There’s horror in that. My own mana, something that I’ve practiced so much, feels like it’s slipping through my hands like falling sand. Despite everything I’ve gone through in the tower, this is the worst thing yet.
It’s terrifying. I feel genuine fear race through me, my heart beating faster, my breath speeding up as more smoke pours into me. I close my mouth, I hold my breath, I scream inside.
And then, my epitaph rings.
A soft, chiming bell, in the back of my head. A steady, unyielding hole in my chest. The presence of who I am. And what that makes me.
I close my eyes.
Out there, the tigress prowls. She sneers at us, maybe even at me, I’m sure. But there is nothing I can do without my mana, so it doesn’t matter. I let that awareness fall into my apathy. I focus only on myself, and even without [Selection], the world narrows to a needle’s point.
My mana is stiff and unresponsive, but that doesn’t mean it’s no longer mine. It’s angry at this circumstance, and it rages against it, fighting in the same way that it does against the attunement loop. There’s some trick to this, some way that my build must be able to take it apart, I just need to find it, to convince myself of it.
Another heartbeat in the fog. I still hold my breath. My mana is fighting, already, so how can I assist? Brute force won’t work. I think back to the mist, to how it works. Like lightning, like electricity, the same spasms and stiffness. The same powerlessness.
But my body still moves.
The realization dawns on me in a moment, and I open my eyes, kneeling on the ground. With my finger, I trace something into the ground. It’s a rune, a simple, swift few strokes that break down the barest essentials of [Deconstruction], a tiny, flimsy piece of that skill imbued into the ground.
And yet, mana flows into it, and a bit of mist clears.
My hand, hovering above the working, feels free. The mana inside it moves. Already, I feel that insidious horror creeping in again. Somewhere around me, Bile yells, and then, claws rake across my back.
They shred my shirt, and flay my skin. I feel them scraping against the bones of my back, and the pain is enough to make my vision go white. It hurts so bad.
But the pain is okay. I live through it, I keep my eyes open even as they tear up, I focus on my hand, where my mana courses. And there, into my own skin, I place an imbuement of [Deconstruction].
[Inscription 15 > 17]
[Solidification 16 > 17]
It’s a looping, self-sustained enchantment. It feeds on my mana, breaks apart the fog, and that feeds into my mana some more. It hurts, though. It hurts terribly.
But also, as the fog crumbles apart, and more mana flows into my vessel, I feel a change. My stat ticks up by one, naturally, and the threshold breaks.
My mana, suddenly, fights against its shackles twice as hard. It grows in volume, far more than a single point should make it grow. It feeds on me, on my skills, my achievements, my epitaph, and suits me more. Slightly, it discolours, but much more than that, it grows vaster. More and more and more of it yet seems to bubble from my vessel.
It’s stronger, regenerates faster, and there’s more of it. My capacity must have… not quite doubled, but something near that. I breathe in, and the fog breaks apart, even as the imbuement of my own flesh and blood hurts like fire through my veins. I grit my teeth, and keep it running. I breathe to deal with the pain, even as the influx of fog makes everything hurt worse.
I breathe.
[Job up! Imbuer 12 > 14]
Then, there is a pause. The tigress’ eyes flicker to yellow. The pain recedes, slightly, and then, one moment to another, she’s upon me. Her injured legs still propel her forward, and I feel a pull on my mind. This, too, seems familiar. This, too, breaks.
My mana roars out of my vessel. It tears into the boss with brutal efficiency, dismantling and unwreathing her flash. Teeth that were about to crash into me break. Solid mana crystallizes within her mouth, bigger than I ever managed before, barring it from closing. I jump back, images of pain still burnt into my flesh.
She roars, and her eyes flicker azure. Bolts of lightning materialize - then slow down. Two of them miss as I dodge. The third lances at me, reaches my skin, brushing me like a soft touch-
Then shatters into a thousand pieces of humming static. The skill clicks into place.
[Memorization 2 > 3]
And I add it to my library. Lightning shatters and scatters to the ground.
Opal [Blinks] in again, sword slamming a deep gash into the tigress’ back. It’s a brutal attack that leaves her stunned. Instantly, Amelie’s puppets are upon it again, and I see norman swing that scary knife of his into her hind legs, too.
Finally, spears of earth shear upwards and then-
The boss vanishes.
[You have defeated the Boss, three-eyes Kinju. In order to protect her avatar, the Earthmother has withdrawn the boss. You have received one minor Request.]
[Level Up! 49 > 53]
[Third Threshold (supremacy lv. 50) crossed! Please select a Mantle.]
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