The Great Core's Paradox

Gained Major Title: [Reanimated].

Description: Reanimated after death and placed under the control of the one responsible, your body and mind have mutated into a facsimile of life. Death has become a source of health, and life a poison.

Species Gained: Undead

Innate Trait: [Life-Death Inversion MAX] Acquired.

The thought-light flickered as I waited, reminding me of the changes that came with death. The same changes that I had experienced under the control of the Death Core, but without that terrible control that hid me away from myself. That kept the Great Core’s light distant.

I was myself, and that was all that mattered.

The Coreless shouted around me as I healed; I did my best to hide that from the enemy Coreless, carefully using what stores of light I had left. It wasn’t perfect, but it didn’t seem like they were paying much attention.

There was a lot of shouting. A fight between the blasphemers and the faithful, I guessed. Even if it was clear that, without my help, the faithful would lose - like they already had, to be bound by threads in the way that they were.

Still, it was enough of a distraction that what came next would come easier. Enough that any failures to hide what was happening to my body with [Illusion Spark] might be missed. Enough that, despite the blasphemer’s surprising power, I could still win.

David stepped backwards, bucket sloshing, his eyes fixed on Garrick’s bleeding corpse. And pointedly not at what was below it. Not after he saw it twitch.

“-Skies-damned bastards! You killed Garrick!” one of the supposedly injured prisoners shouted, veins protruding from his neck as he pulled furiously at his chains. They rattled harshly, bouncing against the metal ring they had been tied to.

A lot of strength pulling at those chains for someone who, just the other day, had broken his hand. Somehow, the guards didn’t notice that. They were too busy backing David into a corner, mouths set into grim lines.

The Overseer led the pack, Windspear pointing lazily in David’s direction. His - and all the other guards’ - armor enchantment had been turned off, which was the only reason he could hear a damn thing. They couldn’t afford to keep it running for too long, now that the threat was gone. As strong as their enchantments were, they were also limited; like most enchantments that used xenlite as a catalyst, they sacrificed a constant effect for a more powerful one. Powerful, but horrifically temporary.

He peeked past the guards again as they lumbered a little closer, risking a glance at the Ascended’s corpse. A wisp of darkness flashed into being for a moment before it was wiped away. He’d have thought it was his imagination if it hadn’t been the first one he saw.

The little Ascended was definitely still alive. Even if there was no way it should have been, with how shredded it was. With how much it had bled.

For just a moment, the Overseer turned around, barking back at the other prisoners and waving his Windspear at them threateningly. David’s hand tightened around the handle of his bucket, but he didn’t dare do anything else. It was enough to kill a monster, sure, but nowhere near as effective as a spear for killing a man. Even ones with as much mana infusion as the Overseer and his fellow guards.

Distracted as he was, the man never noticed the little snake’s corpse on the other side of the room looking decidedly more whole than it had just moments before. David had to fight back the urge to shout in alarm; even knowing

that the little monster had been healing rather than hurting people, even suspecting that it was tame, it was hard not to say anything.

He could be wrong.

Still, he managed, even when the Overseer turned back around and the corpse-like snake suddenly sank into the floor. Just barely. Even if he was wrong, David didn’t like his chances with the enraged Overseer. Better to take the side of the likely-tame monster, even if it was probably furious.

The snake would be mad at the guards, while the guards were mad at him. Maybe it could be reasoned with. Hopefully.

Besides, it wouldn’t be hard for the guards to work out their anger freely, claiming that the Ascended had killed David - killed all the prisoners in the infirmary, even - if needed. It wouldn’t be looked into further once they showed an Ascended’s corpse. Not that David was certain his death would be looked into that intensely in the first place.

He was a criminal, after all, and the mines could be a dangerous place.

The Overseer and his comrades stepped closer to David again, and David stepped back. Even if he wasn’t worried about what they might do, he didn’t want to be anywhere near them when the snake resurfaced. Because it would. Healing or not, David doubted that it would take kindly to being shredded into pieces. Even if, apparently, it didn’t take.

“You motherfucking useless coward,” the Overseer started to say, yanking the bucket away with a vicious jerk. David let him take it. He wasn’t about to start a fight. Not with what was likely coming. David backed up a little farther. “This shit was meant to be used,” the Overseer snarled. “Could have saved us some effort.”

“G-Garrick was already hurt,” David stammered, trying to reason with the furious man. He hated it, but it was hard to stop. David wasn’t a fighter, and - more importantly - he didn’t have any way to protect himself from the enraged man. “The null-water might have killed him, if he got unlucky.”

“Idiot. One death to kill an Ascended is a good trade. Just about the best trade possible. ‘Sides, now he’s dead anyway. We’re lucky the thing never got to do anything. Who knows what it could have done?” He prodded at David with the tip of his spear, a vicious jab that almost reached his chest, forcing David all the way into the corner behind him. There was nowhere else to go. “If it was as strong as it could’ve been, your cowardice might’ve doomed us all, you Skies-damned -”

He never finished the sentence.

Because, below one of the other guards, a snake-shaped bit of stone dislodged itself, looking for all the world like a softened piece of clay. A moment later, wisps of darkness rose into the air, and the man let out a scream.

My fangs found flesh, sneaking past the first Coreless’ guarding bits of ore-flesh and slipping death essence into his skin. Not that I did it entirely on purpose. Even after how much was lost, death essence was still running through my body in amounts that it never had before, to a degree that I had never dared; with every bit of my mana changed into the dangerous, bitterly cold aspect of death, it all but dripped from my fangs with every breath, the droplets turning into black wisps that floated into the air - or, in this case, the Coreless’ flesh.

Other bits of death essence vanished in a different way, even after recreating the tattered and broken pieces of my body. A constant, tiny drain that worked to keep my dead body alive.

As long as I had death essence to keep it going, anyway.

Finally, I pulled back an instant later, for some reason I could feel the death-aspected mana coursing through the Coreless’ veins. Sense it running upwards in a way that I never had before. Like it was still a part of myself.

Weird.

Weird, but useful. It wasn’t a sense I had before. A hidden aspect of [Transient Reanimation]? Probably. Which gave me an idea.

I nudged at the flow of death essence, urging it to move faster, even as the blasphemous Coreless cried out. Even as I sank back into the ground, [The Golem’s Fading Heart] letting me sink underneath the surface.

The ground above me, already solidified again by [The Golem’s Fading Heart], cracked as the Coreless tried to strike back. I dove deeper still, the stone softening in front of me and solidifying in my wake. Far enough that the Coreless’ attacks couldn’t reach me.

Then, after freeing enough space to turn, I finally reached for my tail. Clamped down. Waited, hoping that my guess was right.

[The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] - and more importantly, [Mana Restoration] - activated. And, just like I hoped, the slight healing effect of [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail] wasn’t affected by [Life-Death Inversion].

It didn’t use life essence for its healing, and so it didn’t end up hurting me like other ways I normally healed would have.

Which meant that keeping myself going wouldn’t be as hard as I had thought. Even if [Transient Reanimation] forced me to constantly expend tiny amounts of death essence to stay alive, I wouldn’t run out. Not with [Mana Restoration] to keep me going.

As long as I was careful, at least.

With that worry gone, I turned my attention back to the Coreless somewhere above me. I could still feel the one that I had bitten, the death essence within his body as easy to find as looking with my eyes would have been.

Easier, maybe.

I focused, flexing my will. Watched as the stream of death essence moved again, twisting itself in a way that I was sure the Coreless couldn’t have enjoyed. Then, finally, it reached his heart.

[Life Hunter] activated as the Coreless died, and I suddenly felt just a little different. More solid, the ever-present chill of death beaten back slightly. Not nearly enough to bring me back to life, but it was a start.

The thought-light flickered.

Mana-Infused .̸̠̑/̷̧͖̮͚͐̕.̵͙̣͍̩̜͉̏/̸̩̖̐ͅ.̸̮̙̰̖̜̾̽͌̌̽͛̾͐/̸̛̗̘̼̳͕͔͕͚̈́̈̑̅̑̚.̴͉͉͌̃̊͆̈́̄͘.̶̱̔̌̓͊̚/̸̜̞͉͙͔͖̬̇͋͜.̵̘͔͇̘͇̄̓̃͜/̵̧̺̼͖̠̮̩͚̒͒̑̂̈̿̃͠ D-

I reached out and stopped it, somehow just knowing that I could - and sensed the remnants of death essence in the Coreless’ body twist upon themselves.

The thought-light flickered again, showing me something new.

Condition Met.

Core Skill - [Transient Reanimation] Activated.

Applying Reanimation.

Reanimation Complete.