“Yes. But I’m afraid that…” Oh Salvos. What now? “I’m afraid that I can only do it twice on my own. And I have now used both times."
“You what!?” Everyone shouted at him.
“I am but a man, a sinful man," he tried to defend himself. "I have needs…"
“Gross,” Katarina said.
“Bah, not like that. My mother used to make strawberry cake…”
“Well, I hope it was worth it,” she said.
“Oh, it was,” Rukia and Kaizen said together. Rukia laid on her back with her paws in the air.
Jules laughed. “I’m glad. Well, shall we?”
Jules stood. Katarina followed suit, and Cyrus stumbled to his feet as well.
“Good luck, boys,” Katarina said. They all invoked the System Command together.
? ? System Unlock ? ?
Time froze. Or at least I think it did. No one else is moving.
[Welcome to the System Unlock process. Congratulations on achieving this milestone! Not all of your kind have been fortunate enough to make it.]
[You highest Skill is: Conjuration, Level 30. Therefore, you have Unlocked at 1st Rank, giving you 3 Open Skill Slots.]
[Your Open Skills Slots are: Skill Slot 1: Conjuration, Level 30. Skill Slot 2: Blades, Level 30. (Wow, you are certainly an overachiever.) Skill Slot 3: Elemental Control, Level 27.]
[Based off of your current Skill Slots, the System has assigned you the fundamental Conjurer Class. Unlock an intermediate Class at 2nd Rank.]
[Your Race has been adjusted to: Arcanic (Sealed). The System requests that you kindly do not open your Seal.]
[Your Ryoku Pool has been Uncapped from ?10,000 for an Unranked Novice. Based off of your current Skill Slots, your current Ryoku Pool is now: ?174,501.]
[The System advises that you focus on Runes tailored to your chosen Class. You may now join basic Factions at low-level positions.]
[This completes the System Unlock process.]
Jules and everyone else could move again. It didn't seem like any time had passed, based off of Kaizen's reaction.
"Welllllll????" the moronic ghost asked.
“Well, that certainly wasn’t what I expected…But I'm now 17 times stronger!”
But that comment about Seals leaves me with even more questions…
Kat looks nervous. Must have seen it, too. Cy looks happy, though.
"SECOND RANK!!!" he bellowed to the stars and dropped down on his back, arms spread out wide.
Yeah…I'm happy for you, Cy, but we already knew what Rank we'd be based off our Skills…
"Kat, did you get a message about your Seal?"
"Yes." She ran a hand along her ear. "What are these Seals even for?"
"Huh?" Cyrus asked.
Jules looked at Kaizen. Kaizen and Rukia looked at each other.
"You got this one," they said as one.
"Hmph. Your Seals are an important piece of the Apocalyptic puzzle. I'm afraid that's all I can say regarding the matter." Whiskers stood elegantly, looking at the stars. Then his drunken ass wobbled and fell to the ground.
[Start the Apocalypse — Quest Objective ADDED: Learn more about your Seals. (The System requests that you kindly don't).]
[New Reward Available for Start the Apocalypse: Fulfilling your destiny.]
Kat walked off and stood near the cliff.
“Well, congratulations, Cy,” Jules said. Cyrus stared straight back at him. “You can gloat. It's fine.”
Cyrus’ smile spread from ear-to-ear, then he looked to the sea. “Seems I’m one step closer to becoming an Alter.”
Jules pulled himself together and slugged Cyrus’ shoulder. “Don’t get cocky on us.”
Cyrus nodded towards Katarina. “You better go check on her.”
“I think we'd better go check on her.” Jules extended an arm.
Cyrus accepted the invitation, and Jules dragged him to his feet. They each wrapped an arm around Katarina’s shoulder and squeezed themselves together into one unit. They’d all grown in their two years together, but she was still at least a head shorter than both of them.
“It’ll be OK, Kat,” Jules promised.
“Swear.”
“On my life.”
“On our lives,” Cyrus added.
Together, they watched the clouds pass by the moon.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Jules opened his eyes, then immediately shut them. The sunlight burned his vision. He leaned up, but a weight on his chest pressed it back down. Someone groaned next to his face. He blinked a few times.
“Kat. Hey, Kat. Wake up.” She let out a sharp, short grunt.
Guess we all fell asleep under the stars. Her head and a hand rested on his chest, and she curled against him in the cool air. He laid there for a moment longer, then shook her gently.
“Nnngghh?” Katarina lifted her head to face his. A line of drool fell down from her open mouth. She looked as if her eyes were glued shut, and her hair was a tangled mess. Katarina wiped her mouth dry and rubbed her eyes.
Jules laughed and stretched. Cyrus snored alone in his tent, and Rukia and Whiskers snored together in another. Jules helped Katarina to her feet.
“Morning."
“Morning,” she replied. “We better get ready.”
“Oh, right.”
They woke up the others. The boys packed everything up while Katarina finished mending their armor. Jules noticed she muttered the whole time. Rukia and Whiskers returned from preparing their ship for departure.
“The day’s here. How’s everyone feeling?” Jules asked.
“Nervous,” Katarina said.
“Why?” Cyrus asked. “You have us around, and our Vessels—” Whiskers slashed his hand and drew blood. Cyrus rubbed his hand to soothe it.
“I’m most nervous that I have to go in alone," she said.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, Oh. That’s a heavy expectation, and a lot of weight to put on a girl.”
“A young woman,” Whiskers corrected her.
“Ugh, don’t remind me. That comes with its own list of heavy expectations.”
“You could stay back and keep mending our clothes—” Both Rukia and Whiskers flew through the air and punched Cyrus in the face. “Ow!”
Katarina glared at Cyrus and ripped his shirt, just slightly.
“I sense a little jealousy coming from you, too,” Jules said. Katarina’s impenetrable frown was immune to his charm.
“You’re certainly chipper today.”
“I’ve limited the time I can spend grieving. For now, I’m only letting myself grieve my family and no one else. They’ll come later. But today isn’t a day for grief.” Jules gazed past the sea to the northeast, where Marina Veridia laid. I'm nervous, too.
[Desecrate Through Reverence — Quest Objective ADDED: Return to Coralhaven to pay respects for the Decimation.]
Oh fuck off.
Rukia snarled. “I’m ready to kill some cultists.”
“Sure, OK. Just maybe don’t say that so loudly,” Cyrus said.
“What? I’m proud of Jules for completing his training. I gave him all my focus and attention. Now it’s time to hunt. See, it goes like this…"
"Oh, here we go." They all groaned.
“…First, I’m gonna catch his scent, right? Then I’ll close in on him, all slow-like, and trap him somewhere he can’t escape, right? Right. Then, next, what I’m gonna do after that, see, is pounce on his shoulder, then, then I’ll bare my fangs, and…” Rukia continued in great detail how she’d kill Zeke. By the end of her tirade, her eyes were captured in a self-hypnosis daydream, and slobber dribbled down her panting mouth.
“Hey, no one believes you more than me," Jules said, to get her to shut up. "Right. Kaizen?”
Kaizen materialized. “I have faith. How are you feeling, Cy? You seem more confident than yesterday.” Cyrus pounded his chest.
“I am severely hungover. But I am also still carrying the weight of what I’ve done.”
“It’s best to unburden yourself before battle,” Kaizen said.
"Gross."
“There’s not much to talk about," Cyrus said. "Just the overwhelming guilt of my sacrifices, and yada yada. I’m just happy I didn’t trade in Kat for a newer model.”Cyrus brandished his new Vessel, a beautiful, curved katana.
Katarina ripped his shirt again.
“Though I probably should have,” Cyrus muttered.
RIP!
“Anyway… I’ll carry the burden of these responsibilities into battle with me to make them worthwhile.”
“Just be sure to watch out for more daggers in your heart,” Whiskers said. He reached out a low paw to Katarina, and she slapped it in approval.
“It’s weird to finally head to Marina Veridia,” Jules said.
“Yeah, we got a bit sidetracked after leaving The Painter’s, didn't we?"
“You idiots are excited? I swear… You keep forgetting that this place is the military hub of Southern Coralith.” Jules and Cyrus smiled at each other.
“We don’t keep forgetting, Kat. I think it excites us more.”
“You are stupid, your friend is stupid, your plan is stupid. We are destined to fail…”
“And yet here you are.” Jules smiled at her.
“We are going in blind yet again,” Whiskers said. “And Katarina will probably be isolated.”
“It’s a possibility,” Cyrus said.
“Well, I’d rather not go into another Shrine with you again.”
“Hey! I didn’t hesitate.”
“It was the way you said it. You tricked me!”
“What, now you’re faulting me for having a little dramatic flair?”
“Whatever. You need to stay back and beat that chick’s ass.”
Well, that certainly ended the conversation.
“You’ll have to fight her, Cy,” Jules said. “If anyone can weasel their way out of Coralhaven, it was her.”
“And… Zeke…” Rukia’s eyes glazed over.
“And you,” Cyrus said to Jules, “have to take Zeke. Ragnar and Felix are gone, according to Maddie.”
“That just leaves Patience, or whoever. That should also be my fight, given our connection, but Kat, you might need to step in on that one.”
“And if there're reinforcements?” she asked.
“You don’t think the Iron Maiden herself will show up, do you?” Cyrus asked.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” Everyone turned their attention to Kaizen. He leveled his gaze at each one of them, and no one said anything. If he’d had more to say, he would have.
Is she a repeated piece of history, too?
“We will handle reinforcements as they come,” Jules said.
“Speaking of,” Katarina wrinkled her nose. “Maddie makes me nervous. I still don’t trust her. Plus, she has a Vessel now.”
“My Vessel…”
“You already have one,” Katarina snapped at Cyrus.
“She’ll distract Zeke with our mutual friend—”
“Not our friend,” Katarina said. “Stop saying that, Jules. And Maddie still wants your Bounty. Our Bounty, so watch your back. We're only using each other as stepping stones to Zeke.”
“I’ve not forgotten who is and isn’t in our Party, but I appreciate your concern.” Katarina rolled her eyes at him. “August and John will be there—” Rukia and Whiskers snickered. “—for whatever that’s worth, but Thorn is a Vessel-user, too.”
“Kat and Maddie have a thing,” Cyrus said, “so leave them to each other. Same for me and August, and you and Thorn. If it devolves into a fight, they’ll want to even the scores.”
“Agreed.” Katarina crossed her arms.
Jules peeled back his shirt and inspected his Seal. Only getting worse. “Kaizen and I have a plan for Wrath as well. So expect something big in the middle of the chaos.”
“A hint would be nice,” Katarina said. Cyrus shook his head.
“I don’t want to jinx it. You’ll have to see it for yourself.”
“One more time, review your plan,” Kaizen said.
“Our friends arrive first to take the heat off of us. We enter concealed in the fog. We anchor below the Shrine and climb up. We pincer Zeke with Maddie, then Kat hits the Shrine during the chaos. If we haven’t won by then, her Vessel will help us nail the coffin shut.”
“Um, Jules…” Rukia poked her index fingers together. “You forgot to mention the part where I get to rip out Zeke’s throat…”
Jules sighed. I knew this would come up again. It’s been our greatest point of contention.
“No, Rukia. We hogtie his ass up and question him first. Then you can do whatever you want.”
“He will kill us the first chance he gets, Jules,” Cyrus said. “Well, me, anyway.”
“And then he’ll imprison us somehow,” Katarina said. “Once he sees me again, he’ll know what I am. Who I am.”
“He tried to kill you and your family, Jules.”
“These circumstances go beyond a blood feud. Cy, Kat—”
“I agree with them,” Kaizen said. Jules’ shoulders dropped, and he looked up at the sky. Kaizen hadn’t joined in their previous debates about Zeke’s fate over the last few days. “Zeke is a liability we cannot allow to exist.”
“I think it is wisest to learn more from him first,” Whiskers said. “And then we kill him. Violently.” Thank you.
“He’s a fucking snake,” Cyrus shouted.
“He'll slither through our clutches,” Katarina said, “and be an even bigger threat after he’s learned more about our group, and Kaizen, which no one knows about still.”
“Probably. Oh, don’t look at me that way, Envy. I’m just being fair.” Even the ghost fears Kat’s icy stare.
“Let’s put it to a vote,” Cyrus said. Ha!
“No, it’s a final moment decision.”
“Just because you know you’ll lose.” Obviously.
“No, because I’m the leader, and I have the blood feud.”
“You’re not the only one, Jules.” Rukia pouted. “I failed to get him once before…”
“I will decide what to do with him once I’ve defeated him.”
“Jules… You can kill a man in battle, but I don’t think you can kill him in cold blood,” Cyrus said.
“We'll see, Cy. Now come on, all of you. We have a boat to catch. Rukia, set sail.”
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85
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new Chapter 81, I added the passage below to show how Cy came out of the Shrine. He was gonna go through it here when they talk about his Vessel, but I went ahead and moved it up for new readers and people who want to go back and reread the entire arc because honestly it was whack how i structured it.
No. He showed me how to use it. The Djinn stabbed the sword in Cy's heart, and then his chest, and his Vessel—Tensa, the Djinn called it—had removed Cy's sacrifice. He relaxed and laid his head back down to Envy's lap, and thought about all the ways he could—and couldn't—use his new Vessel.