Interconnected: Spliced Souls

“It’s finished,” reported Suusa. “The tunnels are ready to rend Servi’s flesh from their body. I’m about to grab her.”  

“That’s good. But… Doesn’t it feel odd? Is your weakening aura spread too thin?” asked Gerld, who leaned against his spear. He twirled Momo's longsword.

“That’s a possibility,” replied the witch. “I’ve never used it over an area this big, but don’t you dare say this is my fault!”  

“I’d never dream of it. Doesn’t the fault lie with the boss’s soldiers for failing to strike Servi down? It’s like you said. You can only trust a witch to properly dispose of a necromancer and their undead. Cassidy was a fool and a half for sending us away. We should’ve told that bitch to stuff it and ignored her orders.”  

“I agree. But blame it on Cassidy. Let the boss’s fallen soldiers curse her, not us.”  

“Hey, so about her red crystals….”   

“What about them?” asked the witch.    

“You said Servi used an acid tube. Can your skin protect against it, Suusa?” asked Gerld.    

“Does it matter? It’s an unholy ability. I doubt her crystals will function once I condense the field,” replied Sissy.  

“Are you sure? No more surprises like Momo’s mirror?”  

“That was an anomaly we didn’t expect,” answered Suusa. “I won’t be caught off guard again.”  

“Servi won’t have the opportunity to attack.” The overconfident witch burst with hope. Why wouldn’t she? She excelled at conquering these monsters. The Wytchguard Covenant was the bane of necromancers everywhere the world over! They were the danger lurking in the brightest skies that glowed upon the darkest wretches that clung to unholy magic.    

That propaganda was still embedded in Sissy’s mind long after she was excommunicated and sentenced to death.  

“And I’ve got the target. Be ready in six seconds.”  

Gerld focused his breathing and prepared himself. 

They waited until the ground rumbled. The tentacles thrashed as they emerged upwards, revealing the prey their hooked fangs had latched onto. 

“Remove the arms and legs!” commanded Sissy. Holy magic encircled her, causing her long hair to dance. Her hat almost flew away, but her antennae kept it still.     

Suddenly, Servi was limbless. A fountain of blood sprayed from the gruesome wounds. And the head was next. Crimson gushed, leaking through the gaps as the tentacles let Servi go. They retracted into the geomancer. He canceled the armor and stood, stretching his arms and legs before relieving the tension in his neck.  

Simultaneously, the witch’s orb flashed brighter as the weakening aura constricted to fit the narrow arena Suusa had constructed. The holy glow was almost overwhelming. It radiated warmness—almost physically, but Sissy had more left. She aimed a palm at her target and used another spell she had silently prepared. “[Sanctified Barrier]!” An intricate carving engraved itself like ancient runes before becoming a transparent, slightly milky pillar that enclosed her target.  

But...  

The weakening effect from Sissy’s orb... If it was working...  

It wasn’t by much, if any at all. The group shared an uneasy stare as Servi's body was made whole in the blink of an eye. That should not have been possible.  

“Where. Is. Momo? Where is she?! [Heart Clutch]!” Servi raised her hand at the witch, but…   

Nothing happened. The shield spell protecting the traitors' hearts hadn’t expired.    

“Whew...” Sissy wiped her brown and smugly smiled. “See? That’s proof my holy magic is working.” Her irritating giggles were infused with madness. “It never gets old. Filthy mongrels like you are always filled with so much bravado. That’s why it’s so much fun to tear you down a peg or two. I can’t believe I thought you were a lich. You aren’t powerful. You’re just hard to kill. That's why you're scary. So, tell me. Just who are you, Servi?”     

“Is that orb responsible for weakening my powers? Is that why I can’t crush your hearts?!”   

“Wow…” Sissy scoffed. She seriously couldn’t believe how inexperienced her enemy was. She rolled her eyes and refused to answer. The witch manipulated the barrier to shrink. She wanted to squash her target.    

Servi grew tired of these games and punched the barrier in pure anger. And...  

It let her through like it didn’t even exist...because these barriers...  

They were harmless to the living. Yet they were effective against a necromancer and their created or summoned creatures, but the spell had never gone against one with the soul of a goddess. Her divine ambrosia had removed the natural weaknesses one acquired upon learning the power to manipulate the dead and wield unholy magic. But the witch’s blessing affected the spells by targeting their rooted activation levels at the deepest, most basic level. That explained the increased blood crystal cost and Itarr’s need to cast her spells multiple times to make them go through.  

Neither Servi nor Itarr knew that the goddess’s Primordial Nature instilled a limit on how much a holy blessing could weaken their [Necromancy] skills.  

“What the hell?!” Painful fear ferociously fondled Sissy’s heart in a petrifying grasp, interrupting her focus. The holy blessing quivered, mimicking its caster’s emotional state. “[Sanctified Barrier]!” Another transparent pillar formed around Servi, but she passed through it like it wasn’t even there. She raised her hand and used [Heart Clutch], but it failed.   

“Why isn’t it working?!” Sissy stepped back. Her legs trembled. “You’re undead! You’re a filthy undead! Even if you aren’t a lich— even if you are a lowly necromancer, holy magic’s still your bane! Just what the hell are you?!”  

“Isn’t that for me to know and you to find out? That bastard with the golden worms categorized me as a lich because I heal fast… But don’t you know you can’t rely on second-hand knowledge? Especially not from him? I guess this means you’re associated with Keywater, but… Haven’t you heard of lying?”   

“What?!”   

“You all just assumed I was a lich! And you assumed I was a necromancer! But what I’m not? What if I’m something more dangerous? Something you can’t even fucking fathom in your insignificant minds!”  

“Step back…” Gerld stepped in front of the trembling witch. It was faint, but his knees wanted to buckle. Even his cloak seemed like it practiced cowardice. “Find yourself, Sissy. Look at the blessing. Our target still uses [Necromancy]. You need--”   

“So, all I’ve got to do is make you lose focus? Follow my lead, Itarr! [Skeletal Wall]!” A flaming wall of skeletons manifested behind the witch and grabbed her hair. Two more hands tightly grasped her wrist, eliciting a terrible cry. But in the blink of an eye, more walls appeared around Sissy, enclosing her in darkness as sharp, bony fingers clawed at her flesh like a scratching post. Gerld cursed. Servi smiled. Already, the blessing was weakening. Her walls weren’t on fire anymore. And the witch’s pained screams, while muffled, continued to erupt from her prison.    

Gerld swatted at the walls with Momo’s sword as Servi took aim and fired with the acid launcher. It flew fast but smashed into a reinforced barrier Suusa created. Its devouring corrosiveness barely ate through the first ten layers. Servi wasted no time firing her second one, which blasted through the rest.    

Servi had an opportunity, and it wouldn’t go unnoticed. She created a wall behind her and kicked off, slamming into another barricade that sprang from nowhere.     

She cursed and waited a heartbeat for her fractured skull to regenerate, then swung her scythe. The blade cut deep, but it still broke. It just wasn’t strong enough. It desired more souls to reach its true potential.     

“I won’t allow you to do that,” said Suusa, looking like a knight. His robes were replaced by a thick layer of rocky armor, and he effortlessly wielded two sandy warhammers equipped with dangerous spikes.    

Servi ignored his taunts and used her second favorite spell to jump high. But Suusa was prepared. He stomped his foot, split the ground, and quickly crafted a dozen boulders from the rubble that flew up. He sent them scattering Servi’s way with an arm flick, launching one after another. This was another custom spell the forbidden wielder had developed that didn’t rely on the useless restrictions within the [Warden Skill System].    

Servi waited for Itarr to absorb them, but...   

I can’t grasp them! They’re too... The shape is—NO!   

The incoming barrage bombarded her body one after another, breaking most of her bones while sending her flying into the wall like bloodied meat slammed against the counter.    

She slid, leaving a trail of crimson behind her as a goddess experienced an epiphany that explained it all.    

That’s it! Servi, Suusa’s the geomancer! It makes sense now!  I couldn’t absorb the cage when we met, and I thought it was because its form was forever slightly shifting, but that’s not it. It’s because he’s using [Elemental Manipulation]! Servi, he’s a forbidden skill wielder!   

“YOU’RE THE ONE WHO DID THAT TO MERKA?!” Servi erupted with anger as she pulled herself together. Behind Suusa, Gerld had already cut away two of the walls.   

“So, you’re acquainted with that failure? He had it all. He was the one true success—potential mastery over [Elemental Manipulation] while seeing the soul? Something only possible with [Necromancy]? But he squandered it. He refused to accept it...and he was disposed of...”   

Servi wouldn’t correct him. She wouldn’t waste breath on it. Instead, Servi ran towards the geomancer and leapt off another bony wall Itarr crafted beneath her feet, soaring high while flourishing her scythe as a distraction. Suusa stomped the ground, repeating the previous action, but she had her rocket launchers. Wielding both, she fired at the projectiles, destroying the incoming hailstorm. Unfortunately, the splashback missed the deftly dodging Suusa, who easily avoided the damage.      

Servi landed near him with a mighty swing.    

She intended to take his neck!   

Suusa parried it with a flick of his wrist and dashed back, meeting two more swift strikes with the utmost ease. Sparks flashed from their intense clash as Servi put everything she had into it. But Suusa was superior. He eclipsed her in raw strength and technical ability. Even blocking a single, quick strike from his warhammer smashed her catalyst. It was resummoned instantly, but the impact sent vibrations that fragmented her humerus and ulna. Servi was ultimately pushed back when he swept her leg and kicked her away like a stray dog. She went flying into the wall and landed with a sickening, gross slap.       

His thin frame really carried a staggering amount of muscle.     

Servi stood and appeared none the worse for wear. Only her clothes were damaged, but that didn’t matter.    

“There! I’ve got you!” Gerld finally broke down the walls keeping Sissy restrained, but she didn’t look good. [Skeletal Wall] was never an offensive spell, but it had its moments. Sissy wouldn’t have been harmed had she used a holy buff to strengthen herself against the skeletal walls, but when her holy magic refused to affect Servi…  

It defied all she ever knew—everything that damn church pumped into her was being rigorously tested in front of her, and it wasn’t good. The unbreakable, incorrigible truths…were anything but.    

It destroyed her entire plan. And that railroaded her descent into madness. A wielder of unholiness who wasn’t affected by their bane? That was impossible. It had to be impossible. Sissy’s mind refused to acknowledge it, which foreshadowed the loss of her focus, and the end soon followed.     

Servi didn’t have to see Sissy’s body to know why Gerld screamed. She was mangled. The skeleton walls had clawed her flesh, tearing her apart like greedy little children ripping open their presents.    

Gerld looked at her shivering hands...as they reached for his cheek... She was alive, but it wouldn’t be for long. Her eyes couldn’t even see him since they had been plucked like grapes. Her throat was ripped, so speaking wouldn’t work.    

He held her close and refused to look away until her final moments had expired.      

Servi felt nothing when Sissy’s soul flew to her ring, and as much as she wanted to destroy it… Servi took the strength because nothing would anger the witch more than a ‘dirty undead’ benefitting from her life force.  Naturally, her death beget an end to the blessing weakening Servi's necromantic abilities and eliminated the shield protecting their hearts. 

“I’ll kill you... I don’t know what kind of monster you are, but I’ll-- YOU’LL DIE HERE!” Gerld was mad. Fury inflamed him. He grabbed a sword that didn’t belong to him and stood...ready to face down the unholy demon that had taken his closest friend. His gaze could kill a stone-faced giant. The tip of his horn throbbed incessantly with his powerful emotions...and as he took the first step forward...   

A powerful goddess gripped his heart...and she made it hurt. The divine being pushed his organ as much as she could without letting him taste the sweet relief of death. Because that would be a mercy. And she had nothing left to spare for these filthy traitors.    

Gerld dropped to his knees. Momo’s sword fell to the ground while he braced himself, his eyes bulging—his face purple-tinted.  His heart couldn’t pump oxygen-rich blood his body desperately desired and yearned for. His death would be painful-- one of the worst ways to go, but Itarr said he deserved it.     

I’ll never forgive them! They must suffer! They knew about Merka and everything else, but they still let it happen! Handle Suusa, Servi! I’ll make Gerld feel what they felt! 

---

“[Heart Clutch]!” I shouted, trying to get Suusa by surprise. But the attack failed. No, it worked, but the heart I grasped was impossibly durable—almost like it was surrounded by a chunk of solid earth.  

“You cannot shatter the heart of a proud geomancer that easily. Keep trying, and you will keep failing.”   

Itarr finished Gerld. He vomited stark red crimson that leaked from his eyes and ears, then perished as one final rattle left his throat. The bastard wouldn’t be missed by me. His soul was just a formality at this point. The goddess targeted the ogre, and we tried together and failed to dent his heart.    

It didn’t feel ‘warm’ as the others did. It felt so strange and unnatural. And if that didn’t work, I had to do something else. I had to finish sooner than later, so if crushing Suusa's heart failed… I’d have to whittle him down—attacking relentlessly without fail. Without any breaks until he struggled to even stand. My inexhaustible stamina and immortality were my only advantages.   

Is it time to bring in Albert? I get one chance at the surprise… I gotta save him for later.    

Itarr had her unique way of fighting, so I charged at Suusa with a raised scythe. He looked down upon me and swung his warhammers, sending two waves of sand. I cut through them, and he wasn’t there. But the ground displaced behind me as I sensed a presence. Itarr shouted an attack was coming, and I jumped to the right, but not before he shattered my legs with two powerful slams.   

A dozen skeleton squires materialized and raised their shields. Suusa hopped back, combined his two warhammers into one, and swung widely to dispatch them in a single hit before separating the two. “It does not matter what you are or what you do. Summon all the undead you like,” taunted Suusa. “I will return them to the ground. Retrieve that little acid trinket and try it. You’ll discover it won’t work. Momo was the exception. We didn’t anticipate that mirror’s magical capabilities, but you cannot replicate her surprise or success! You're on borrowed time!”  

“What?! A mirror?!” But Momo said her lookalike harbored a mirror. So, did that mean... “Rraaahhh!” I stood and swung my scythe. One weapon parried it. The other came down on my shoulder. The ground softened, and I sank into the quicksand before it solidified. He stepped back and reinforced his leg with a sharpened edge before kicking me, cutting me in half. A second kick immediately came, launching my top half. Before slamming into the distant wall, I aimed and fired the acid launcher.   

I’m sorry, but we don’t have enough crystals for another mid-tier! We’re running low! The barrier’s down, so Nyxaris is speeding here as fast as possible.    

Suusa formed a shield of rock perfectly angled to redirect my attack. The glowing orb of corrosiveness hit the ground and skipped, leaving an oozing trail that fizzled before being swallowed by dirt.     

That attempt failed.    

Regeneration was already happening. It was getting even faster. The more I died, the more I became proficient.   

Itarr cried my name. The deepening crimson led him to my body like a red-bricked road, and he taunted me as a visible sandstorm came to life behind him. I weighed my options as the launcher vanished.    

I have an idea! But it requires some preparation! I’m sorry, Servi, but please hold on a little longer! I swear we’ll win!  

 “Oh? You’re surprised. Angry, are you? What can you do? You cannot break my skin. Your catalyst is too weak. Your acid is too paltry to pierce my defenses! You will only leave once I’m dead, and the walls will not descend until that happens. But it won’t. Because you have no way to hurt me. The power of Mother Earth is mighty! My body will not suffer another unexpected wound!”  

The wind picked up. No, it wasn’t that. The room was enclosed, so a breeze was impossible. It was the ground… It reacted to Suusa’s growing will and listened to his commands, giving rise to a sand-fueled tornado localized to this arena.    

I jabbed my scythe into the ground and held on as rocks and condensed dust pierced my skin. I was blinded. The fragments entered my arteries and veins and hardened, creating blood clots.   

Breathing was a formality, not a necessity.   

Momo’s sword and bag were picked up by the storm, and I absorbed them when they came close.    

“I can do this all night! Everyone has a limit, Servi!” shouted Suusa from the storm’s eye. “Geomancers have the most stamina of all elemental manipulators! We’re as sturdy as the rocks that survived for eons! And I am the strongest when encapsulated by my element! Just die! Give up! Face your death like a warrior!”  

“Warrior?! You’re a shitty coward who uses hostages! This… This isn’t over!!! ITARR!!!”  

I’m not finished! A few more seconds… That’s all I need!  

“Oh, but it will.”  Suusa casually crafted swords and knives and threw them into the storm, turning the whirling wind into a blender.  

Every time I opened my mouth, my throat and cheeks were eviscerated. Lacerations upon lacerations oozed blood that flooded my lungs.  Suusa’s additions effortlessly cleaved whatever they hit, but I had endured so much that the flesh instantly connected without adding to the cramped sandstorm. I was constantly wounded and healed, and the storm took on a red hue, but I refused to budge. The sandstorm wouldn’t pick me up!     

“Was Annie a lie?!” I suddenly asked. “What we heard at that cave. Was that planned by the necromancers?”  

“No, and yes.” I didn’t expect a blunt reply. Suusa blankly stared. He felt different from the stand-offish guy I had known when we first met. Was all of it just an act? Was he playing a role then, and was this his true self? “Annie existed. I may not have told you many truths, but the story contained no falsehoods. We were geomancers. The desert was our home. A product of whatever you spawned from cannot understand a practitioner of [Elemental Manipulation]. You don’t know what we endure to obtain this forbidden power. You don’t know the bonds that can arise from it… It isn’t about mastering an element. It’s about becoming that element. And Annie and I were partners in our training. She was my everything!”  

Did the slavers want someone with Annie’s powers? Did it matter? She had died at the end of it all.   

Okay! It’s done! Here’s what we must do…  

The plan was sound, but would it work? Was it worth using every crystal?  

We had no other choice.  It was either that or we fought a battle of exhaustion that could take hours. I had to end it soon. Albert’s arrival could distract Suusa, but he didn’t have the power to break the shell. The skeletal warlord, however…   

Would it be enough?   

…  

If this doesn’t work… I already told Albert to ready himself, Servi. 

“What? More skeletons?” Suusa groaned as four squires were instantly destroyed. But that was to let his guard down. Four bony walls appeared to my left and right. 

They were curved. The whooshing winds were redirected to accompany the rounded design—not slam into it. And they met in an arch, providing more stability.   

And just like that… I had a tunnel to Suusa. But it wouldn’t last long. The walls quivered from the debris Suusa had thrown into the storm. It’d be destroyed in two or three seconds, so I ran like the devil and jumped...  

This corridor was to get me close enough for the goddess to implement her surprise.   

But it wasn't just one thing.   

Or two.   

Or even ten.   

The moment my defensive surroundings fell to his mighty spell…  

…over one hundred skeletal ravenwatchers with skull-shaped bombs strapped to their backs appeared.   

Itarr’s ultimate plan was a horde of bombers. They flew into the storm and encircled Suusa, swarming like piranhas chomping at meat that fell into their pond.   

One smashed into him from behind. Another two flew for his face. One attacked the legs. It was explosion after explosion, and Suusa finally roared after being knocked around. He repurposed the sandstorm and encapsulated himself in a cocoon of rock and dirt.      

Boom!  

Boom!  

Boom!  

Boom!  

Without the wind affecting their flight pattern, Itarr directed them to attack a single spot right after the other. The ground never stopped shaking. Chunks fractured off left and right. 

And it’s here! Use this!  

[Acid Arrow]’s new form dropped into my hands as I took a shooting stance.   

It was a sniper rifle—one taller than me with a thickened, long barrel. Its crystal, crimson hue reflected the illumination orbs ahead as I looked down the scope. 

The gun was as silent as a corpse as I pulled the trigger...and the acid-covered bullet struck true, piercing through the cocoon like a bullet through paper.     

It created a crack.   

A small one.  

But an opening. The next twenty ravenwatchers choreographed a flight pattern and systemically and rapidly bombed their new target as Itarr swapped the rifle for the [Shadow Shot] rocket launcher. I aimed and fired, quadrupling the hole’s size. It wasn’t big enough for the birds, but 9 seconds later…  

The acid launcher finished the job.    

All at once, the remaining ravenwatchers flew into it and detonated their payload, scattering explosive fragmentations that decimated the rest of the cocoon. Thick, black smoke cladded the results opaque, and I ran closer. Two more birds appeared and flapped their bony wings. The hazy smoke scattered, and…    

Suusa was broken, missing a leg and both arms. A dozen fragments lodged into his chest—his real one. That layer of rocky armor had been destroyed, showcasing his stomach’s innards…  

The organs of flesh… They were made of stone and rock. The veins and arteries were surrounded by dirt. No—they were dirt.  Even his muscles and bones were the same. Very little resembled what a regular person would have.  

“There’s not a lot of blood…”  

“Having blood…means I haven’t completed my training… Annie…died before… We were to…cross the line…together… And become scions of the Mother Earth…”  Suusa coughed. He spat red-tinged dust. I had seen him bleed when we first met, but that must’ve been a trick. It wasn’t hard to hide a blood pouch.    

“You won’t get any final words. I don’t have the time. I won’t say sorry. I’m happy you’re dead. You’re a piece of shit. I hate you so much. You brought this on yourself, so don’t go feeling sorry for yourself, you jackass.”  

“Answer me…this. What…are—”  

Slice!  

I told him… He wouldn’t get any final words. My scythe cut through his neck with ease.   

A brown orb flew from Suusa’s corpse. It was textured like stone and went into my ring without issue. The ground shivered from behind. The walls trembled since their creator had died.   

It’s like necromancy, Servi. [Elemental Manipulation] needs to be initialized before we can use it. And it only harbors [Earth Manipulation].   

“Will it cancel [Necromancy]?”  

No. It won’t. We can use both simultaneously.   

“How long will it take?”  

An hour? Maybe two? I can't tell. Should I start?  

“Yeah, please. And keep making blood crystals. We’ll probably need more undead.”  

Okay. Albert’s still waiting.    

I approached the wall with my scythe ready. Already, it was cracking apart, flaking off like dandruff from an unwashed head.  

It’d crumble under its weight in two or three seconds.    

 Our blood crystals were running very low. We had enough for four or five uses of [Heart Clutch]. But if Momo had a collar on her neck like the other slaves…  

I had to be calm… The moment was arriving…  

This long, long night was about to end…