The Lone Wanderer

Taking full control of his host’s body, Percy shot toward the oblivious beast, having no intention of missing his second chance at possessing it.

The mantis stopped harassing its powerless neighbours when Sol was about four hundred metres away, apparently having noticed the intrusion.

Having hidden his host’s second core entirely and masked the first by a couple of grades, Percy had really thought that the creature would be fooled into attacking what looked like a weak target with a single Yellow core.

Apparently, the mantis was smarter than expected. It wasted no time before turning around and fleeing toward the depths of the lake. With every hop, it crossed dozens of metres and sent smooth ripples across the water that were accompanied by crisp notes.

Percy couldn’t help but click his borrowed tongue. “Shit. Was it our speed that gave us away?”

It might have been better to hide himself entirely and approach more slowly, but it didn’t really matter. The creature couldn’t possibly escape. Using his domain, Percy lifted Sol up and flew behind the mantis, abandoning every notion of subtlety.

After elevating his host’s cores to Blue, the Awakened domain had evolved to an Empowered one. Despite the similar classification, the clone’s willpower wasn’t nearly as potent as the original’s, but it was strong enough for flight.

Mere seconds later, Percy was almost close enough to touch the creature’s back. The mantis barely managed to widen the gap with one final leap, though it was obvious that the next time Percy caught up would be the last.

Realizing that it was about to get captured, the beast clicked its antlers in desperation, sending every spectral fiend in the area after Sol. The tiny entities moved in unison, forming half a dozen pillars as wide as small houses, which jointly tried to pinch the female Melodian like a giant’s fingers.

Percy ignored the attack, letting his host deal with it. The same move that had once threatened their lives barely qualified as an annoyance.

Sol only had to hurl a single spectral sickle at each incoming column, watching with amusement as the spinning blades carved narrow paths through the rivers of fiends. Combined with her domain, the burning crescents incinerated the frayed ends of the attacks, destroying the fiends that had survived the initial culling.

Landing on the creature’s back, Percy kicked it against the water with enough force to send several lopsided ripples across the smooth surface. The mantis and the female Melodian slid atop the lake for dozens of metres as the friction cracked and melted down the front of the beast’s torso.

Eventually, the creature came to a halt. The lake’s surface, previously as solid as a sheet of steel, abruptly lost its tension. The mantis sank by a couple of centimetres, but Percy wasn’t about to let his prey slip away from under his borrowed feet.

Still squatting on the beast’s back, he concentrated his domain around Sol and the mantis, encasing them both inside a thick shell of willpower and freezing them in place. He was obviously much gentler with his host, but he didn’t let the creature so much as twitch.

Doh reached them a moment later, the poor man struggling to keep up with his former subordinate. “Well… that was rather uneventful. How long can you keep it trapped like that?”

Percy shrugged. “It’s not effortless, but I shouldn’t have any trouble holding it until the clone arrives.”

Worst case, he’d have to amputate a leg or three, though he’d prefer to possess an intact mantis than a maimed one. Not wasting any time, he reached out to his main body, informing him of his findings and intentions.

The original had finished elevating his grandfather’s first core to White and both of Elaine’s to Violet a few weeks ago, though Archibald’s second core was taking a little longer than expected. Percy was obviously as familiar with the soul affinity as one could be, but his grandfather’s soul had needed some extra strengthening before it could handle the boosting art.

Either way, giving his cousin the Cradle had freed up one of Percy’s cords, allowing him to possess Galahad as well. His uncle’s acid core should be easy enough to upgrade – Percy had already done something similar for Nephthys – but the man’s new lava core might take a little longer.

The good news was that Percy had finished giving new cores, mutations, affinity-changing treasures and mindsets to the original allied Houses months ago, though four more families had joined the coalition recently, requiring his services. Percy wasn’t going to give the newcomers the full package until they proved their loyalty and usefulness, but he was still busy possessing people on most days.

‘Well, I don’t care. Free up a cord for this,’ the clone insisted. ‘Send me Nephthys’ clone if you have to. I’m currently sitting atop of a hostile beast, trying to hold it still without crushing it to paste. I’d appreciate it if you could hurry up.’

The main body grumbled something incoherent, but eventually confirmed that the new clone was on its way to Melodia.

‘Percy… I think we have a problem,’ Sol suddenly said, snapping him out of his contemplative state.

Peeling his attention away from the trapped mantis, Percy allowed his sensory domain to unfold as much as it could, soon learning what his host had seen.

“Doh. Get ready for battle,” he said, alerting his remaining companion. “This thing isn’t alone this time. There are fourteen more like it heading our way… along with three Blues.”

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These were the first Blue beasts that Percy had seen on Melodia, but he wasn’t too surprised that the mantises had managed to evolve, considering their power and ease by which they filled their stomachs. He was just glad that there hadn’t been any during his previous visit, as he and his friends wouldn’t have survived the encounter.

The male Melodian swallowed hard, as did Sol, causing Percy to roll her eyes. He personally felt that a few Blues were well within their ability to handle, though his companions were clearly still adjusting to their recent powerups.

The strongest beasts were the first to approach. They looked smaller than regular Blue creatures but larger than Greens. They resembled the variant trapped beneath Percy’s squatting host, though their exoskeletons were covered in sharp spikes and sported a slightly darker hue.

They moved in a similar way to the smaller mantis, though they crossed over two hundred metres with each hop, the bottom of their four limbs punching a set of deep, short-lived craters into the water whenever they landed, in addition to causing the whole area to shake.

A sea of spectral fiends accompanied each mantis, clinging closely to their rulers’ bodies. Unlike the Green creatures, the Blues weren’t afraid to let their minions close to their souls, probably confident in their ability to resist the nibbling fiends should any of them decide to revolt.

The tiny entities coiled around the beasts’ necks, forming billowing capes that stretched as far behind them as the eye could see. The mantises also had a second, smaller pair of antlers jutting out of their “temples” and framing their “foreheads” like tiaras.

Sighing, Percy stopped trying to keep the Green mantis alive, crushing it into minced meat with a sickening crunch. There was no point in handicapping himself when there were so many potential hosts about to deliver themselves on a silver platter.

“Might as well pick one of the bigger ones then…” he muttered, pulling a Harvester out of his seal.

Halfway through his sentence, the giant beasts landed a few dozen metres away from the Melodians, looking at them with disdain. The lake softened under their limbs after a second of immobility, but the creatures didn’t seem to care when they sank by a couple of metres, as the upper two-thirds of their bodies still protruded above the water.

Countless spectral fiends shot toward Sol and Doh, this time attacking from every possible direction. For a moment, it felt like the planet’s entire population had descended upon them, though Percy knew that it was still but a drop in the bucket.

A barrage of burning sickles spiralled outwards from Sol’s body and a flock of birds did the same from Doh’s, carving into the hostile swarm. The beasts’ domains helped their minions endure the cold flames, allowing many to slip past the constructs.

Percy blocked the stragglers fairly easily with his own domain as he dashed toward the nearest opponent.

The mantis hopped back to avoid getting cut in half, forcing Percy to pivot toward the one to his left. Unfortunately, the second creature also jumped away at the final moment, clearly aware that it wouldn’t survive the blow.

Shrugging, Percy briefly glanced back to ensure that Doh was holding his own against the third mantis. “Are you going to be okay by yourself?”

“Go on. I’ve got this,” Doh assured him.

Nodding, Percy ran after the other two. If it was just them, it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but the Greens caught up as well by the time he reached the Blues. Hurling his scythe at the weaker creatures, he tried to cleave through a handful to thin the herd down, though his attack was instantly met with a lot of resistance.

Two Blue and fourteen Green mantises joined their swarms of spectral fiends with perfect coordination, forming a thick curtain that his construct failed to pierce through.

‘I’m going to need some extra juice,’ he told his main body as he retrieved a pair of half-chewed scythe fragments.

Sol had plenty of mana, but her sickles weren’t as good as his Harvesters, and his own constructs couldn’t be repaired with just regular soul mana. A trickle of phantom mana soon reached him along with a few drops of soul-freezing ice. Directing the resources at his weapons, he swiftly regenerated both into pristine copies while causing a layer of grey frost to accumulate on their edges for some extra power.

The beasts naturally didn’t wait for him to complete his preparations, but their minions had a tough time blocking his escape routes as he flew above the mantises, evading their attacks in three dimensions.

The moment his scythes were ready, Percy kicked against a sheet of willpower, shooting towards the nearest Blue mantis. A curtain of spectral fiends formed between him and his target once again, making him inadvertently let out a whistle at the creatures’ perfect teamwork.

Unfortunately for the beasts, they had picked the wrong kind of prey today.

A flock of grey and silver sickles spiralled in front of Sol, drilling a hole through the swarm. The mantis leapt back upon seeing its opponent slip through the gap, but Percy had expected the creature’s response this time.

He flew toward the mantis even faster, reaching it before its legs touched the water again.

By the time the creature’s comrades even had the chance to turn their heads to look at it, its two halves had sunk into the lake, a layer of grey frost spreading out from the wounds.

Finally realizing that they had bitten off more than they could chew, the Green mantises tried to scatter in panic, though their surviving leader clearly wouldn’t tolerate desertion. Clicking its antlers, the Blue mantis appeared to do something to his subordinates, compelling them to return to the battlefield.

The unexpected display of obedience caused Percy to crease his host’s brow in contemplation. ‘Interesting. They can control weaker members of their species just as easily as the fiends. Is that why they were able to coordinate their attacks so seamlessly?’

Well… whatever the case was, he would have his answers as soon as he possessed the beast. Speaking of which, he should probably hurry up and clean up the battlefield before the clone arrived or more complications arose.

The rest of the battle didn’t hold much suspense.

With one Blue down, the beasts’ attacks and barriers grew much weaker. Even if they hadn’t, Percy had already proven himself capable of overpowering them.

A couple of minutes later, the Green mantises had all sunk lifelessly to the bottom of the lake. Some of their bodies had been diced up, while others had remained intact – mostly depending on Percy’s mood at the moment of landing each lethal slash.

The only creature still drawing breath was the Blue mantis. Percy had been more careful with that one, since Doh had already finished killing the third and was heading his way.

To avoid any surprises, Percy had inflicted several deep incisions across the creature’s soul, severing its connection to its limbs while priming it for possession. It was generally a bad idea to injure his prospective hosts before the clones were ready to slip into their wounds, but the creature’s high grade would probably keep it alive long enough even without support.

Percy still fed it some soul mana for good measure until his fellow clone arrived. The creature tried to resist, which made stitching its soul up take a lot more time and mana than necessary, but its struggles only managed to annoy everyone involved slightly.

When the mantis next stood up, it wasn’t in control of its body. It spread its mandibles wide in a gesture that Percy could only describe as a victorious grin.

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