80 (III) Heartstopper

80 (III)

Heartstopper

As the last raven of Aviary died beneath the tip of Shiv's blade, he flung them, launching them so hard that they bifurcated one of the vampires along the middle. Just then, a dimensional rift pulsed as the spellwork surrounding the dead Jealousy's teleportation anchor triggered. Shiv exploded across the room, his blade slicing in wide arcs. Bodies split in half, and with them lineage cores dropped in pieces as well. A spreading spatial bubble popped, unleashing another group of vampires along with a new tooth golem, or whatever it was called, into the teleportation anchor. They died in an instant, unprepared for Shiv's onslaught.

"Shiv, multiple spellcasters, creating a spell to your left." Shiv didn't think, he just followed Can Hu's direction. He shot into them, and the spell broke. But just then, Shiv felt a sting, and a spreading, vaporous cloud of hissing, dissolving blood splashed over him, seeping under and through the cracks in his armor. He pushed back with his Biomancy, but not before it melted some of his skin and disintegrated all of the surrounding vampires.

As he shot free from the deadly cloud, Shiv twisted to a halt on the other side of the room and slammed against the wall. The teleportation anchor dented and deformed from the inside. Some spell patterns began to flicker and fail. And at that, a loud roar came from the other side of the room. Shiv saw the scab-armored vampire rising into the air with his head regrown. And now he had wings now too. Jagged wings that were lined with thick tissues and edged with jutting teeth.

"What the hell is wrong with you people? Why is everything gore and blood and teeth?" Through labored breaths of pain, he spat his incredulity. "You have any idea how bad you all smell?" Shiv chuckled. "You know the worst thing about fighting you? It's the smell. Years of my life spent slaving away in a kitchen, and now you attack my sense of taste. Bastards.”

Dread Aura > 75

His Dread Aura leveled again as he felt several vampires take a step back. He looked at them. There was only a small group left now. Twenty-seven, two blood golems, and the scab-armored high vampire glaring down at Shiv. He was shaking with frustration and fury.

Damn, Shiv thought. I didn’t realize I killed so many people already.

"You will regret these mocking words," their leader growled. "I am Hero Novor Kraid. I am System-favored. And I will show you the meaning of pain.” Kraid clenched a fist as blood began to twist around his arm. "I will show you—"

Shiv fired a bone drill into the vampire's face. The man swatted it aside. Then Shiv dropped his Silhouette and charged the vampire recklessly.

Or at least that was how it appeared.

A body clad in dense bone armor soared through the sky, arms reared back as if preparing a punch. But “Shiv” was slower than before, and the texture of the armor was wrong, more like glossy crystal than metallic shine. The high vampire snarled and backhanded what he thought to be Shiv. The body splattered apart with ease, and it left him open for a kukri stab straight into his heart, or at least what Shiv thought his heart should be.

Then it was Shiv's turn to be surprised. His Deepest Edge went all the way through. Blood burst out from the back of the high vampire, but he merely reared his head back with a shout and then seized Shiv with his long, hooking claws.

Shiv blinked. He was pretty sure the heart was there. He stabbed the vampire twice more, all across its chest. More blood ruptured, but the vampire squeezed inwards, trading damage with Shiv. Shiv's bones began to creak, and his mana strained. He cursed as he slashed at both the vampire's arms. Things split within the limb; ligaments, tissues, and bone, but the vampire healed as fast as he was cut.

Then, a series of spells soared through the air—Biomancy spells that were certain to send Shiv beyond the point of sustaining his mana field. And so he made a choice. He shifted out of context. Once more, he splashed back into his own Vitae. The world turned grey, and the spells impacted nothing but open air, and in one case the high vampire. The beast blinked. Shiv felt a coldness rush through him, and he descended first, rushing down as Rose whispered behind him.

“They are all, they are all being used, they are all being used against the Republic, against, against Sullain. They are, they are just chess pieces for the Educator. But she doesn’t see… there is another… she doesn’t see…”

Her words came like the mutterings of a mad oracle. Shiv breathed in before he rematerialized in a burst of white and red as he beheaded another vampire below the scabbed one. He pulled them in half, he crushed their core, and then he tore through several of the others.

A shine returned to his kukri. He activated Conduit of Dawn again, and he slashed through the two blood golems. They split in half, blood hissing as it turned to steam, and there, as they were momentarily discombobulated, he saw the cores within them, and he blasted through, slicing both. The blood golems collapsed into puddles thereafter, and with a final, contemptuous backhand, he obliterated the entire body of the last surviving Adept vampire.

Momentum Core > 88

Silhouette > 75

Now it was only Shiv and the scabbed vampire. Shiv looked at the remains of the vampire’s forces and just shrugged. "Your soldiers…" Shiv licked his lips. "They need a lot more Toughness."

Shiv drove his Dread Aura against the high vampire, but the vampire sneered as he sent a stronger spike back.

"Pathetic," Kraid said, looking at the mangled, blood-splattered remains of his own forces, and especially those of Aviary. And slowly, the anger fled from the high vampire's eyes, replaced by curiosity, and for the first time, caution. "What is your name? Tell me. You are System-favored too. I can feel it. No one else could give me such a fight. No one else."

Shiv simply snorted. "Well, Confriga calls me the Corpse Shedder."

"Corpse Shedder?" the high vampire muttered.

"Yeah, it's a stupid name, but I'm not telling you my real one. I don't tell people I'm going to kill who I am. It's a waste."

The vampire snorted. "Very well. Then Corpse Shedder it is. I want you to know that it will please me to rip you asunder. To tear another champion in the System's eyes down to feed my own glory."

Shiv scoffed. "You didn't do so well in our previous rounds. I don't think this is going to go your way."

"Before? Before this room was filled with pathetic, weak, and vulnerable vermin. I agree with you. They should have made themselves stronger. Armor," Kraid spat. "Their pathetic reliance on armor was their undoing. We are Pathbearers. We should need not rely on anything but our own strength, our own body, our own scars."

At this point, the Vampire's body began to transform. A nest of bloody strings erupted from him, spearing out at all angles.

“What the hells,” Shiv muttered tiredly. The smell got even worse somehow. It was like an endless sea of offal concentrated in a single place.

Some strings crashed down on the ground before Shiv, and they began to spread. Slowly, the entire chamber was filled, swallowed by the twisting, growing mass of writhing flesh. The scabbed vampire hovered in the air. His body was more tattered than ever. It was like everything inside him had been drawn out. But now, he was swallowing everything. His skin was spreading everywhere, lining every inch of space with new lattices of tendon and other tissue, firing pieces of scab-lined bone through the air.

And Shiv suddenly realized his adversary wasn't lying. This wasn't something you could casually do in an enclosed space with all your allies, especially with vulnerable human allies. Shiv didn't care from the start and, and now the vampire had no more reason to, either.

Shiv accelerated towards him, preparing to smash through some lattices, but as soon as he crashed into them, he immediately felt something impact him, striking his body and his frayed mana field. Shiv cried out, and the pain made him rattle backwards. Agony spread through his left side, and more strands began to spear into him from all sides.

More blades of bone, teeth, and claws erupted from the twisting mass of shape-shifting tissue. And swimming through the insides of his very own spreading body, the scabbed vampire emerged, thin cords of muscle connecting him to the greater mass. He punched Shiv across the face, and the blow was both physical and magical. It shattered Shiv's outer helmet, and he went twisting back, spitting blood and fragments of broken teeth. It usually wouldn't have been enough to stun Shiv for long, but then the vampire caught Shiv by the left section of his neck with a jagged hand. And that, that brought about a pain that Shiv wasn't in any condition to deal with, especially with the Icon active.

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Shiv killed the Icon then, desperate to regain some measure of composure. But then he was slammed against the wall, and more of the tissue swept around him, coating him, holding him in place. Shiv went Outside Context for a moment, stepped around the high vampire—who was momentarily confused—and then Shiv drove his blade into his back. Kraid roared. Shiv slashed and sliced, splitting through sinew around him, his Deepest Edge working to free him from this Biomantic jungle of ever-swelling flesh.

But even as he speared and staked the high vampire over and over, the Bloodspawn refused to die. Shiv struck no heart. He split no vital organs. Kraid turned, swiping a clawed hand across Shiv’s left shoulder. Shiv twisted back and barely avoided the blow. He didn't want to take any more hits against his mana field, but that didn't matter, because several more tendrils speared into his back a fraction of a second later.

Pain exploded inside Shiv, and he felt his field hit a point of no return. Something inside Shiv ripped. He cried out, and then the vampire seized him by the skull. Shiv sighed. He knew what was coming next. The vampire sneered. Shiv disintegrated into bloody mist in an instant.

Woundeater > 75

Silhouette > 79

Gravitic Wrestler > 119

Striking Proficiency > 36

The high vampire laughed as he mangled Shiv's remains into a smeared ball, crushing him more and more as Can Hu cried out. The armor was getting damaged too.

"Can Hu!" Shiv growled. Shiv's friend was still in the outer armor, but Shiv had other means to fight, even if he was dead. He took the high vampire by the neck. Shiv drained Kraid’s vitality. And this affected the high vampire more than anything else. The beast cried out, reeling back in surprise and momentarily dropping Shiv's badly mangled armor.

And because Shiv's blade was bound to him, as was his Magebreaker, he struck the Bloodspawn across the back of the head, and then he drove his blade into the high vampire's back in a frantic blur. Kraid cried out, twisting and swiping at nothing. What remained of his tissue splashed over everything, choking the entire room within a dense mash of flesh. And there Shiv found himself briefly encased, still draining the high vampire.

The enemy dove back into the thick nest of flesh, swimming through his own twisted tissue as if it was water. Shiv pushed out with his strained mana. He cried out silently as he went after the high vampire, and he barely clutched Kraid’s ankle. With a final surge, he drained more vitality, and the vampire briefly halted, stunned by his sudden and inexplicable enervation.

Shiv's shadowy cocoon formed over his body. But he thought about what he was going to do next. He was still in a lot of pain. And then Shiv realized something: He was within the dead Jealousy's den. How did the fight end last time? With him hollowing out a monster’s mind with his pain. Shiv felt himself inspired to repeat the deed for old time’s sake.

He reactivated his Icon of the Paindrinker. The symbol flared on his chest, and the vampire briefly let out a shout of surprise as Shiv pulled himself closer to the beast. The shadowy cocoon burst around Shiv, and he dropped his Silhouette. Not because he wanted to break concealment, but because he wanted the vampire to see who was about to kill him, who was about to break him utterly and completely, starting with his mind.

Shiv reached out with his paltry Psychomancy, and he found himself glad that the vampire was still stunned. But he wasn't stunned enough for Shiv to immediately pierce through. Rather, Shiv found himself smashing against High Adept Tier Magical Resistance.

And for just a moment, Shiv's mind reeled. He hadn't thought about this through all the pain. But then he noticed his gauntlet, and he realized what he had to do. He planted the Magebreaker around the vampire's face, and the gaunlet began to rattle and shake. Soon its vibrations grew to violent levels, and something inside the high vampire shattered.

This was another benefit to the Magebreaker. Magical Resistance was still magical in nature, and the Magebreaker didn't discriminate when it came to its hate for magic. Once more, Shiv drove his mind mana into the vampire, just as its tendrils and its nest of flesh bit down on him.

At the instant he was pulled apart, he transferred every bit of pain he felt into Kraid, and the high vampire's head reeled back as he let out a world-shaking roar of agony.

Momentum Core > 90

Shiv died again, but the high vampire slumped over, unconscious. He crashed down on the ground. The nest broke, receding into his body like reeling cords of tissue. The skin lining the wall splashed against him, as did the cords of muscle, tendon, and other sinews. As he fell, Shiv continued to drain him.

His shadowy cocoon burst apart, and he stepped out over the vampire.

For a moment, he thought about letting Kraid wake to see a final flash of fear in his eyes. But the pain Kraid suffered was enough to incapacitate him, enough to leave him a groaning, whimpering mass on the ground. And Shiv still hadn't discovered the mystery of where his heart was. He descended and used his kukri to split the vampire open. He vivisected him in seconds, using his field to pry free the dense tissues and bones protecting the vampire's insides. He looked and, to his surprise, he found nothing. It was just a gory mess. There was no heart there.

But how could that be? The high vampire... And then he noticed something. Lines. Lines, no, not lines, but veins

Shiv blinked. "Huh, that's interesting." And just then, the high vampire groaned. His eyes blinked as Kraid managed to achieve a bit of coherence after the immense shock of pain. He stared at Shiv. Shiv stared back at him. And then Shiv casually lifted his dagger and stabbed the high vampire where his balls should have been. The vampire cried out. Shiv twisted the knife. And with a pop, System-favored Elder Novor Kraid died unceremoniously.

The large Bloodspawn twitched and spazzed a few times. But Shiv didn't entertain that. He gripped him, and he tore, ripping pieces and chunks out of the high vampire's body over and over until nothing was left of him but scattered pieces. Even with the bastard's heart crushed, Shiv wasn't taking any chances. That one had more regeneration and shape-shifting capabilities than anyone he'd met so far.

He didn't want any more surprises.

And as he was done, Shiv rushed over to Can Hu. His armor was in a bad state.

"Shiv," Can Hu cried out. There was a slight crackle, a distortion to the machine's voice.

"Can Hu, you alright?"

"Minor damage sustained, mostly to the head area." Shiv winced. He reached out, and he bit back a groan as he forced his Biomancy to function. He carefully peeled away his head armor, and there he saw Can Hu's slightly dented half-skull staring back at him.

"I might need to conduct some minor repairs," Can Hu said.

"Yeah, but you're fine, right?" Shiv asked.

"Yes. Are all the enemies dead?"

"Yeah." And just then, dimensional mana pulsed at the center of the anchor again. Shiv sighed. "Give me a second." He turned, and as another group of vampires came through, Shiv charged into them. Screams erupted, blood sprayed high, a golem was torn in half, and its core was stomped. A few moments later, Shiv returned, covered in blood. "Now, I think we're good." He narrowed his eyes at the surrounding spellwork, the light of the anchor around him.

Shiv bit back a sneer. "All right, then. I think we're getting out of here. But before that…” He flexed his gravitic field, and he fed it every bit of anger, every bit of frustration about how bad he was hurting, about how miserable he felt during that fight. "Let's see what it takes to crush a four-hundred-meter-wide teleportation anchor."

And then he drove his hands into the wall, and he began to pry. With a violent cry, Shiv slowly began to bend and rip through the titanium. The walls began to groan. The groaning became screaming as bolts came loose and tears spread through the walls. Sections connecting the titanium snapped violently as bursts of alloys crashed against Shiv and bounced off without inflicting any harm.

Finally, the twisting hit a point where the insides of the anchor couldn't take anymore. Shiv pulled with all his strength and began to crumple the Jealousy's teleportation anchor as if someone were bending a tin can around itself. The top sides tore open as massive rents formed where the spells used to be. Shiv gave a final ragged cry of effort before he collapsed to his knees, gasping, completely spent.

Gravitic Wrestler > 120

"Now," Shiv said, coughing, "now I think, I think the anchor is done for." Debris plunged into the badly damaged chamber through the massive tears he left in the titanium-reinforced hull, pieces of stone that once held the cavernous outside at bay. Shiv remembered that he suspected this place to be below the molten rivers, but there was no lava leaking in, at least so far.

Can Hu was silent for a moment.

"You really alright?" Shiv asked, worry filling him again.

From within his cloak, he suddenly heard a muffled noise. The Aviary agent's head briefly popped out, and the owl cried out. Shiv shoved him back in. "Stay down, or I'll seal your mouth up and let you suffocate for a while."

Can Hu let out a brief crackle. "Shiv, that noise… did you just twist the entire teleportation anchor in on itself?"

"Yeah," Shiv said.

"You know you could have just deformed or badly reshaped the area around the spell patterns? That would have worked as well.”

Shiv paused. "Huh? No. I could do that? Well…”

"It was a very remarkable feat of strength," Can Hu said.

Shiv nodded. "Yeah. Yeah. I'll keep that in mind next time. Maybe…”

Can Hu paused. "Shiv, are you probably still just going to mangle the next teleportation anchor if you can?”

Shiv let out a slight laugh. "Yeah, probably. It felt pretty good doing so."

The Penitent responded with a slight, static chuckle. "I imagine it did.”