22 (I) Bone

Quest Gained: Collapse Weave’s teleportation network to ensure the immediate extraction of a critical and compromised asset.

Success: +10 to Stealth; Realmsplitter Dagger (Heroic); Shroud of Veiled Existence (Heroic)

Failure: Briefly alerts the Composer to 50% of Aviary’s agents operating within her dimension.

-Quest granted to the “Corvids” of Aviary operating in Weave

22

Bone

The first thing that surprised the raven was the large mound of horrifically burned, but still somehow gleaming, tumors in the center of the teleportation chamber. As the automaton reeled back in surprise, two crow-helmed agents entered the room right after, with one of them asking: “You said the boy had the Cage of Valor Thann? Where is it? And what is—”

This led to the second surprise—when missiles molded from tumorous tissue were suddenly ripped free from the disgusting mass. Two tumor-missiles smashed into the crows before fusing over them, encasing their struggling, screaming forms in diamond-dense cages molded from fried flesh.

The raven who pretended to be Metven wasn’t going to be so easy. It was much faster than the crows, and by all rights should have swatted the approaching biomass projectiles aside. Too bad it wasn’t ready for the third surprise, which was Shiv ripping the vitality out of its mechanical body.

Shiv was surprised automata had vitality, but thinking back to what he overheard from some Slayers back on Blackedge put things into perspective. Humans and most races were made from living matter—organic beings, as some Biomancers called them. However, they weren’t the only living beings. Automatons numbered the largest among all the inorganic species, and they too had vitality in them, as Shiv confirmed right now.

Such was why the raven let out a mechanical wail of surprise before Shiv’s missiles slammed into it. The raven toppled over as it tried to move—its legs bound by sinews of dense, Diamond Shell-enhanced tissue, while Shiv fused more of his flesh over its head and encased its staff in layers of coiling muscle. Finally, all of his unmelted ribs and bones clamped down around its body and squeezed.

To Shiv’s delight, he felt parts inside the automaton start to break.

It’s not that tough, he realized.

This culminated in the fourth surprise when Shiv pulled open his original body and unleashed the Umbrals. His pre-death warning worked. They came out ready for violence and a desire to inflict harm.

The two crows Shiv had captured twitched as Uva reached out for them with her Psychomancy. Her face was a mask of cold rage, and she advanced on the struggling automaton with a shortsword drawn in her other hand. Thrusting out, a spear of ice formed in the air and smashed into the raven’s underbody. The other Umbrals were in motion as well. Two of them were already withdrawing bloodied blades from the crows—Shiv left them gaps in his flesh for exactly this purpose. The youngest Umbral slashed at the raven's limbs, and her nightglass blade sparked with every cut.

To her credit, the raven’s right leg was swinging by a wire. Shiv decided to test his new Pyromancy by launching a stream of flame into the gap. What emerged was a brief flicker of a spell as Shiv’s newest—and smallest—mana field spat sparks at the opening.

True to Valor’s words, having a high magical skill in one attunement didn’t do anything for another. Shiv was going to need to practice his Pyromancy pretty hard if he wanted it to catch up with his Biomancy.

Then, a piercing siren screamed out from the raven. Several unseen mana fields intertwined as a spell born of a fused skill formed on its chest. A blast of air, fire, water, ice, and earth swept out from the automaton. The young Umbral caught a heavy stone on her left hip—and Shiv felt her leg leave the socket. She shrieked as she was flung out of the room, slamming into a wall outside. Uva formed an ice wall to protect her, and the other two Umbrals phased through and parried the magic respectively.

And to the young Umbral’s credit, she crawled back in the room, dragging a dangling leg behind her, cursing about how she was going to take the automaton’s leg for that.

Despite everything Shiv had been through, he still lacked experience regarding how powerful certain Tiers truly were.

The raven gave him a hands-on demonstration as it reflexively tore open a gap in reality, summoning a combat dimensional in the form of a massive elemental golem. Shiv gawked. The raven was still encompassed by his flesh and couldn’t reach its staff. It could call upon this much power without even focusing?

The behemoth practically took up half the space inside the chamber, standing well over four meters tall and wide. It resembled Metven to some extent, but its head was an orb of angry fire, its body was something of an animated landslide hiding chunks of ice, and its limbs were made from a mix of lightning and water. Uva and the others started making their retreat, moving for the door as the walking natural disaster roared at them.

“Out, sisters! Out!” Uva cried. “Someone get to control! We seal this room! We purify the bastards!” She didn’t notice Shiv’s presence in all the chaos of combat—but before the doors slammed shut again, her expression was one of pain as she looked away.

System, this isn’t going to be easy to explain to her, Shiv thought. Dinner and dessert better put her in a coma later, because if not, she might just kill me too.

Of course, he would need to survive this mess first. As the monster pulled its arms back, the limbs crackled with lightning and building force, and Shiv wondered if it could smash its way through if what Uva said about the chamber requiring someone to be Master Tier to break out was true. However, Shiv was still in here, and he was not leaving until everyone else was dead. In a few moments, the purification spells were going to spin up again.

Well. This is going to hurt. Time to see if I can kill the golem before that happens.

As the golem smashed its arms against the walls, the room shook, and spell patterns flared brightly. It tried to take another step, but Shiv used all of his original body’s remaining biomass to bind its legs and arms together. It tripped and toppled backward. On top of the raven.

The automaton cried out in pain, voice echoing with static interference. It didn’t have any living matter, but Shiv could feel part of its chest sink in and crack open—and he took that opportunity to seep his flesh into the automaton’s inner machinery. Looks like you might be a Master in terms of magic, but just an Initiate when it comes to your Toughness. Negligent. Shiv expanded more tumors inside the automaton, ripping its body open more. Meanwhile, its golem rolled off and began to pull at the bindings on its legs.

Just then, Shiv resurrected, emerging from his shadowy husk to truly join the battle. He suddenly realized how expansive the raven’s mana field was—stretching far beyond what he could sense. Thankfully, it was too busy howling in pain and choking on its inner fluids to focus its magic. Shiv’s plan had been a good one. If he allowed it to hold onto its staff or achieve any kind of focus, all the Umbrals would have probably been flash-fried by a Dynamancy spell in an instant.

Fighting was a quick and messy thing. And that meant endings came quick and messy, too.

He pulled on his field and ripped a piece of rib out from the flesh holding the automaton. As he opened a path to its head, the raven looked up and flinched in surprise. “How—”

That was all the assassin got before Shiv drove a diamond-tipped piece of rib bone through its skull and twisted up at an angle. The automaton tried to create a final spell—but fast as it was, spells took time and focus. A dagger just took direction and force. With a wrathful cry, Shiv pulled and tore out a mess of circuitry and silicon. He guessed this was the equivalent of ripping out someone’s brain matter.

“Foreshadowing didn’t warn you about this, huh?” Shiv said, spitting on the automaton’s corpse.

Biomancy > 26

Knife Proficiency > 23

As he looked at the tip of his rib-dagger, an idea occurred to Shiv. Actually, these make pretty good weapons now with Diamond Shell. In fact, most of my body is a good weapon with Diamond Shell. He watched as the golem struggled, pulling hard at Shiv’s biomass restraints. Slowly, he could feel the flesh attached to its legs reach the breaking point, but the monster was still extending significant effort. Yeah. You know what? I’m going to keep these ribs as daggers. I can control them with my Biomancy too—fight using my field too. Shit. System. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? With my Diamond Shell… I am the weapon! I am my own armory!

The idea was macabre but really godsdamned awesome too.

Just as the golem ripped through Shiv’s bio-binds, he repurposed the flesh he used on the crows and latched them around the giant’s legs and face, respectively. Once more, it crashed down, its burning orb of a head hidden from sight by the immense density of Shiv’s flesh. At the same time, fragments of sharpened bone began punching through its body. Shiv felt his soul strain as he used his Biomancy over and over, but he wouldn’t stop. Not when he was having so much fun.

“I killed your master too quickly!” Shiv taunted, advancing on the elemental dimensional. He molded the rib he was using into a proper dagger, giving himself a handle and adding a finer edge to the blade. “I burned real slow. I’m still pissed about that. So… I’m going to ask you to put up more of a fight.

The dimensional cried out in pain as Shiv tore into it. Sharpened bone arrows punched deep into the golem’s body, drilling through dense stone before Shiv ripped them out for another go. At the same time, he cut and slashed at its abdomen, chipping chunks of moving rock away to find where its core was. Heather always talked about a mana core for the elementals. Just have to find it. He leaped back as its body tumbled and twisted, struggling to free itself from the restraints again. Its water-lightning legs couldn’t just pass through a solid object without destabilising it, it seemed.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Made sense. It wouldn’t be easy for it to stay standing otherwise.

I’m surprised it's still doing stuff without a summoner to guide it. Not that I know the first damn thing about dimensionals or summoning magic.

Shiv struck the same part he did earlier with his biokinetically-guided bone missiles. He shaped their tips into wedges, and he pulled up as he ripped them out this time. Shiv laughed as he continued his onslaught. Yeah, this was a great idea. I don’t think anything short of a higher-Tier weapon or something made by a proper craftsman is going to outdo my flesh and bones.

Again and again, he struck at the golem, ripping chunks of stone away with every strike. What was better about Biomancy was that since he could force his tissue to heal, even if it did become a clump of tumors, he could still slam it into someone like a blunt weapon—or wrap it over them. Even without proper knowledge of biology, there was still a lot he could do—especially since he was willing to die for it.

He saw a flash of light before a wall of ice fused over the creature’s insides. More rocks covered the wounds he dealt, and Shiv cursed. The damn thing was regenerating—or at least moving the bits he chipped elsewhere. He was either going to have to crack the entirety of the golem’s torso in a single, massive blow or…

Shiv had another funny idea. He sent his bone missiles forward again, but this time he turned them in the air—like they were drills.

I felling love Biomancy, Shiv thought as he roared with laughter. He released his bone knife and let his mana field catch it, and then, with a primal roar, he used all his strength to drag the golem against a wall to better hammer the bone drill in deeper.

He felt his drill start chipping at an inner core of pure ice. The dimensional was starting to panic, and the room was starting to heat up again as well.

“Come on, you big tainted shit,” Shiv growled, the thrill in him rising high. He shouted as he slammed it into the wall again. “Don’t go out like your master. Give me—”

And then, its strength prevailed again. Lightning blasted out from its limbs as it broke Shiv’s diamond-hard bands of flesh. Kicking off the wall, it was on Shiv in an instant. And the felling thing was fast. At least twice as fast as he was. He tried dodging out of the way—but a fist made of surging, electrified water slammed into him.

Shiv’s muscles seized as he was launched into the opposite wall. A resounding crash echoed through the room. But the damned golem was on him before he could even finish his fall. Its fists fell like a bastard hate-child born of an avalanche, a tsunami, and a thunderstorm. It hit him no less than ten times each second. Every punch made his muscles spasm, made his bones shudder and creak.

But after his last death, Shiv’s perspective on pain had shifted. The golem wasn’t going to top that.

After a good ten seconds of unleashing everything it had on Shiv, the golem staggered back, and Shiv dropped. His face was a swollen mess. Most of his ribs and sternum were fractured again. He was probably bleeding somewhere else inside as well. But he landed on his feet, and when he did, he spat blood at the foot of the monster and gestured for it to continue. “Well, I guess the raven didn’t summon you for all that stamina you don't have.”

Just then, the behemoth peeled the remnants of Shiv’s flesh off its face. For the first time, it laid that baleful, burning eye on him, and the orb quivered with building fury. Shiv sensed something with his Pyromancy. Something from the golem and the chamber at once. Mana fields were moving in the air, and things were about to get doubly hot for him.

Unfortunately for the golem, it was slow on the draw.

Shiv’s fused bone drill slammed right into its back, knocking it off balance. The fiery beam it was about to unleash went off course, splashing against the wards lining the walls. As it toppled forward, Shiv yanked his bone dagger off the ground using his Biomancy and added its mass to the drill as well.

Biomancy > 27

The effort was tiring for his soul, but he could keep it up.

He smashed his shoulder into its chest at an angle as it continued to stumble—intending to keep it off balance. Only for it to immediately backhand him. Once again, Shiv went flying across the room, rolling along the walls. And once more, it pinned him in place before he could get far.

Stupid thing’s impossibly fast for its size. This is bullshit.

In its hands, Shiv could only twitch and shake. The electricity made him unable to control his muscles, but though it tried to crush him with its watery fingers, Shiv felt his body endure. Even if a few of his ribs finally broke outright.

“D-d-diamond S-s-shell, a-a-asshole!” Shiv managed through trembling lips. The blow had broken his focus. The drill was laying discarded on the ground again. Still, Shiv could see two massive holes in the golem’s body and glimpsed the radiant light of its core. These holes weren’t being filled up at all. He was close… He just needed to do this one more time…

He struggled and fought as much as he could. But it was to no avail. His muscles wouldn’t—wait, I’m an idiot. Shiv could move his body—he just needed to force it to obey him instead of the lightning. The electricity was causing him to lose control of his physical muscles? Fine. Time for his magical muscles to pitch in.

Shiv applied Biomancy and Physicality at the same time. Despite all the electricity, his pain tolerance refined from earlier made the exercise of focusing his mana field easy. Suddenly, his body shot forward, surprising the monster with an explosive burst of strength. He blasted through its fingers and slammed fist-first into its chest. However, Shiv felt his flesh and veins unlatch from their proper positions as he snarled in pain. Right, different parts of the body moving at once. Not great… Might be able to fly using Biomancy if I had more control…

That was for the future. Right now, he resigned himself to death—but was determined to take the elemental juggernaut with him. He landed three hard punches on its inner core of ice. Flashes of brilliant light splashed over him—and Shiv felt his Physicality advance once more, bringing that skill into the Adept Threshold as well.

But before he could claim final victory or examine his new Skill Evolution, the golem adapted to his strategy by wrapping its hand around his face and channeling its electrified water down his orifices. Shiv immediately lost focus again and found himself slammed against the walls. Worse, the chamber began its incineration process for the second time—while the felling monster was firing its beam at his chest.

Dammit! Shiv snapped mentally. Seems like this isn’t going to be a no-death fight. Well. I asked for this. Better than the bast—

And then thinking got hard as his stomach, lungs, and other organs filled with water. Shiv struggled and kicked as his drowning Reflexes kicked in. And that was what did him in this time. Not the fire. Not the golem’s beam. Drowning.

It was actually quite pleasant by the end.

Skill Evolution: Physicality (Initiate) > Might of Mass (Adept)

Might of Mass > 56

Reflexes > 48

Pyromancy > 2

Biomancy > 30

Diamond Shell > 70

Knife Proficiency > 26

Grappling Proficiency > 35

Striking Proficiency > 21

Foreshadowing > 11

Shiv reached out and started draining from the golem. A flood of vitality filled him as he sensed just how potent the golem was. The raven must have had an absurd summoning skill to bind such a creature to its will.

Then, another unexpected occurrence followed. A spell formed at the center of the teleportation chamber as purifying flames splashed down. However, the fires meant to cleanse the chamber surged into the golem’s burning skull, and the wounds Shiv left in its body began to fill with rock and ice. In seconds, it was fully healed.

Is this thing… regenerating from elemental mana?

Suddenly, the spell patterns lining the walls winked out. The flames died. Shiv felt his Foreshadowing trigger—saw an image of Umbrals fighting crows somewhere. But it promptly vanished as the golem swung through his Revenant form.

Shadows began to condense around Shiv as he approached maximum vitality. He took the time to consider his approach and avoid the mistakes he suffered for during his last death.

Not exactly sure what Might of Mass does yet, but more Physicality is always helpful—especially since it’s still much faster than me. I have to keep it pinned or distracted long enough to finish it off with my drill. But how the hells am I supposed to do that when it can shock and drown me at the same time?

Then, Shiv remembered what he did right to overcome the monster’s grip. He used his Biomancy in tandem with his strength. He could move himself, if nothing else, but it still left him internally wounded.

Maybe if I had an external rig or structure I could pull on… Like an armor of biomass. Then, Shiv made the next logical leap as he looked first at his newest body and then at his gleaming bone drill. Or just a literal exoskeleton.

A flood of vicious excitement rushed through Shiv as felt his imminent resurrection. He grinned at the golem. The poor dimensional didn’t know what was coming.

As the golem launched another ineffective fist at his peeling shadow, Shiv launched the bone drill into its back—and knocked it onto its hands and knees. His Biomancy field was now much stronger than before his last death. Not a surprise considering how much he was using the skill.

Instead of drilling further, however, Shiv left the weapon temporarily embedded in the golem as he shifted his intent onto his nearby corpse. A crimson spell came to shape atop Shiv’s outstretched hand as his mana field shifted. He felt his will sink into his flesh and close around his bones.

Then, he pulled.

His skeleton slipped free like a sword leaving its sheath. He resurrected completely while it was in flight. Shiv ripped the burned scraps that remained of his shirt off, leaving his torso bare as the upper layer of his exoskeleton arrived. He aligned the spinal cord with his back and part of it with his abdomen before commanding the ribs to close tighter around him, clasping him like a cuirass. The other parts were simpler—he sculpted the bone around his body, coating himself in a layer of gleaming white. His hands were soon encased by diamond-sharp digits. Smooth slats of plating covered his limbs, while he sharpened the edges of his new “exo-feet.” His former skull he wore as a full helmet, the sockets he made wider to allow for better sight.

The final bits of leftover mass he decided to shift into a thin shiv that he took in his right hand. That final bit made everything feelright.

As the golem rose, Shiv ripped his bone drill out of its back. The dimensional toppled over on its side, thundering in outrage. But as it rose again, it caught sight of Shiv standing just a few steps away. Next to him, a two-meter-long bone drill as thick as two fingers and as sharp as a knife hovered in midair, a Biomancy spell pattern coiled along its length.

What was it that Valor said? Shiv thought as the golem slammed the ground. Lightning and water splashed out. A shockwave struck Shiv. He rooted his armor in place with his Biomancy and didn’t budge. To his surprise, the golem’s wave broke against the non-skeleton-clad parts of his body like a stiff breeze as well.

He felt not just stronger, but heavier. Like he was an oak rooted to existence itself.

Is this Might of Mass?

He got a clear answer when the golem attacked. He brought his arms up defensively. It fired its beam. Fire splashed over his body—and a good portion of the initial heat was blunted by his exoskeleton. Shiv launched his bone drill. And missed. The golem was on him faster than he could blink. Damn thing had no right to be that fast. Before Shiv could shift the focus of his Biomancy field from the bone drill to his exoskeleton, he felt the golem drive a fist into his outer sternum.