109(I) Surface [I]

—Confidential—

[Ambient Mana Recognized — Incoming Message from Inquisitor-Master Sijik]

Oldsmith. If the situation at Gate Theborn is truly as dire as you claim, then you have my full authority and permission to extract. Make sure the other Inquisitors are aware of this as well—and make sure they are with you when you greet me in person.

There will be questions. I trust that you are wise and have full control over your senses. I trust that your claims about the Educator falling in battle against the Gate Lord and his “unnatural powers” are verifiably true and not an active deception—an active deception told to facilitate your escape from the gate due to cowardice.

I also trust that you have recovered the Animancy core and will be offering it to me and City Lord Stormhalt in person. Because that might be the only thing stopping him from smiting you on the spot.

…

What happened within the gate is unacceptable, Oldsmith. Absolutely unacceptable. You should know this. You should be ashamed of letting this reach such a stage and not keeping me abreast of these developments—of the risks.

There is no excuse for having this happen. None. Not a single one.

Pray to your favored Ascendant and turn your efforts to faithful service. Perhaps by Halsur’s mercy, you will be spared from any true punishment. But for your incompetence, I will see your political aspirations ended.

I have suffered you enough.

Make sure you are ready and prepared to receive us at Mobile Fortress Diego within a week.

No more excuses. No more mistakes. No more clemency.

-Spell Sealed Sync-Letter from Inquisitor Sijik of the Yellowstone Republic

109(I)

Surface [I]

Strands of glistening mercury connected Shiv’s Cloak of Midnight Kindred to the dormant seed that held Can Hu's garden bountiful alloy. Once more, Can Hu strained itself, weaving strands born of its Geomancy and Crafting Skill fusion.

Now, Shiv’s cloak was about to undergo an upgrade.

Shiv couldn't lie; he was really looking forward to how this might turn out. It also made him very excited. However, that excitement was diminished as Adam brought up the topic of reinforcements—namely, scouring reinforcements from any and all available sources.

"Shiv," Adam said, "you said that the Challenger has an offer for you. Does that actually mean he's willing to offer some orcs?"

"Maybe," Shiv grunted. "Doesn't say it outright. But even if he is, we’re not doing it. Having orcs defend this place is like trying to have a wolf defend a hen house. Sure, they'll fight Sullain, they'll fight the vampires, but in between, they're going to be gutting people just for the pleasure of seeing them bleed and scream. Sooner or later—probably sooner for that matter—we'll be fighting the orcs inside the gate. It’s a bad idea.”

“Perhaps not,” Uva replied. She slipped on the new arcanite boots Can Hu had forged earlier on. Her focus crystal armor still needed more modifications due to it lacking some very rudimentary size-adjusting capabilities, but Can Hu said it could be made to fit her person upon being merged with the arcanite. “I think there are ways of managing them and keeping them under control. We can try to obtain an agreement from the Challenger if such a thing is possible. Or I can bend them to our control should they try to break from service.”

Shiv drew in a breath and tried to control his frustration. "Uva, I fought one orc. One. That orc saw through my Perfect Semblance. He killed a child deliberately to provoke me and started a fight with me that caused who knows how much collateral damage. Then, he proceeded to curse me with his love

"I think I can ingrain in them a means of... compliance," Uva considered. She stomped down with her boot, and the ground shook. The metal at their feet quivered, and Uva sank entirely down through the ground, then rose up again a second later. “Hm. Not bad. Not bad at all. No air, though. I’ll have to hold my breath or shape an opening.”

But she didn’t get it. She thought she was facing a stupid beast, but Shiv knew better. "The Challenger isn't just going to throw us vulnerable orcs just to be killed. No, it's going to be a fight. It's always a fight with him. If anything, I'm putting you both at risk. I'm putting everyone in the gate at risk if I agree to hear out his offer. I don't want to know what an orc Psychomancer is like, and I don't want to find out what kind of Orcish Skill you two are going to develop if you get orcs to fall in love with you.”

“Well, you managed to fuse it to your cooking, didn't you? That's how you got your Master-Tier Cooking, isn't it?” Adam assessed. "Perhaps we could do the same."

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Shiv clenched his jaw. "Adam, before I fused that, I nearly tortured Tran and Heather. I did torture one of the Inquisitors. I cut her up over and over again, and then I healed her, and so on. I can barely remember it, but..." he looked down at his hands, and for a moment, he recalled the rage consuming him, "I definitely did it. I could feel the weight. I could hear the screams. And I liked it. I was always mad. There was this itch inside me that wouldn't go away. It kept demanding that I hurt people to feed it. So, yeah, I did fuse it, Adam. But it nearly drove me insane. Hell, it did drive me a bit insane. So, now I'm going to ask you a question. Are you like me?"

Adam blinked. His mouth opened, but he didn’t say anything

Shiv shook his head. "I thought not. You're a good guy, Adam. A real Pathbearer. But this is not something you can easily resist. I’m going to give it to you very plainly. If the skill infests you, there are a few ways to get rid of it. You probably already know. Nonviolence is one of them, but that's not really a choice for us now, is it? Since we're about to go save Blackedge. And if that doesn't work, well, you can try fusing that skill. But then, what skill are you going to fuse it with? Frankly, you don't know what skill it's going to infect anyway, either. So, if every time you shoot one of your Veilpiercers, and you kill someone, and that makes your skill stronger, what do you think is going to happen? I'm not doubting your resolve. But we can't afford this, not now. I'm putting my foot down here. My answer is no. Not unless we absolutely have no other options left."

Adam briefly looked like he wanted to argue, but then he clenched his teeth and looked over at Uva instead. "Well, Sister Uva, is the Dreamtaker offering something as well?"

"Not quite an army," Uva said. "More like a release."

"A release?" Adam repeated.

"Yes, she can potentially gather some of the more dangerous entities, her New-Dreamt, and I can use my gaze to release them into the Umbral Wilderness, have them serve as a bulwark against the First Blood."

And that was when Uva started getting uneasy. "But, there's a consequence to this. I cannot... Perhaps..." Uva stuttered briefly. It wasn't like her. "Adam, I have another skill," she said. “It's the skill I told you about briefly. Another Eldritch Skill. It feeds on madness and does things to the geometries of the world. It will affect your sanity if you look upon them. Your Divination sensitivity leaves you vulnerable to these creatures. They're pattern-deviant. And you are pattern hyper-aware. I worry about your sanity if we do this.”

She breathed in deeply. “I worry about everyone's sanity when it comes to this option. I have only touched the surface of understanding the Outsiders. I cannot control them as I do a person or even a beast. And furthermore, they might just spread across the wilderness, killing indiscriminately or inflicting harm in other ways I can't predict."

She looked at Shiv for a moment. "At least with the orcs, they are somewhat consistent. There's a mind there, a sort of twisted, cruel rationality that's at least loosely comparable to ours. I can contend with that. I can face that. With the New-Dreamt and the other eldritch entities, I'm not so sure."

Adam stared at the stacks of mithril ingots and other treasures they had amassed within the teleportation anchor. "This will be enough to hire a few groups of mercenaries, but that won't be nearly sufficient, and they likely won't be able to respond quickly either. There will be negotiations, arguments, and travel time… Which is what we do not have at all right now."

Adam looked between Shiv and Uva. "I don't know how to solve this. I don't. But without an army, without a sufficient concentration of force, I don't know how we can hold this gate. I don't know how we can protect ourselves from Lord Scorn, the First Blood, Aviary, and whatever Sullain is doing at the same time. It's just not possible."

"What about Sir Marikos?" Shiv suddenly asked. "The Descendants Union. Could we ask them to offer some aid?”

"He will not reside here so long as I remain in your presence," Valor said, his tone slightly dour. "His hate is that great, his grudge is that true."

"And more importantly, I asked about this already," Adam continued. He scowled deeply. "According to Null Mont, Marikos might be very well willing to start this fight immediately on his own accord. However, the rest of the Five Faiths and the Descenders Union itself are busy trying to come together to set up a conference. A meeting to discuss what is to be done about Vicar Sullain. We don't have time for a grand conference; we don't have time for politics. Blackedge does not have that long. With the Inquisition coming, with them already under siege for so many days, how much longer do you think they can endure?"

The room fell silent. Shiv barely held back a sigh. The System seemed intent on forcing him to make an ugly choice, both him and Uva. Even when they were offered options for an easy army, it wasn't really their army, whichever one they chose. And frankly, it was something that would probably cast them into a deeper pit of struggle in the aftermath. Uva couldn't control the New-Dreamt.

Comparatively, Shiv absolutely did not trust the orcs. Worse than that, the orcs were almost guaranteed to turn on them, to start a fight with him the moment they got the chance. But he could kill them. Uva could contend with them. Adam could watch them.

Shit. I can’t believe I’m actually starting to consider this. But it might be our best choice…

He didn't exactly know how skill-binding rituals worked, or how someone kept someone else locked to a promise. But with that many orcs, and with their intelligence, 811 was right about one thing. Shiv remembered him, and he remembered the orc well. Most of all, he remembered the creature's cruel, perceptive intellect.

Shiv wasn't stupid, but he was too raw and undertrained an intellectual to contend with an orc. Physically, he could treat it like a slugging match, could kill one of the creatures, assuming they weren't High Heroic-Tier. But mentally, intellectually? No, that wasn't a fight he was ready for. And neither Adam nor Uva knew how dangerous the gray-skinned bastards were.

"We're going to need to find a solution, and soon," Adam said. His heart was pounding fast; stress was building on the Gate Lord. Too much stress.

And right then, Shiv suspected that he was probably damned to at least speak to the Challenger.

Godsdamn you, System, Shiv cursed. Godsdamn you too, you big bastard.

The Challenger awaits your formal response.

Shiv closed his eyes and tried not to grit his teeth in frustration. If this went wrong, there were more than good odds that the gate would be drenched ankle-deep in blood and death.

Just then, a flicker of pulsing force washed over them. The room groaned, the ground shook. Can Hu let out a piercing noise.

"Can Hu," Shiv said, "you alright?" He really didn't like the sounds that were coming from the Penitent’s body.

"I am well, Pathbearer Shiv,” Can Hu groaned.

"You don't sound alright," Shiv growled. Beside Shiv, Adam's azure dawn grew brighter. He channeled more power into the Penitent. And now, Adam let out a groan from the strain he started to bear. Then, slowly, the pool of mercury came into shape before Can Hu began to quiver and pulse. Faster and faster, the mercury spun, churning as if a whirlpool, as if something was about to hatch from within.