The entire group of survivors gathered to begin their trek later than the party had hoped. This had been the first time in months that they had felt even moderately safe, and many gave in to leisure. Sleeping in, indulging in food and drink, even some mild celebration was rampant among the assembly. Along with the time they lost getting their bearings, rousing everyone from their separate and particular “interests” caused the group to leave much later than planned.
Days passed as the beaten yet hopeful survivors trekked across barren and destroyed lands. They stopped only to rest, often times once in the middle of the day for those without a class struggling to keep up, and then at night to sleep. Occasionally, they’d need multiple breaks a day, usually when they needed to pass a particularly large obstacle. Those times were especially tough on those who chose not to fight, their still basic human bodies not up to the tasks ahead of them. While they chose not to fight, however, this didn’t make them soft. The previous months ensured that any survivor in this group was hardened to an at least moderate degree. Anyone who wasn’t had already died.
Arthur thought that the non-combatants of the company would hold a grudge against him for his performance against the Bull. He found that it was quite the opposite, and that the woman from earlier was an outlier. Though people had died during that attack, strangely enough, they didn’t blame him.
“The girl from earlier is… was Dennis’ girlfriend.” Gideon said, when Arthur asked him about it one night. “She hates you, but it’s not a view shared by many others. They saw you fight for them. They saw you suplex a Minotaur, Arthur. They practically worship you, if for no other reason than because you’re the strongest one here.”
Whenever they made a stop, the class users in the group would go out and scrounge for supplies. As it’d been months since the System arrived, many foods were stale or rotting, so packaged goods became the traveling group’s bread and butter. They luckily found a lot of canned soup and beans, along with dried noodles. They stored any food they found in Arthur’s Vault, as he had the most space and weight capacity. He was also one of the most trusted among the survivors, making him a perfect candidate.
They didn’t have to fight much, as the Raid leaders of the area had already been defeated, and there hadn’t been time for another to take their place just yet. Eventually, however, they passed out of the Bull’s territory, and were soon put upon by entirely new enemies.
[Echidna]
Level: 15
Half snake monsters were spotted moving in on the group. Thankfully, Maxine had already scouted them out before they got too close, giving the survivors a chance to respond. As they were all approaching from the front, the combatants were funneled to the front, with Sherman and Maxine staying behind the group to keep a lookout for other enemies.
After they got into position, it didn’t take long for the echidnas to appear. There were dozens of them; their top halves a woman, pretty and ample features undercut by sharp teeth and a snake’s lower body. They held spears and bows, slithering across rock and dead grass to deliver death unto anything that moved. As everyone readied themselves, Arthur brought his shield out using his Bangle for the first time.
Arthur’s weapons worked strangely. His sword would always appear with his armor, though he didn’t understand why. Any time he summoned it, the blade would be there, strapped to his armored waist like they were part of a set. His shield wasn’t the same, however, and he had to use his new item to bring it out of his Vault without a cooldown.
As soon as the shield appeared on the knight’s arm, a multicolored aura flashed around him in a 10-meter radius. The other party members gave a wide range of reactions, from a calm self-inspection to a squawk of surprise.
[Aspect Shield]: Grants you and all party members moderately enhanced attribute resistance.
[Audacity] Tempering: Grants you and all party members moderately enhanced attribute damage. Grants you and all party members reduced cooldowns related to attribute-attuned skills.
The Tower Shield of Aspects had two abilities that worked with and around attributes, with one of them being forcefully unlocked through Arthur’s Temper. As most individuals with a higher tier class had an attribute, this was excellent as a buff for his allies. Not every monster had an attribute, however, which made the first ability less effective against monsters than it would be against other System users. As it’d help his teammates survive better against Raiders, however, Arthur was thankful for it nonetheless.
“What the… heck…” Gideon marveled, the multicolor aura blanketing his skin slowly becoming invisible.
“Another overpowered buff?!” Ema complained. “You really are trying to take over my job, aren’t you, Tin Man?!”
Aurora simply brought one hand out of her pockets, watching the lightning crackling around her fingers, dancing with the multicolored aura even as it disappeared. She gave an approving nod, her signature half smile gracing the world. She rose into the air wordlessly, finally taking out both hands to face the disquieting enemies approaching them.
The echidnas were finally in range to use their bows. Lining up in something akin to discipline, they released their first volley. The arrows were plentiful enough that if the volley were allowed to strike, it would seriously injure any of them aside from Arthur. As Ema prepared to use her Expanse Bubble skill, Arthur held up a hand. Since they didn’t have time to talk, Ema chose to trust Arthur after a moment of confusion. Puffy appeared at his side and he activated his newest skill.
[Phalanx Demesne]: Conjure a single-sided barrier within your area of influence. Use on yourself to gain [Shield Dam] for a longer cooldown.
[True Heart of Devotion] Applicable.
Using the skill on himself, a soft light emitted from his shield. The light was so mellow that it was hardly noticeable in the sun, but as soon as he lifted it in front of him, the light expanded until it became a large barrier covering the entire team’s front.
The arrows plinked harmlessly against the huge shield of light, not a single one making it past the barrier.
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“Another new trick,” Gideon said, a slight snark added to his tone. “You really need to get better at telling us about the crazy new abilities you get. I don’t want to walk into a situation not knowing all the cards we have.”
“If I do, then Ema is going to yell at me!” Arthur faux complained. “Blame her!”
Puffy let out an affirmative chirp.
“Wh- me?! What!!” Ema screeched. “Blame me?! YOU-”
“Focus, Ema. They’re almost here.” Aurora interrupted, despite the smile betraying her mirth.
Gideon swung a huge, two-handed Shooting Star to break another echidna’s spear in half. Unlike Arthur, his offhand weapon was small enough for him to carry on his person without it getting in the way. His pocket knife was folded and in its namesake spot as he swung the enlarged mace with both hands, leaving behind trails of night sky speckled with stars.
[Comet Swing]: Mana infused attack with your weapon. Effects change depending on [Polarity].
- [North]: Heavy swing with a blunt weapon, striking with the force of a shooting star. When the attack lands, inflicts [Dazed] and [Concussion].
He was currently in his North Polarity, as he used his Force Pull and Orbital Belt to keep the back line safe from any stragglers. There were many echidnas, but thanks to his fellow front liner, there weren’t enough attacking him to be threatening, especially with Ema behind them. That fellow front liner had opened with one of his signature skills when the echidnas had gotten close enough, leaving Gideon to deal with the stragglers.
[Audacity] Stacks: 9 ? 8
[Challenging Moxie]: Expend a stack of [Audacity] to inflict [Enraged] on all enemies within 10 meters of you. Gain a stack of [Audacity] for every enemy inflicted with [Enraged].
[Audacity] Stacks: 8 ? 25
Challenging Moxie normally only gave 1 stack of Audacity per enemy inflicted. He’d successfully pulled 17 echidnas, but because his Champion’s Mantle was active, he’d multiplied his stack gain by 1.5.
[Champion’s Plate]: Conjures heavy armor on the user. Armor grants damage reduction equal to 1.5× current DEF at the time of conjuring. Armor grants damage reduction equal to 0.5× current [Audacity] stacks at conjuring. Expend 3 stacks of [Audacity] to conjure [Champion’s Mantle].
[Champion’s Mantle]: Grants minimal healing over time. Grants 1.5× [Audacity] stack gain.
After using Challenging Moxie, some of his long stalled out skills had finally reactivated. Like a machine finally gaining the oil it needed, they creaked back to life with the influx of fresh Audacity stacks.
[Sentinal Aura]: Passive-All allies within your party gain damage reduction scaled to your current [Audacity]. If stacks of [Audacity] equal 10 or more, allies within area of influence also gain [Sentinal Bond].
[Sentinal Bond]: Allies with this buff gain reduced cooldown and enhanced Mana and Mana recovery by 5% per ally with [Sentinal Bond] up to a maximum of 5 as long as their areas of influence are intertwined.
[Intricacies of Exaltation]: Changes bonuses gained from [Audacity] stacks to a small bonus to VIT, DEF, and damage reduction.
Despite the sudden empowerment flooding his party members again, they didn’t let it show. Arthur swung his shield in quick, fluid motions as spear attacks landed upon him again and again, the barrier of light flashing in and out of existence as his feet shifted on the ground with each new angle he defended from. As he fought, Puffy’s body bloated up in preparation for using his first skill.
[Bad Breath]: Puffy spits out a cloud of smoke, obscuring the area and inflicting [Puffy’s Poison] to any enemies within the cloud every seven seconds.
A miasma of purple enveloped Arthur and his assailants, impairing the view of everyone but him. The echidnas demonstrated decent perception as they still picked him out in the cloud, either uncaring or unnoticing of the stacks of Puffy’s Poison accruing on them. Eyes filled with rage, they let out spittle flinging roars as they charged him again.
The last echidna attacking Gideon fell to the ground, ugly wounds and charring from lightning burns covering its nude upper body in macabre censorship. Though it was a shock at first, it became easy to ignore their bare-skinned nature after they tried to kill him.
“Do… you think he’s okay in there?” Ema asked, jogging up to her friend. Aurora floated nearby, keeping a Lightning Weave at the edge of her fingers. “I can’t see in there, so I can’t heal or buff him up…”
“Look at his health bar. He’s fine.” Gideon said simply. “The real question is, do we sit here and wait, or go inside?”
The group all looked from each other to the purple cloud of smoke, the sound of Arthur’s blade striking flesh ringing clear through the other noises of battle coming from the miasma.
“Yeah… he’s probably fine…” Ema said, her eyes not leaving the cloud. “More importantly, do you guys think it stinks in there?”
Gideon finally broke eye contact with the cloud to stare at Ema. Before he could answer, the cloud dispersed to reveal an area littered with echidna corpses. Some of them had savage sword wounds, while others had foam leaking from their previously beautiful faces. Arthur pulled his blade from a dead monster’s chest with a sickening squelch. While the others couldn’t see his face of disgust, his modulated voice coming from his helm didn’t hide it from his tone.
“That’s… that, then.” He sighed, sheathing his blade. While they were certainly monsters, they looked too close to human. His stomach roiled at his surroundings, but he did his best to ignore it.
After joining the others, Arthur apologized. He hadn’t thought about the fact that Puffy’s Bad Breath would cut him off from the rest of the party, and said he wouldn’t use it again unless it became necessary.
“Don’t worry about it.” Aurora said, her hands finding her pockets again. “Against something like this, I’m pretty sure they would’ve died from the recoil if they ever actually hit you.”
“Don’t give him any more reasons to be big-headed!” Ema griped. “If he gets any more power-ups, I’ll file a complaint to get him nerfed!”
“Big… headed?” Arthur said. Puffy circled his helm, comparing its size to his pufferfish body.
“You realize that if he gets more power-ups, that helps you, right?” Gideon deadpanned.
“It’s still not fair!”
“‘Not fair’? You-”
“Let it go,” Aurora said, patting his shoulder. “That’s a fight you’ll never win.”
Gideon’s face twisted in reluctance as Ema suddenly turned back to Arthur, as if remembering something important. Her jet black hair swished with the abrupt motion.
“Did that cloud of poison stink??”
Everyone turned to look at her, including Puffy. Despite his pufferfish biology, he almost looked offended.
“What?”
The empty suit armor studied the Aged Blade’s memories, a human charging towards a Tuskborne Bull. A green aura suffused the area surrounding him while he ran, painting everything deep shades of green.
“True Heart of Devotion…” the armor said to itself, observing the combatant’s clash destroy the surrounding environment. The armor said nothing else, watching the fight to its bitter end in the fiery grove.
During their battle, the Bull had wracked his brain for what the green light had been and how Arthur had kept up with him despite his lesser stats. The armor had no such difficulty, as he was intimately familiar with the light surrounding the young man.
The armor could see in a radius around the sword while examining its memories, as his consciousness was bound to the weapon. He knew that the knight was an Audacity class, as that was a requirement to bind the Aged Blade. As this was the first fight he’d observed, however, he hadn’t known that the man also had the Heart of Devotion, nevermind its True version. He would’ve even missed this battle, if the reverberations of Audacity Tempering hadn’t woken him from his slumber. Spending countless millennia sealed in any item was only bearable because of hibernation, and even then, it was a bitter salve. Even the occasional times when he’d be awakened by another wielder, he’d quickly return to sleep. Being awake was almost torturous given his circumstance, after all.
Although none of the previous wielders possessed it, the suit of armor was intimately familiar with the True Heart of Devotion. It was why the armor recognized it so quickly, unlike the Bull and likely everyone else on the planet.
Offhandedly, the armor looked around the destroyed castle of the dreamscape. He thought about the life he lived prior to his time here. He thought about his loved ones. He wondered… were they still alive? Waiting… for him… out there? Somewhere…?
The armor continued to look around at the dreamscape, lost in thought, regret, longing, and sadness.
At the dreamscape... suffused with a sky blue aura, tainting the entire plane in deep shades of blue with its light.