Hard Run Of Bone

*************

Wyatt Graves

A body-wide inhale precedes my movement to join the battle as I inspect my state. All my wounds are closed, and the Darklight within is totally cleared. The dozens of lacerations and visible organs are now gone. As for my Ether saturation... While I got my shit kicked in by Maxemista just a few hours ago, I already feel relatively well-rested.

Compared to when I fought him the first time, I'm practically brand new. All I did was run a couple hundred miles, an insane thing to say aloud, but it is true nonetheless. So, I stride forward, climbing atop Isaac's home and its stone walls.

Maxemista is doing the same thing as before against Lennon, while Isaac is dealing with all the other Motherbound swarming Heights, from the Demigods to the Wondrous ones. The God's every move, however, deals just as much damage to his own forces as it does to the landscape.

The Bladeless Monster evades each and every falling tree from the forests dropped onto him while striking back against Maxemista. It is impressive how swiftly the man adapts to an enemy. He says a struggle is what makes a person grow, but... I think he has it a little backward for himself.

Whenever he loses... he develops the most. The shame, guilt, or perhaps even just the spite of losing forces him to reach new heights.

And... I think I am the same. Before, I wasn't much help as I'm not as fast as Lennon with his rebounding slashes. If I could get close, an Explosion with four or five gasps would do some real damage, but that's a huge 'if'. Before, I could only stand on the God's legs, no closer.

A headshot, or something vital, is required to stun Maxemista enough to possibly finish him off. I know even a decapitation wouldn't kill him immediately, as he's both a God and infected by Darklight, though.

Nevertheless, if we can't end it after an attack like that, then we never stood a chance in the first place. But is there any way for me to get that close? A Soultrek might work, yet he nearly caught me last time.

Soul versus soul, I'm at a slight disadvantage with a God. I think if I had a little more time to develop my Dominion, or even just to age, as I believe with all the altered time, I'm only eighteen or so, I could contest Maxemista directly. Still, that is not the case.

Only as I consider that final notion do I realize I'm already within Liberation, the skill activating on itself. Instinctual Ether, huh? How handy. The battles move at less than a crawl while I continue to think of a possible solution.

Attempting to get close for a good strike would only be repeating a failure. There is no point in doing so. Instead... I could try Bone Orchard. There is still room to grow the skill. A lot of room. Conjuring bones in that volume... It's basically a Dzil already when my chains are lifted and Blodwyn helps.

I could push it some more. Beyond Solid Ether, though, is Soulful Strand. Meaning... I need to do it if I want to kill Maxemista. If my Bone Orchard could slow or perhaps even halt his forests, that would give Lennon the chance to land a crippling blow. Then, I could move in, finishing off the God with him.

Setting my mind on the task, I allow Liberation to recede. Then... Then I begin to shift my Ether. Previously, Burdenless was required to invoke the skill as a large portion of my soul had to envelop the Ether. But... I think I may be able to make up for that in a more elegant way.

Moving my soul beyond my body, I connect it to the Ether that I consolidate and condense. Only... I have to use far more Ether than before. A torrential wave flows from me as masses of bone jut from the ground, heading for Maxemista.

First, the numbers are nothing compared to the blooming forests and the new leaves that hurtle around like slicing bullets, but as I leave the 'safety' of Heights and place my hand onto the ground, I gain a closer connection to the Ether. My soul goes straight from my body into the network of bone originating from my hands.

Closing my eyes, I allow myself to see through the bone, sensing the war from the rib-like protrusions that invade the forest, slowing down its growth. Lennon moves like a... ricochetting bundle of lead, bouncing from one slash of his to the next, never pausing for a moment.

And for good reason. The God of Forests is growing ever larger, his forests ever more dangerous, and more abilities appear every moment. The leaves were first, but now threads of hair reach for Lennon, too. If anything catches him, if the man receives a single direct hit, he is done for.

And yet... amongst all the battles Lennon has ever fought, he has never, not once, lost due to a lack of skill in the art of... murder. It is always his weakness with Ether that bites him in the ass. So, as he flicks all over the place, lashing out with a Slash here or there, I expand my Bone Orchard as much as I can.

Maxemista, however, is not enthralled by our attempts. The God rears an arm back after missing a meteor-like punch onto Lennon and screams an earthquake into existence.

"The Mother Below no longer wishes to love any of your kind. You have ruined that chance. All of you. As such... ruin is all that will come. Your cities, your countries, and your continents will cease to exist in the months to come. Count your seconds, mortals. She is done with benevolence."

Lennon laughs at the words, and I do, too. So does Isaac. For a long second, even as the skies shake and the earth rumbles with enough force to shatter segments of my Bone Orchard beneath the ground, we share our laughter.

Benevolence? Is that what they think this has been all this time? How...

"Stupid God! You think I want her so-called 'kindness'!? No! I only want your damned head, you giant freak of nature! Come on! Get serious! Hahaha! Fucking dumbass Gods!"

Humanity's finest swordsman tells a God his honest thoughts, chuckling even as he bleeds crimson onto the very nature he despises. I glance around, finding Isaac's oceanic vortex holding back several Demigods and many more Angels. He's struggling, barely doing as he promised, but he refuses to fall nonetheless.

This is his home. If there is any place in the world that the One Eyed would give it his all...

Just as I acknowledge him, I watch the man reach up to his eye socket, the one with a patch over it. Bit by bit, he's moved closer to me, and the man finds a reason to assuage my worries that he'll lose.

Twisting to meet my gaze, I find that his eye, which has always been locked up, is no ordinary pupil. It is... A sphere of bone. With just a glance at the orb of white, my mind writhes with understanding as there are so many inscribed skills within the eye that I cannot comprehend them.

"Louis Fern may have made Excavator, my friend, but I have mastered it. Remember this. There is always more within."

Then, Isaac turns back, ripping the eye from his skull. Lifting the sphere to the sky, he crushes it with his hand. The fragments of bone pierce in every direction from the sheer force, but that is not what stuns all.

It is the Ether that swirls from within the bone. Isaac Erno stomps toward the army, which is larger in size than the one Lennon and I fought together, and proclaims to all.

"Six hundred years. I have waited for this moment for six centuries. Six lifetimes. I have seen millions die. I have seen... the very best and the very worst the world has to offer. I took everything ever worth keeping and put it into this eye. Wyatt, there is a reason I was unconcerned with that Weiss fellow. He might steal Powers... but I've learned a hundred Dzils. And it is time to use them all."

A bright light encompasses the Underworld's surface, and I can feel Isaac's whole body detonate with an inferno of Ether, the skills he conjures immediately siphoning it all away. I can hardly squint in his direction while the screams of countless Motherbound ring out.

Immediately, I know this cannot be without a price. No one can use that much Ether. He took Excavator to an absolute extreme and as Maxemista himself rushes toward Isaac in a hurry, I feel the Ether in the atmosphere speak. It is a Concept. It is a Dzil that evolved into a Sirza.

One Hundred Rasped Peaks.

Words cannot describe the view that unfolds from the envelope of Ether that is Isaac's eye. It is... otherworldy at the closest description.

Lightning arcs in every direction, electrocuting all that it touches before plants bloom out of the wounds. As the thousands of targets shuffle in pain, endeavoring to remove the plants, they spew out crimson dust, which immediately explodes into a roaring fire. The Demigods attempt to suppress the Sirza, only for the fire to vanish around them, condensing into a beam of light, decapitating and annihilating one Dominion that is too slow to dodge.

In awe, I stand transfixed, still pushing the Bone Orchard against Maxemista, but I'm quickly losing. Nonetheless...

The dead rise that Isaac leaves, some nothing but an arm or a leg after the rest has been set to ash. The shambling corpses dart toward their fellow Motherbound, ripping out flesh before transferring the 'illness' within them of Ether.

A hundred different Dzils emerge at once, growing with each other as they overwhelm the army in its mighty entirety. Each Dzil has a little effect, killing dozens of Motherbound and perhaps one or two Angels with the legion rallied against them, but with them all working in unison...

Even Demigods fall.

Which is why we need to stop Maxemista's charge. Lennon is way ahead of me, though, placing his body in between Isaac and the God of Forests. He angles himself sideways, closing his eyes as he inhales deeply.

I hear a silent prayer leave his lips while I redouble my efforts in Bone Orchard. With every second, I grow more frustrated as I seem to have hit my limit. My soul won't extend any further. I can only make so much bone with my Ether.

"Dia. I require your sharpness one more time."

No reply comes from Lennon's sword, as it isn't real. The genuine blade has been broken for nearly a year at this point. That fact doesn't bother the man at all as he stands straight, angling his blade slightly down in front of him. It is a familiar stance, the one he takes every day for practice.

While others practice their Ether, he focuses upon one and one thing only, his Dominion. It used to be his swordsmanship, but now they are one and the same.

A flicker of something whizzes by my perception within Lennon's hands; it feels like... perfection or... maybe flawlessness? Then, the blade in his palms flashes out to meet a descending forest. I slam the Bone Orchard into hundreds of wooden spikes, slicing leaves, and piercing hairs, but many still evade my attempts.

It is those that Lennon sidesteps slightly. He moves the absolute minimum not to be affected. His movement... it is as graceful as a dancer and as unhurried as an elder. A grand oak impacts the earth two feet from him, the crater lining his left boot yet he is unfazed. Another volley of leaves stabs around him in a perfect array that ends with him uninjured with his shadow riddled. He even tilts his head to the side, allowing a hair to slice off a strand of his own.

Then he grins, and a crescent light covers the horizon.

A tsunami of blood flows from Maxemista, running from the God's left him to his right shoulder, but it doesn't slow him in the slightest. In fact, the God only hurries, rushing straight at the opposing swordsman. Lennon, however, is kneeling on the ground, composing himself.

I scream for the man to move, but he doesn't hear me. A colossal palm crashes toward Lennon Hull and the last I see of him before Maxemista rushes toward me is a lifted head. The God of Forests bashes Lennon with his hand, possibly killing him with such force as he continues onward toward Isaac and me.

Fuck. Squinting, I search for the Bladeless Monster, and with relief, I catch a glimpse of his body in a crater a few miles away. He... he's out for now, but he'll be back up soon. I know he will, even if he's broken throughout.

How did he survive that, though? He must have.. No. I don't have time to think about that. I need... I need to do better now. Right now.

My current Bone Orchard isn't enough. But why? Why can't my soul go further? Is it just not strong enough? Old enough? Thick enough? I don't know. But... The descriptions I've heard of Sirzas and Soulful Ether give me an idea.

If I can't stretch my soul further... then... I need to make way for something else to do the job my soul would. I need... I need to create artificial souls. That's how they do it, right?

Liberation burns through my skull again as I need to think this through. I've been doing a whole lot of brainstorming today, and as I push Liberation further than ever before, I can feel the heat building.

Isaac. How is he doing it? My eyes agonizingly slide over to his figure as he walks through the army, an absolute apocalypse resounding around him. Some demons have turned into icicles before exploding into a transfigured lead that melts anything it touches.

My eyes lock onto the acidic lead as it bubbles, turning into tiny golems of dark metal that clamber to their feet. Within my sight, though, I see something different, something... incredible.

Isaac's soul isn't directly touching any of these effects. He's only... the instigator and the supplier of Ether. The actual controllers...

I see. The Dzil is the limit of mankind's control. To go beyond that... you must either kill yourself in its usage like Marshall did as his own body became a catalyst for the Ether to replicate and move on its own... or you split off your soul, letting it become independent minds that... seem to fade on their own.

Fucking Hell. It all makes sense now. Without Conceptual Ether, the minds in Soulful Ether will deteriorate over time. Yet, with it... they consolidate after enough time, becoming a grand organism as the soul gains force and collects its own Sigils. That is how Natural Gods form.

But... then, what made the first Gods? The universe itself? Random conjunctions? I don't know, and I don't have time to think about it.

Instead, I leverage my soul, slicing off tiny bits of it painfully. As they fall off, hovering beside me, I erase my connection to them by pushing my own soul deep into my body and doing all I can to ignore that thread of significance.

Next, I throw Ether at the floating souls as they start to crumble without a vessel or Sigil. Blodwyn joins in as I have been so focused that I only now realize Liberation fell to the wayside a while ago. Together, we meld the Ether, condensing it before throwing it to the souls.

And... A broad grin encompasses my face as the souls take the Ether, learning how to twist it from my example and doing it themselves. Bones form all over as I press my soul onto the miniature minds, compelling them to do as I want.

With every bit of Ether, these dozens of souls manipulate, they grow more adept, still shrinking in size but growing in expertise. I see... without a Concept to ground them, this will fade eventually. But...

Together, a landscape of white is born.

Another Dzil. Another step closer to a Sirza. Another step... another step closer to Godhood. I might have gone beyond the human limit, but it is still not a Sirza. Those... those are so much more. Wrenching my hands from the earth, I raise them toward Maxemista as the very region flies up at his descending forest.

The God's verdant trees, leaves, hairs, and even now grasses collapse upon my rising Bone Orchard's hundreds of nearly unbreakable stele of white. The impact reduces me to a trembling knee, but I don't immediately fold. With Lennon's help...

Against a God's overwhelming force, I hold. And... Slowly, I stand, catching Maxemista's furious pupils through the gaps in our warring abilities. I wonder... is this his Dominion?