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The Games We Play

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As she drifted off to sleep, I stayed by my mother's side. It wasn't until I felt her fade into a peaceful sleep that I healed her, careful to make sure I didn't wake her in the process. With that done, I did what I could to make sure she was comfortable with my power and returned to my seat by her bed. I gave myself a moment of peace by her side, distracting myself with my awareness of the hospital as a whole and the many barriers therein. It felt, if nothing else, like the right thing to do.

But in time I felt Ozpin leave the premise, felt things fall quiet, and then duty called.

Taking a slow breath, I searched the room carefully with my Clairvoyance, scanning for anything that might be monitoring us even as I flipped off the lights. There were several things, of course, most of them set to monitor my mother's condition—but not all of them. I sensed several tiny cameras, though whether meant as another layer of security or an additional defense, I wasn't sure. Either way, I couldn't let them see me.

As I exhaled, I closed my eyes for a moment, feeling my power rise easily to the surface. It expanded through the air, weaving into it in a way that was hard to describe, and then took hold. It was something thin, fragile as a spider's web, but I could only hope it was enough for this.

I stood up from my chair, sliding into invisibility even as I left a copy of myself behind that I looked over critically, judging my work. It was surprisingly hard to make an illusion, at least the way I did so. The cost wasn't much of an issue any more, but it was an image in my mind given form. Imagine a person—not the idea of a person or their name, but everything about them; their eyes, their face, their whole body, all at once. Imagine holding every aspect of a person in your head at the same time and keeping it that way while trying to do something else, never letting it slip. It wasn't easy. I was kind of surprised it was even possible, but I suppose I had my new skill to thank for that.

Delusory (Passive) LV1 EXP: 7.27%

An ability born not from an understanding of lies but of truths. In grasping the nature of the world hidden behind the veil of perception, one has gained the power to manipulate that veil and craft illusions around oneself, transforming thoughts into light and light into ephemeral form. The energy required and difficult increases with the breadth of the illusion and decreases with skill level.

I'd only practiced with it lightly—enough to make sure that the illusions themselves had some kind physical presence. I wasn't certain if the mention of them being light given form was literal or metaphorical, but I'd confirmed that they'd appear in a mirrors reflection and that a scroll could take a picture of them. I could even make noise with them, with some additional effort, though it was a lot easier to just use Levant for that. Even so, while they had about as much solidity and mass as light, it wasn't hard to think of uses for being able to make people see things, first and foremost being making them not see things.

Well, in truth, invisibility was proving to be a tricky son of a bitch for the same reason as illusions—you couldn't just imagine there being nothing or you'd be a blank space; you had to make people see what would be on the other side of you, from every angle. Dust in the air, the reflection of and blockage of light, all of it had to be accounted for. I was still working on that, too. But for a bunch of tiny cameras in a dark room, it should be fine.

This shouldn't take long.

I turned back to my mother and looked her over carefully, searching for any sign that something more was wrong, using Observe and my Clairvoyance to be as sure as I could be that nothing was wrong. I didn't like it. I didn't enjoy it. But what I felt didn't really matter here, did it? With what I'd learned of the Riders, I had to know and I had to be sure—and I wouldn't put it past them to specifically target the people closest to me simply to cause me pain. Hell, I pretty much expected them to, honestly. I'd scanned her yesterday to make sure Conquest hadn't left anything behind, but I couldn't be sure that was enough anymore and ignoring the possibility would just put her in more danger. If I didn't know something was wrong, I wouldn't be able to fix it and where would that leave me? So I had to face the facts, as disconcerting as they might be.

If I was to consider Ozpin as a possible Rider, then the fact was that he was a security nightmare. The list of people he could have infected would have looked like a who's who of the four Kingdoms, including every Hunter in at least Vale, as well as all of the Councilmen—and through his allies in other countries, like Ironwood in Atlas, he could have systematically seized control of everyone and everything. It wouldn't even have been that hard, with no one knowing to even try to defend against him, and with the amount of time he'd had to work he could have done it a dozen times over.

That was a worst case scenario to the extreme, however, and one I had to assume wasn't really the case because if it was true, then we'd lost years ago and he was just playing with us. And while the Grimm seemed to enjoy playing with there were other things they were after, too, things they'd likely want to use Ozpin to obtain. Maybe they had, even, but the fact remained they hadn't gotten everything they wanted yet and we weren't working tirelessly to serve their goals. As such, it seemed logical to assume other factors were in place, though I didn't have the information I needed to say what. It might have been the time limit Conquest implied or something else; it was completely possible that the other Rider's didn't spread or infect like Conquest did, though there was nothing to confirm or deny that.

In truth, that was the biggest issue. I was fighting an enemy with completely unknown capabilities on every level, an enemy that I couldn't even be sure was there or not without triggering something. I couldn't even risk trying to be sure Ozpin, my closest ally, wasn't working or being used against me. And if I couldn't be sure of him, how could I be sure of anyone?

Simple—through logic. I'd dived into my father's soul and seen it. Though I didn't have enough experience to determine how it deviated from the norm—especially since I'd seen it in a situation that sure as hell deviated from the norm—I couldn't be sure of anything. But I hadn't spotted anything that I associated in hindsight with another Rider, even if I hadn't peered too deeply into my father's heart. For the moment, I could say that at least he probably wasn't infected a hypothetical soul Rider. That could have meant any number of things; that I was paranoid and there was no such threat, that the infection worked differently, or however many other things.

One thing it couldn't have meant, though, was nothing. If Ozpin was infected and he could infect others, then he could have taken my mother countless times before I was even born. When she was a student, whenever she came to get a mission, whenever she was weak or wounded—he must have had thousands of chances and there wouldn't have been much reason not to if he could of.

If she was safe, then that would have told me a lot about what I was facing, something I needed to know right now. Even if all it did was narrow my number of possible enemies down to an unknown number of just as unknown individuals with unknown powers who could be anywhere, well, it would have still be better than 'everyone.'

So I had to check. And if I had to check, who better to do so with then my mother? She had plenty of exposure to Ozpin, more than enough strength to be considered useful, and in her current condition, well, she wasn't much of a threat, either. Amongst all the possible candidates, she had the lowest chance of hurting people if something went wrong—and she was my mother. I had to know if she was okay.

And yet, I hesitated. Even though I was almost sure she wasn't infected, even though I had plenty of reasons to consider it the best option, even if the hospital was about as empty as any place I was going to find in Vale and I could easily layer barriers over it…I held back, because as unlikely as it was, as necessary as it could be, as important as the knowledge was, I couldn't ignore that I wasn't certain and that there was a chance she was truly infected.

There was a part of me that said that if that were true, it might be best to know now. It would confirm my worst fears and show me how horrible the situation was—but it wouldn't have been hopeless and terrifying as it might be, in knowing I might be able to do something about it. Perhaps there were those who were uninfected that I could find or who I could pull from the outskirts, perhaps I could use the White Fang to fight it. Perhaps in the other Kingdoms, I could find what I needed, a way to combat this threat and face it. So long as I knew what the problem was and didn't give up, I believed there would be hope. Even if it took me my whole life, even if what seemed like the whole world turned against me, I'd keep fighting to save it. I believed that, believed in the power of knowledge and hope, and it pushed me forward.

But one thing stopped me. The reality was that I had failed my father—not fully, perhaps; I'd save his mind, I'd saved his soul, I'd stood beside him and helped conquer Conquest. But I hadn't gotten everything I wanted, because I'd wanted it all. I'd tried my best to save him, done everything I could, put him before everything else and tried my absolute best to save him completely, and failed. I'd wanted it all, but I hadn't been able to get it. I hadn't had enough time, hadn't had enough knowledge, hadn't had the resources. I'd wanted it more than anything but I hadn't been able to get it.

That happens sometimes. What you wish for with all your heart and soul can still run headlong into cruel things like reality and gets crushed. Everyone in the world knows that you don't always get what you want and I knew it better than most.

But even so, I didn't want to fail again. I'd failed my father, but I wanted to save my mother, to protect the rest of my family, my friends, and everyone else. I wanted to save everyone and keep them safe from assholes like the Grimm and their godforsaken creator and I wanted to resolve things with the White Fang peacefully and I wanted…I wanted more then I'd ever be able to have. I knew that—and it didn't matter. The knowledge I couldn't save everyone one didn't change the value of saving as many as I could, nor did the knowledge I might fail her change the worth of trying.

But was it premature? Though this situation was ideal in many ways, was I prepared to see through here what I'd failed to do so against Conquest? Or would I just face the same thing again and lose my mother? Even if it was nothing but a remote possibility, could I take chances with something like this?

I drew up the profile for Usurpation and looked at it.

Usurpation (Active) LV1 EXP: 10.31%

The power of the White Rider, the Knight of Conquest. By using a form that is capable of invading the body or mind of another, one can link to the soul of the target and invade it for a number of purposes, including possession. Requires the status effect 'On A White Horse He Rides [MAX]' and a body capable of invading another.

This was the skill I'd used to battle Conquest, turning his own power against him. I could do it again now and perhaps turn it on his siblings, use the knowledge I'd gained from that first encounter to win this one—perhaps. But if I won, what if I just summoned their creator again? I didn't have any way to truly be sure of that, either, beyond putting it to the test, but did I dare to? I could transform now and try, but if there was even a chance that I'd lose, the cost…

I closed the window and looked down at her again, fingers on her shoulder. I hadn't picked up anything wrong with her body and Observed showed no status effects that might indicate infection. I really was all but certain she was clean and in no danger.

But just in case, I was going to make damn sure I could save her if she was.

I leaned over the bed and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Mom," I whispered, killing the sounds the moment the left my lips. "So just leave all of this to me—it's not even worth worrying about. You just get some rest."

With that said, even though neither she nor anyone else would ever hear it, I took a deep breath, taking a seat again for a moment before dismissing both illusions mere moments after making them. Rising, I padded out of the room silently and closed the door behind me.

Then I slipped into Naraka with a thought and tore through the wall across the hall because it was quicker than taking the door. Landing in the street outside, I felt pavement shatter around me and dismissed it. As one, my Elementals appeared, rising out of the earth, forming out of the air, and crafting bodies for themselves from the power that leapt from my fingers. Five of them stood around me, with Crocea Mors resting at my side, and I looked at them one by one.

For us, words weren't needed.

I said them anyway.

"Two days rest is enough," I said. "I need to get stronger."

They said nothing, but the earth rumbled beneath my feet and the clouds began to churn in the skies above. Here in Naraka, there was no one to get in the way or get hurt—and so there was no reason to hold anything back.

"Let's start by working on my healing," I continued as if they'd agreed—which they had, in a way. "So. Hit me with your best shots."

They attacked, obeying my command without a moment's hesitation or concern. Rather inevitably, Vulturnus lead the pack, striking through me as a lance of luminous heat that threw me back. I hit the ground perhaps twenty meters down the street and rolled to my feet even as the asphalt shattered from below and dozens of earthy hands reached up to grab my face and limbs. Hooked claws of black stone scratched at me, searching for a hold in my clothes and skin alike even as they dragged me partially into the ground. At the same time a colossal pillar of stone rose from the ground and into the air above me before crashing down like a hammer. Lifting back up again, it smashed me further and further into the dirt with a series of strikes that shook the earth before being tossed away as Ereb expended much of his 'budget' and withdrew.

With barely a moment's pause, Suryasta took over and the space around me erupted into flames. It grew large enough, hot enough, that in mere seconds it had melted a crater into the ground. Ereb played with that in turn, pulling the liquid earth up and over me as it tried to force me down and shut me in, holding me still while Suryasta tried to bake me. I held still, letting them work even as it left me feeling as though I were melting—but it wasn't enough. I felt myself freeze in place as I cut off the power to my Adamant Skin and Bai Hu rose around me as I tore my way out of it, literally swimming through the viscous molten earth as I felt the heat beginning to die down.

I broke the surface after a moment, shaking myself like a dog to cast away some of the burning liquid, pausing as I heard earth and steel groan. Turning my head to the side, I saw the earth shift and metal rise as the combined efforts of Ereb and Crocea Mors raised pipes to the surface and burst steel. Immediately, water came flooding out with such speed that I felt it cut me even as I was thrown back. The water blaster stayed focused on my chest—or rather, on the vulnerable organs beneath—but the resulting spray pooled beneath me and flung itself at my face, surrounding my head in a vicelike bubble.

For a lot of people, that would have been enough of an attack—but my Elementals were more thorough than that. Though Xihai couldn't simply overwhelm someone's Aura and manipulate the fluids inside of them, there was a fair amount of leeway when it came to what counted as 'inside.' For instance, what of the nose and ears, the tear ducts and the mouth, and the other orifices of the human body? The flesh lining them was beyond her control, but were the empty openings and spaces?

No. At least, not completely—things didn't count as part of the body just because they were in your mouth; you had to deliberately protect them. So she forced water into my eyes and ears, up my nose, and down my throat, enough to leave anyone else gagging and drowning. She pushed water in as far as she could go without losing control over it and then made them push against the sides of their respective paths until I felt like my head was about to pop. It didn't naturally, however, so she changed tracks.

All at once, spikes and barbs erupted from every centimeter of the sphere that touched me. They drove into my neck and face and eyes, but also into deeper places, thousands of blades that grew inside my head. Xihai appeared before me then, figure clear even though the water should have distorted it. She reached a hand into the sphere, fingers pressing in far enough to touch my face—and then pulled back, dragging the sphere away with her, barbs and all. I choked for a moment, coughing and gagging even as I reflexively tried to draw in air.

There was none to be found. Levant stood nearby, expression as cheerful and unchanging as ever even as she kept the air away from my lips. I struggled for a moment in sheer reaction, the need to breathe making me fight until the Gamer's Mind stepped in. Pausing for a moment to collect myself, I rose and stood, at once unbreathing and unbothered. I was above stuff like this now and I let her know so mentally, making her tilt her head to the side.

She shifted her focus to the air around me instead, tearing it away from a dozen hundred different points to create vacuums all around me. I felt pressure—more specifically, the differences in pressure—build and pull at my flesh, tearing me apart even as I healed myself again and again—

But I wasn't satisfied. It wasn't causing enough damage anymore, even though I'd turned off my Adamant Skin and allowed most of the attacks through my Aura. I'd fed them all tremendous amounts of power and they now turned that against me, but the damage was still far lower than I'd expected. Was it because my Physical and Magical Resistances were too high? I couldn't control either, as they were passive effects and they'd have stacked with my other forms of damage resistance, including the Elemental ones. Even then, though…

I brought up my status screen again and watched as Vulturnus returned, stabbing at me with massive bolts of lightning. My health dropped with each strike, but just as quickly began to climb again, erasing more of the damage with every second, and it took me a moment to understand. I healed myself again as I shifted my attention, drawing up another window.

"Stop for a second," I said and my Elementals all stopped in the midst of their attacks, holding weapons at the ready as I gave myself a moment to regain my power, watching the process.

The Unseen Form (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.09%

A skill granted to those of such enlightenment that they can no longer be considered wholly physical or spiritual entities, but instead a mixture of both. Existing in two worlds simultaneously, those with this skill may interact freely with either world and are more resistant to effects that come solely from one. Furthermore, by drawing from the power of their dual existence, they may rise above the concerns that bind others.

Effects:

Causes the user to exist as a dual entity, made as much of spirit as flesh.

The user of this skill may draw sustenance from his soul rather than his body, circumventing the need for biological necessities, including air.

As an existence that is at once body and soul, the user may draw upon both to fortify the whole. Physical Resistance and HP Regeneration are added to Magical Resistance and MP Regeneration. Magical Resistance and MP Regeneration are added to Physical Resistance and HP Regeneration.

I'd known that already, but…had it taken into account the skills that had modified my Magic Resistance and MP Regeneration before adding them? It must have, to make this much difference. A quick Regeneration didn't seem to affect the process, but at the very least my passive effects must have been taken into account. Not just for my HP, either; the additions to my MP regeneration must have been modified as well. But if that was the case…

"More," I said, brushing away the windows. "I need you to hit me harder."

At once, Ereb, Levant, and Suryasta came, forming an angelic form from broken glass using my power. The others drew back in a metaphysical sense, reducing the amount of power they consumed to a minimum to give their new companion more room to work. Multicolored wings stretched outwards, catching the light as the vaguely male being turned my way. There was a sudden sound that so loud and pervasive that it took me a moment to realize it wasn't just a thought he'd placed in my head, but something real. All around us echoed the sound of glass shattering, a noise that did not fade but simply grew and went on until it was loud enough to shake the city.

The Glass Elemental blinked once and I saw his eyes move—that is, rotate within his head to show a different pair of irises out of the dozen or so that were seemingly painted onto the spheres. As he did, there was a sound on the wind and a storm of glass shards rose and glittered in the light of day, a marvelous display that hid the clouds with its beauty.

None of which changed its lethality, however. At once, those shards began to fall towards me, millions upon millions of them driving at me until even I started to worry. I shut my eyes and lifted my arms reflexively as it started to rain a decent chunk of the city's glass. It drove into my flesh, cutting away at me like a thousand blades until it raked the bone beneath and seemed to tear me apart. It was a steady thing and, despite my brief concern, a meticulously controlled one that remained focused on me without the slightest bit of waste—and though weaker individually then the other attacks, they made up for it with speed and numbers. Used shards and those that had broken even further flew off back into the sky to join the rest, but the tide never let up. After a few seconds, the tide stopped the rise of my HP and started biting away steady chunks of it for me to heal. Using the power of the White Tiger, I further fueled the assault, sacrificing my HP to keep it going and to heal myself anew.

As we found our stride, glass that wasn't needed was discarded and tossed away and resources were freed up. I fed them back into my other Elementals and flashes of light lit up the broken shards in a marvelous display as Vulturnus rejoined the fray, flickering from place to place even as Xihai stayed where she was and waited for an opportunity to present itself. My Soulforge improved in accordance to what it healed, though, so I needed more—and this was a good opportunity to train, besides.

With a gesture, I drew a Temple up around us and covered it with my Sanctum Sanctorum, increasing my HP and MP regeneration greatly. As soon as it was in place, however, I Accelerated slightly and increased my energy consumption by leaps and bounds, driving my HP bar down even faster by consuming large chunks of it for fuel to make up for what my MP regeneration couldn't handle—which was a huge amount, but still seemed to fall short of my needs at times. But if I kept it low and healed constantly, it should be enough thanks to my Hidden Heart.

The Hidden Heart (Passive) LV1 EXP: 0.04%

A skill given to those of such spiritual wisdom and power that they have outgrown the limits of their own souls and reached beyond. Circumventing their own boundaries, the user crafted a nascent soul and merged with it to stimulate his own growth beyond the natural limits of both their mortal and immortal frames. This 'second heart', though young, shines with its power and potential.

Double MP capacity.

Additional effects with increased level.

Yes, I had everything I needed—perhaps even time, though who knows with my life. At the very least, I had to take advantage of it while I could, though, so I closed my eyes and knelt on the shattered street as a storm of broken glass continued rip my body to pieces. Outside my Sanctum, I felt Xihai slaughter any of the Grimm that drew close with Crocea Mors in hand and decided to leave that annoyance to them while I worked and trained. I'd accomplished most of what I'd wanted to do today, so my schedule was clear until morning.

Fifteen hours should be enough to start with.

XxXXxX​