Runeblade

Without its supporting magic, the manticore collapsed in on itself — falling into little more than a pile of blood and roughly hacked meat. Kaius crowded around it with his team, feeling the ache of his lingering wounds as he stared at the carcass. It had fought well — with the strength and persistence worth its station. They had still bested it, proven their worth on the field of battle!

Kaius collapsed with a grin on his face. Without the immediate threat of death, his soul flared — ruin reverberating through his body. VOS had left its mark — not quite injury. At least, not in the sense that he was used to. Instead, it was if his very being was drained — pushed to the very edge of its limits and beyond by something that mortal minds were never meant to comprehend.

It was his mind that hurt most of all — frayed to the point of bursting, his thoughts seemed to come as slow as dripping treacle. Nor was his body doing that great either, even ignoring the lingering wounds of battle. A trickle of health dripped through his body, healing dozens of little abnormalities that he felt pop into existence and then vanish a moment later.

"Kaius!" Ianmus yelled.

The mage was at his side a moment later. Even absent of wounds he had a twisted expression on his face from the strain of casting so many spells. Kaius doubted that it was traditional mana burn — not with the effects of his Corporus aspect — but after calling on VOS he had full respect for the burden mental fatigue alone could bring.

"Vos backlash?"

Kaius nodded as the rest of his team crowded around him. "It's bad. I need Redoubt."

Porkchop gave him a concerned look. "Will you be okay?"

"I should be — whatever's happened, I feel stable. No idea how long it will take to recover from. I fell deep — far deeper than I ever have before. It was a mistake to practice it so little; I need to find a way to use… less of it, somehow."

His team shared a look, one he ignored as he dived into his centre and reached for his soul. Reaching for his mana, Kaius groaned as the energy frayed in his grip and his soul pulsed in response. The backlash hurt — an ineffable pang that resonated out from the fire within him. It wasn't mana burn, but it was something — he was just glad that it didn't seem to be getting worse.

"Any luck?" Kenva asked as he opened his eyes once more.

Kaius shook his head. "Whatever's happened, my soul really didn't like me trying to use mana. I'll try again in a few hours — Redoubt is supposed to help me recover from this."

Frowning in concentration, Ianmus laid a hand on his shoulder. Kaius felt a flicker of mana race through his body — he could have fought it off in a heartbeat, but he let the mage do his thing. If he was fighting through his casting fatigue, it was likely important.

A moment later, he blinked.

"That is odd — and backs up several theories about soul fatigue. Your health should be fine to deal with the cancer — they're small enough even an unclassed's regeneration would be enough, but it will take some time before you can, or should, cast. Normally weeks, if you wanted to avoid aggravating anything — but in your case, I think you should try inscribe that spell of yours in a few hours. Hopefully it will help more than hurt."

Kaius grinned — bed rest would be annoying, but he would survive. Some of the tension left the air as Kenva and Porkchop sighed in relief. His brother stepped forward, nudging Kaius with his nose.

"Idiot, be more careful next time."

Kaius flung his arms around Porkchop's neck. "You're alive!" A moment later he reached up, wrapping his brother on the top of his skull. "No brain damage? That was a nasty hit you took."

It was only half a joke — head injuries were dangerous. Even if Health could restore bruised and smushed tissue, there were plenty of stories of people who came back odd, even wrong, after having their skulls caved in. Supposedly it was less of a problem at higher tiers, or with healing skills advanced as Porkchop's — but still.

Porkchop rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm fine — taken hits worse than that wrestling with my cousins back home. It'll take more than a piddly little manticore to put me down."

"I don't know about that." Kenva gave Porkchop a teasing smile. "Looked like it put you down just fine — you had a mid battle nap and everything!"

Jumping back, Porkchop let out a gasp of faux-shock.

Kaius only laughed. They were alive, breathing, and well enough to tease each other — what more could he ask for?

Ianmus still looked like he was dealing with a migraine, and his state wasn't the best — but they were breathing.

"How's the head?" Kaius asked the mage.

Ianmus gave him a wry smile. "Sore — though it's just fatigue. Even with that opening shot I don't have a lick of mana burn."

"You're telling me. It turns out there's a good reason to use my Muthryn glyph when calling on that insight — I thought my brain was going to dribble out my ears."

"What was it like? Using Vos?" Porkchop asked

The utterance made him cringe. Even the mention of it came all too close to bringing the swirling maelstrom back into his mind.

"Ianmus answered for him. "It was…intense. I've never seen anything like it — not the way the mana reacted like an almost living thing."

"It was stranger than that! It looked hungry, churning through everything he had — like it was searching for some fuel that didn't exist." Kenva replied.

Kaius shuddered as his mind returned to the moment when his very soul had quaked under the strain, his Resources rebelling against him.

"Let's just go." he nodded back towards their base camp. "I can talk about it later — when its not quite so fresh."

Porkchop shot him a look of concern, but nodded.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"The Crucible can wait — we'd have to be fools to try it without being fully rested and ready anyway."

"Alright then, cripple boy — on my back. I'll get you to camp."

Kaius groaned, but didn't protest — accepting Ianmus' and Kenva's offered arms as he hauled himself up.

They left shortly after, trudging their way across crisp alpine crasses as they left behind the rising pillar of obsidian. It was a quiet walk — they were all exhausted from the liveliness of battle.

Kaius didn't mind — it was peaceful, and the views of snowcapped peaks were beautiful. Besides, the light exercise was good — worked out the lingering stiffness in his joints. As much as it was the perfect time for it, he held off on checking the contents of their latest Honours or his skill gains from the fight. His head still felt like it had been stuffed full of loose cotton — better to wait until he could properly appreciate the experience.

An hour later, they slipped into their original camp — the barely-visible field of his War Haven parting before them as they entered the closed off rock formation. Their tent was where they had left it — pressed up into a secluded corner of the space.

He felt…better. Not anywhere close to good, but better. A few more hours and he'd get started on Redoubt of the Speaker, but for now trying to use his mana still stung like a salted wound.

The second he was inside, Kaius stripped off his armour and all but threw himself onto the fur-covered mattress — only to wince as the gunk on his skin tugged awkwardly. It was a stubborn mess, mostly a combination of blood, weepings, and the ash of his own burnt flesh.

Sighing, he forced himself to his feet and started to wipe himself off with a damp rag.

"Well, we did it." Ianmus said, slumping to the ground.

"That we did — and with plenty of rewards to show for it."

"Did you manage to ignite your Aspect?" Kaius asked curiously. The fight had definitely been tough enough, so if all Porkchop had needed was that last little push it should have done the job.

Porkchop grinned, an expression that Kenva mirrored. Judging by the joy that flooded across his bond with Porkchop, they had succeeded.

Genuine satisfaction welled at their success — gods' knew they deserved it after everything they had been through as a team. Besides, with this they were all on an equal playing field — only Animus remained.

"Well then, should we check our Honours and skill gains? You two could ignite your Aspects while we wait for our Resources to refill." Kaius asked — storing his blackened and soiled cloth before he took his place on the bed once more.

His team nodded, and Kaius pulled up his waiting notifications, starting with his skills.

**Ding! Class Skill Notifications Consolidated!**

**Latent Glyph of Aelina has reached level 193 > 200!**

…

**Mystic's Rend has reached level 170 > 176!**

…

**Latent Glyph of Vyrnthane has reached level 92 > 95**

…

**Sigil of Vesryn's Pact has reached level 115 > 137**

…

**Latent Glyph of Eirnith has reached level 92 > 97**

…

**Mercurial Reversal has reached level 76 > 87**

…

**Runeblade Hymnfocus has reached level 54 > 62**

**General Skill Notifications Consolidated!**

…

**Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 197 > 200!**

…

**Explorer's Toolkit has reached level 186 > 191!**

…

**Truesight has reached level 177 > 180!**

…

**Resonance Amplification has reached level 170 > 177!**

…

**Uncanny Dodge has reached level 189 > 195!**

Kaius grinned — two more of his skills had reached their cap, with another two close on their heels. A solid gain — especially since he was no longer in such a rush to complete them all. At least, he thought so. It felt likely that one of the Honours he had gained was for completing the first tier.

He decided to find out.

Paragon:

Major Honour

Grow violently, young one. Prove your dominance, and be rewarded for your valour.

Awarded to those who reach the maximum level in Tier I by age 22 without direct assistance. Provides an Infinitesimal benefit to the effects of tier ascensions. +10 all stats, +7% all stats.

Bonus: For achieving this honour before the age of 20 the reward bonus is increased to Minute, and the stat bonus is increased to +15 all stats, +8% all stats.

…

Daring Challenger:

Minor Honour

An Honour, a trial, a reward, and a challenge all in one.

Awarded to those who slay their first Crucible Guardian while within the Crucible's level limit. Grants minute increase to Crucible rewards. +3 all stats, +1% all stats.

Kaius read the descriptions of the Honours in surprise — he knew he'd been distracted when the initial deluge had come in, but how had he missed that? He almost reeled — waiting for the world to shift and adjust as it had the last time he'd gotten such a reward.

It never came.

Looking up, he saw a similar level of disbelief scrawled across his team members' faces.

"Major?" Ianmus whispered. "I knew we were moving fast, but it seems that the System must truly believe we're outliers for such a reward."

Kaius nodded — even if a second Major Honour hadn't had quite the same effect as his first, the fact that an unclassed gaining even one of them was enough to progress the integration said much. They were rare — powerful. A true sign that Ianmus and Kenva were operating at the highest levels that could be expected for people of their abilities.

"Me and Porkchop got a bonus for it too," Kaius replied. "For earning it before the age of twenty, like we'd hoped."

The mage gave him a happy look — clearly pleased that they'd managed to achieve their goal. It mirrored Kaius's own — thank the gods they'd done it. Porkchop had just over a week until his birthday — it would have been a struggle to cap the rest of his general skills in that time.

"I'm more curious about Daring Challenger." Porkchop said, interrupting his chain of thought.

"Oh?" Kenva asked.

"Yeah. No Bonus — we weren't the first."

They fell silent as the implications settled.

Porkchop was right. While it was no confirmation that someone else had already managed to best an actual Crucible, it did mean that yet more people now knew of the existence of Honours. Any number of them, really — he didn't miss that Daring Challenger had no limit on the number of people who could acquire it.

That was…potentially problematic. They stood to gain much by being the first to publicly share the existence of Honours with the Guild as a whole. Sure, if a dynastic scion was the one to find it the spread of information would likely be limited, but a career delver? One who would just as easily be able to see the rewards that it could lead to?

They really had to get back to Deadacre — soon.

That wasn't the only thing, that manticore had been tough — had been monumentally stronger than any other creature he had fought. If a team was out there, having succeeded against the same odds, then they had to be capable.

As capable and skilled as them — and they had been clawing for growth with everything they had since the phase shift. Longer, in the case of him and Porkchop.

They had competition.

Kaius chewed his lip, mulling it over. The more he thought about it, the more he felt a creeping spark crawl up his spine.

He smiled, a wild thing. He could see a similar heat building in his team. It seemed if they wanted to be the best, they'd have to fight for it.

"Ignite your aspects," he said, giving Porkchop and Kenva a nod. "I'll work on recovering. The sooner we can investigate this Crucible, the better."