Path of the Deathless

95 (I) Change

-Draft Excerpt of, Written by Shiv95 (I)

Change

Greed and power were potent tools. Tools effective enough to turn smart people stupid, and stupid people suicidal.

Such was why three squads made an attempt on Adam’s life almost immediately.

Three squads of mercenary Pathbearers who didn’t properly consider just who they were trying to kill. Three squads made up of twelve Pathbearers who thought their Adept and, in one case, Master-Tier Stealth Skills were enough to ambush and eliminate Shiv, Uva, Adam, Can Hu, and Valor.

None of them made it halfway up the building before they were noticed by Adam. Uva’s mana strands went for them first. Her reflexes were snail-like compared to Shiv—were nonexistent when he triggered his Chronomancy. One second, the mercenary teams were working their way up and along the sides of the building. Then, without any hint or reason at all, eleven of them were reduced into smears of brutalized gore. One was spared. One that found herself soaked in organs and blood. The organs and blood of her comrades. She dropped her Pyromancy-infused dagger. Her jaw quivered, her eyes welled with tears, and she began to scream. Only for a heavy hand to close around her neck. She let out a choked gasp instead as Shiv picked her up and casually shouldered his way through the walls.

Outside, people cried out. Only by now did Uva and Adam catch up to what he just did.

Uva said, feeling slightly dizzy.

“Sorry,” Shiv grunted. The mercenary assassin gasped. Shiv turned her around and glared at her. He watched her eyes widen. He gave her a squeeze, and her mithril helmet shattered into broken pieces. She was sobbing wildly, whimpering for him to let her go. “I kept one alive. I’m thinking about ripping her in half in front of the other mercenaries.”

Uva considered that act with a thoughtful hum.

Adam was immediately horrified.

Shiv felt his Dread Aura thundering, and he looked disdainfully at the mercenary. “She’s probably a slaver. That, and she was coming for you. She was coming for us. The fear will make the others think twice.”

Uva’s mind was clinical, while Adam was purely operating on his own ethics. Strangely, there was an intersection.

“Hm? Hope?” Shiv didn’t get where she was going.

Adam said, surprised. The Gate Lord considered what Uva was saying.

Uva let out a slight sigh.

Shiv loosened his grip slightly. The mercenary gasped for breath.

“Lucky you,” Shiv growled under his breath. “You get to live a while longer.”

“I—I—” She gagged and wheezed for air.

Uva said.

“Alright,” Shiv said. “Any idea what I should say?”

“They’re slavers and bastards under Compact,” Shiv sneered. “They all have it coming.”

Adam stressed.

“I don’t remember signing any laws,” Shiv replied bluntly.

Adam hissed.

“Fine,” Shiv responded.

He hovered up into the air slowly, his gravitic field making both him and his prisoner bob up and down. As he rose into the faint ambient light cast by the now azure mana core, heads snapped to him—heads from windows, heads across the entire plaza. With so many people packed tight, there really wasn't any room for most to go. A mess of tents were being set up and, in some cases, the outside was better than the insides of certain buildings just due to the sheer amount of waste that was building up.

And Shiv winced at that. The waste was partially his fault. Most of the Adepts here were still “bowel-broken” due to his brief try at biological warfare. And the effects still lingered somewhat. With so many slaves and other Initiate-Tiers, it could get very bad real fast.

“Everything to see here, folks!” Shiv called out loudly, shamelessly. “Just a failed assassination attempt.”

Adam cringed.

Shiv snorted. If he had to put up with being feared, he might as well have a bit of fun with it.

As he continued his leisurely path over to the bridge leading to the Surface Gateway, Shiv looked down at the many mercenary tents lining the bridge. What’s more, the mercs were already building their own platforms and expanding their available room with Geomancy and some other skills. Soon, though, the survivors were in an uproar, loudly talking about what was going to happen. The dread across the surviving district spiked high—but Shiv didn’t get any levels.

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The surge of fear exploded through the mercenaries as he descended. Many of their number poked their heads out of their tents and gawked. Some fled back in. Most were armed, but kept their weapons low, clutched in shaking hands. Shiv chucked the only assassin he spared down at the mercs. She bounced once but didn’t react to the fall at all. Instead, she began crawling on her hands and knees away from him. She already fouled her pants, and she was whimpering incoherently as she looked at the blood all over her.

A few other mercenaries loudly vomited. And that just made their collective morale worse.

Shiv hovered in the air for a moment, his body shrouded by the pale blue light, his form a visage of death, his irises bright white and utterly merciless. He saw Siggy in the group, and she was shaking most of all. She, more than anyone else, had contact with him, knew his aberrant nature, and knew what he was capable of. But he wasn’t here to scare the shit out of her. Frankly, she did as she's been asked and found some Biomancers to keep him stable earlier, so he felt more positive about her than most people here. He gave her a nod.

Faintly, he felt the fear in her lessen. She nodded back.

So, slowly, as he dangled there in the air thanks to his gravity field, he pulled off his helmet, and he addressed the mercenaries. "All right, eleven of you are dead," Shiv said bluntly. "They tried to come for the Gate Lord. They wanted to get the rewards from the Quest and all that other stuff. Well, I can't say I blame them entirely. We’re Pathbearers. We’re going to want levels and items. We’re going to want to grow. But I'm gonna be very honest. You can't pull it off. You can't."

He stared at the mercenaries for a while longer. Any judgment? Some were outright cowed, looking down at the ground, refusing to meet his gaze. A few others tried but failed; they flinched away, his glare too much for them to bear. And then there were some that were terrified, but they clenched their fists and they hardened their faces. Those were the ones he needed to watch, but they could also be those he could use to keep the others in check. If he targeted those, then maybe the rest would follow. He spiked his Dread Aura, and even the rebellious mercenaries began to quiver. A few of the ones that had been shivering already seemed to piss their pants.

she replied, indifferent.

Adam shot in.

“Now. I know most of you are slave-running pieces of shit or Sell-Skills without a moral fiber." Siggy cringed. Shiv kept going. "Well, you understand that if you come for us, you come for the people who slew the monster that destroyed the entire gate. Yeah. That thing? It was some kind of eldritch entity. We fought it. I wrestled with it. One of my companions ripped its mind apart. And then the Gate Lord killed it.”

Shiv gave them a few seconds to digest what he was saying.

"I sense a few Masters among you," Shiv declared, "but I don't see any Heroes. And of the Masters I see, I don't think a single one of you is even a True or High. But maybe you can get lucky. Maybe you can kill me. Maybe. If you don't, though, it's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt real bad before I let you leave for the other side." Shiv swept the crowd again, and most of them didn't have anything to say.

“But we’re not just going to butcher you. Well. My companions asked me to be nice. I still might get there. Depends on if you guys keep shitting yourselves. The smell is starting to bother me, I’m not going to lie.” He struggled not to laugh.

Adam hissed.

Shiv replied, cackling internally.

“But consider this a merciful warning,” he said, pointing at the screaming assassin. She clawed at her clothes and hair, trying to get the blood and gore to come off. Several other mercenaries threw a blanket over her and started hosing her down with Hydromancy. “I didn’t kill that one. Not because she’s special. Just to show you all, I’m not here for your pain. Frankly, I don’t give a shit about most of you. So, Otherwise, you and I will learn more than a few things about Practical Metabiology together. Me more than you, I suspect.”

With his speech done and his Dread Aura thundering happily inside him, Shiv prepared to turn and leave.

But then there came a thin voice, a near-defiant voice, but as Shiv listened to it, it sounded more desperate than rebellious. "And what are we supposed to do?" a tall elven mercenary gasped. She had long, flowing blonde hair, but her face was pale, her legs were shaking, and she seemed to be some kind of cavalry, judging from her kit and armor. Long lance, heavy armor, and riding leathers…

Shiv let a bit of his Creeping Void leak out before he stopped it. That only increased the unease in the air.

"You're supposed to keep yourself alive and not throw away your life meaninglessly. Because that's what's gonna happen if you keep coming for us. We will see you, and we will kill you. I will kill you. And you might not get the sudden ends the first group of lucky winners experienced.”

“No! No!” She held up her hands in horror. “I—I misspoke. I don’t mean that! No one will ever attempt to cash in on Quest while you are here! No one!” She looked at the other mercenaries. “No one! But—but I mean—I beg your mercy, Hero. But… There's no food," she continued, grimacing. "There's no food for the weakest of us. The few Biomancers we have also cannot care for all the sick. There was an outbreak of dysentery, so many are weak—some are dying."

At this, Shiv barely held back a grimace. Again, that was probably his fault.

“You might be able to go months—without food, or water, or even breath, Hero, but we are not so strong, especially with the sickness. And the people in the district… The diseases that will be certain to spread…”

And her courage crumbled as she looked away, her will to speak faltering.

Shiv didn't spike his Dread Aura again. Instead, he stared at the mercenary and considered what to do next. He descended from the sky and landed just before her. She took a step back. She was shaking, but she didn't look away. Siggy was also staring at him, peeking from around a tent.

"Right. Tell me what you need." Shiv looked up at the elf. She was tall, which made it weirdly amusing for him how terrified she was of him.

"What?" the elf mercenary asked.

“Actually, tell me your name first. Then tell me what you need.”

"Me? I am… I am…" She swallowed but managed to get the lump down. "I am Thelora. I was… I was a Captain of the Scarlet Feathers. We were—we were a company contracted to defend the gate. I… I ran. That’s why I’m alive.”

She looked ashamed. Shiv grunted in understanding. “You're alive because you’re wise, I guess. So. You need food and medical assistance.”

“Water, too,” she added.

“Power cells,” an automaton cried out by the side. “And a maintenance facility.”

And soon, the mercenaries were all crying out random things they needed. Shiv spiked his Dread Aura slightly. They all choked and went quiet.

“Alright, Thelora,” Shiv said, reaching up to grip the deserter on the shoulder. Her face went pale as she felt the sheer power in his very fingers. “I’m appointing you as commander of these… You gather a list of what you need and give it to me later. I’ll see what can be done. In the meantime…” He looked at the gateway. “We’ll see what to do with the gateway. Some of you are surfacers. I know you want to run. But that’ll be on our time. Not yours. Got it.”

Muttered agreements and breaths of gratitude followed.

“Yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, great Hero—” Thelora gasped.

“Don’t kiss my ass,” Shiv muttered. “Just keep being wise. I don’t have the taste for killing you. Not after what I’ve been through. Got it?”

“Y-yes.”

“Good.” Shiv blasted back up into the air and watched as the mercenaries stumbled back. “I’ll come see you again in an hour. And also, get some volunteer teams ready or something. We’ll be scavenging the ruins soon. There will be plenty of stuff there too.”

Then, he shot off without a proper farewell, returning to the others.

Adam groaned telepathically.

Uva said.

Adam asked.

Uva replied.

Adam bit back his discomfort.

Uva sent a pulse of reassurance into him.

Adam folded.

Uva said.

Adam said.

“Hey, asshole, I’m right here. I was plenty controlled just now.” Shiv frowned.

Adam complained.

“Yeah?” Shiv snorted. “I made them shit themselves and ”

Adam spat.

“Tactically, they’re afraid but hopeful, so they might listen to us. Strategically, you got to enjoy the smell of shit, which amuses me.”

Uva said with a low growl.

Shiv said mockingly.

Adam replied as sweetly as he could.

Gate [Name Pending]

Category 4 > 3

Skills

[Severe Mana Decay in Progress]