children were. If the fight had spread there, it seemed neither of the two Hero-Biomancers cared much about their patients anymore. Everything to feed their hatred, everything to kill each other over the death of their child, everyone else be damned.

Sage of the Enkindled Heart:

The winged automaton looked over the amassed responders. "For those of you who do not know, I am Master-Captain Calcifer," it declared. "I am a Captain in the Academy Militia. I do not have the authority to demand that you enter the facility with me. I have no leadership experience, nor do my levels offer any kind of confidence that I can direct you. However, if we wait, if we hesitate and hold in place for more reinforcements to arrive, for Hero-Director Javelina, then the deaths may spiral. I cannot endure this. It is time to make a decision. I will bear the burden of responsibility, and—"

“That will not be necessary, Captain. You have done your job and done it admirably."

A new voice came from above. Shiv looked up and saw a woman riding upon what looked to be a… hog—one the size of a damned bear. The hog’s ears doubled as wings, and they flapped hard, casting massive whirlwinds down on the crowd. Several students were thrown off their feet, and Maxime lifted her arms in front of her head as blades of grass flew through the air.

Shiv's eyes widened for a moment as he thought he saw Rose Van Erren sitting upon the back of the hog.

But there were subtle differences to her facial structure and to the dress she wore. Instead of standard Biomancer robes and a red beret, she wore a curved helmet with several gems embedded down the noseguard splitting her face into halves. The rest of her body was lined in a dress of silvery chain that glowed bright, making it seem like she was ablaze with pristine majesty.

Her cheeks were fuller, and her jaw was rounder than Rose's, but there was little doubt that she was related to Adam's mother. In her right hand was a scepter, and it burned with Biomantic mana. The crimson glow it emitted also painted the faint contours of what looked to be even more flying hogs. In the aura she cast in her left hand was a massive gauntlet, and from there he felt a different kind of magic—a familiar one with a golden glow.

The gauntlet was pure gold, and along its center ran three bars of gleaming time magic that pressed against him. It was like one of Kura's time clones contained within a single piece of equipment.

“Alright, students,” she declared with a voice not unlike Rose’s and ran a hand through her crimson hair. “Welcome to an early and special class of Medic-301. Today’s problem: a massive, expanding outbreak that has occurred because two residents failed in their basic due diligence to themselves and their fellows.” A sigh of pure exhaustion escaped her; Shiv felt that in his bones. “As a forewarning, any Pathbearer that does not take care of their own emotional well-being is not a proper Pathbearer. And now, we learn from their mistakes and the sicknesses they spread.”

Her winged hog then gestured with its right hoof and formed a Biomancy spell over its mouth. Shiv was surprised that the pig was a Biomancer as well. A second later, all the beret-wearing Biomancers began casting the same spell. It looked like a simple pattern, something that was a helix in design. Shiv thought of the orc that bore the spell’s namesake.

“Hold still,” Maxime said, and then Shiv realized she was about to cast a spell on him as well. He barely cut his Shapeless Tides in time to stop her spell from recoiling off his being. It spread across his mouth, but then coated his eyes, ears, nose, and skin as well. After it flashed once, it sank into him. It remained there like an additional layer to his flesh, a membrane protecting him from external Biomancy or other biological pathogens.

She ended up applying the same spell to another elf boy to her right, but spared the automaton they were with the magic.

“Wait, I know you,” the automaton said, looking in Shiv’s direction. “Volunteer? Dragon dorm?”

“Yeah?” Shiv said. Strangely, he couldn’t remember the bot. “You were there?”

The bot chuckled darkly. “I’m Malcom. You caught my mistake.” It reached over and gave Shiv a quick shake. “Thanks for embarrassing me, new guy. Let’s hope you don’t need to do it again tonight.”

As Shiv shook with the automaton, he realized he was dealing with an Adept Biomancer. The Deathless’s mind turned back to Dven, and he found himself wondering how she was doing right now. Automata specializing in Biomancy were a rare thing.

“Standard protocol applied,” Javelina declared. “For those of you who've worked with me for some time, you know what's about to happen. Arrange yourselves into residency crews. Every senior resident should have three juniors working with them, and every junior should have at least three assistant medics. If you can't find a proper party composition, attach yourself to another group. Make yourself useful, dependable, but never a liability.”

The crowd gave a collective nod. She returned it. “If you get infected by anything, you let the rest of us know, and you put yourself in quarantine. Those of you who don't understand how this works, ask one of your fellow Biomancers. I don't have time to brief or teach you anything right now. We're going to clear this building level by level, room by room, ward by ward. You’ll get your proper assignments when I get in and assess the situation. Then we're going to pin the threat at the source. If you encounter Hero-Biomancer Huelle or Morgana, do not engage. Notify your senior resident or a section resident, and they’ll let me know. Just make sure to secure the patients first. That's who we need to protect. Now, are there any questions?”