It is highly inappropriate to think of an Animancy Core as a weapon. It is not a weapon. It does not destroy.

Quite Contrarily, it forces you to be remembered. It splays your narrative upon the System, fusing you with Integration itself. Perhaps the best way to understand it is as a poorly told story, in which the first person bleeds into the third. With you being the first person and the System being the third. This is why most who are caught in the detonation of an Animancy Core are actually immortal. Immortal in the worst possible sense. They cannot die. They will always remain, but pulled apart at their foundations.

Some report faint traces of blue staining reality afterward. It is less a form of mana and more a bruise, painting a new, partially fused entity under the skin of existence.

And so, we use Animancy as a weapon. A feared weapon. These cores that my father has created are regarded as instruments of unparalleled destruction. There are treaties binding them from use, and the Faiths refuse to develop them further. But destruction was not what they were made for. They were made to change the System itself, to deliver a universal narrative—to bring an end to strife.

For if we are capable of deciding a narrative, of leaving wounds upon the System itself, if it is possible to mix third with first, then why can we not use first to usurp the third?

It is too late to turn away now. We have already stolen fire from the System. All that remains is choosing how we wish to burn.

-Udraal Thann's Animancy Notes

154 (I)

Weapon

Shiv let everyone out of his cape, and Adam caught them up on what was going on.

Whisper responded in an instant. He ordered one of his fellow orcs to head across the dimensional pathway and make for the Tutorial. There, he was to inform their army about what was happening on the surface, and that they were to scramble and push for Blackedge immediately.

Uva projected one of her strands and cast a thought into Shiv's mind. "Shiv, I need to borrow your dragon."

"Choki?" Shiv asked. "Sure, but why? What are you planning?"

"The sun is coming up. I also have yet to accommodate myself to surface sickness. The dragon suffers no such issues, and if I keep my mana strands tight within the confines of its mind, I should be able to avoid the Light Curse."

The idea of Uva entering the battle during day time made Shiv's gut clench with instinctive dread, but a time dragon was a better vessel than most. "Alright, take the dragon, but make sure the Curse doesn't affect you. If it shows any effect, head right back into the gate immediately. Don't burn for nothing."

He wanted to say something more, but she sent a pulse of affection through his mind, and he fell silent.

"Just be careful," Shiv said.

"As careful as I can be," Uva replied. She let out a quiet chuckle. "If you didn't want me to be in such grave danger all the time, then you shouldn't have made yourself so favored and contaminated me as well."

"Yeah, the System and I are gonna have a word about that sometime."

Without saying anything further, Uva promptly departed as well, leaving only Whisper, a few of his fellow orcs, Valor, Rose, Can Hu, and Adam nearby.

"Mother," Adam said to Rose, "I need you to stay here."

"No. I need to be at Blackedge," she said. She cupped his cheek and stared into his eyes. "You are not telling me to stay here while everything is going to hell. I won't listen. And you won't tell me no."

Adam swallowed. Shiv knew that the wisest thing to do would be to confine her to Gate Piety, but before an onslaught of overwhelming emotions, wisdom had little hope to prevail.

"If you're going into this, you're sticking with me," Shiv said. "You're going to be with Valor inside my cape. That's about the safest place around."

Adam winced at Shiv's statement, but he didn't dispute it. Shiv was at once the most likely to die in the coming fight, but considering that he wasn't going to stay dead, her odds of survival were considerably higher with him than without. "Are you sure about this?"

"Fuck no, I'm not sure about this," Shiv shot back. He looked at Rose and shook his head, "You're not even an Initiate right now. If things go wrong—"

"I die," Rose cut him off with a scornful scoff. "I've been a Pathbearer longer than you've been alive. I've been a Pathbearer since I was barely a girl. I know the consequences of defeat. I have lived the consequences." Her expression turned sour. "And I would do it again. I will not abandon my love or my people to fate while my child suffers in my place. If there is anything I can do, or any difference I can make, I won't leave. I won't turn away."

Her eyes came aglow with a faint, violet energy. Within her expression, Shiv saw the Diviner she used to be, and he knew there was no swaying her. That, and he didn't think it was in his right to force a mother to abandon her son as he went to war.

He drew in a deep breath. "Fine. But do not do anything stupid. I didn't shit you out of my soul just so that you could end up dying a pointless death."

"Don't be so cynical, boy." She chuckled humorlessly. "Dying pointless deaths is kind of what we Pathbearers do." She cracked her neck and looked him up and down, "But you know that better than most of us, Shiv. Or at least you should."

"Valor. Can Hu," Shiv called out, turning away from Rose.

"I will make sure Lady Van Erren remains unharmed," Valor said. "Additionally, I would request that you project your Psychomancy down into the Forest of Alloy. That way, I and Can Hu might be able to provide you with active assistance from the inside as well."

"Sure," Shiv said. "But things are probably going to turn into a real shitshow pretty quick, so—"

"I just need a bit of context and an opening," Valor said. "I intend to keep you spared from Necromancy if I can."

As Rose, Can Hu, and Valor entered Shiv's cape again, the Deathless regarded Whisper.

"Think you can keep us from being noticed by the Vicar once we get up close?" Shiv asked. "Because I didn't do so well myself last time."

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"I dare not promise the sky nor the heavens, but let's see how this goes," the orc replied with an excited twinkle in his eyes. If there was one good thing about the orcs, it was the fact that the bastards were unshakable. A sphere of Dimensionality expanded out from Whisper, and it formed a protective veil shielding them from notice. Anyone staring in from the outside wouldn't see Whisper or anyone beside him. "Even so, I would assume that my Dimensionality will buy us at least a few moments against the Legend."

The orc drew his Stealth Skill back into his body.

"Alright. Very simple briefing," Adam said, trying to keep his breath under control. "The Necrotechs unleashed a massive attack on Blackedge earlier, and while my father was occupied, something shrouded in Dimensionality emerged from the Abyss. Now it's hovering over Blackedge like a blade set to fall. The Necrotechs are charging it with Necromantic mana, and it's building up fast. We need to get into position. We need to, we need to—"

Shiv grabbed the Gate Lord by the shoulder and squeezed him gently. "We'll figure this shit out. Like before. Like always." When Adam's expression was still stiff, the Deathless shrugged. "Maybe our tentative plan can be you firing an arrow at one of my Vitae Golems if everything goes to shit. That should obliterate all the Necros at least."

"And us," Adam replied, rolling his eyes. "And have you forgotten how Sullain managed to secure your Vitae last time?"

"Yeah, but that's just the thing, right? He had to secure it. It might be able to distract him for a few seconds, during which we launch a bunch more golems at him. Maybe we can overwhelm him that way."

Adam arched an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that kill all of us and set fire to a good portion of the continent? And the Pacific?"

"Yeah, but it might kill Sullain too," Shiv said. "Which is one of our objectives. And I would come back to life afterward and receive a juicy Legendary Skill, which is the most important thing."

Against all odds, Adam laughed. He slammed a fist against Shiv's chest. "You're an impossible bastard, you know that?"

"Yeah, but who else is going to go on these suicide missions with you?"

"No one," Adam said. Then he paused for a beat. "I would have no one else, either."

Shiv's mouth opened slightly. He cleared his throat as the sentimentality caught him off guard. It didn't even matter that the orcs were looking at him.

The two Pathbearers stared at each other, prodigal sons of Blackedge, forced from one bad situation to another. And here they were, faced with another calamity, another mess, another moment of desperate gambles and apocalyptic stakes. Despite everything riding on the line, Shiv felt happier than he ever did before.

Because this was what it meant to be a Pathbearer. This was what it meant to walk against the world, to fight the storm—and prevail.

As soon as they departed the gate, colors of faint blue pierced the periphery of Shiv's vision. Everything in the direction of the Lost Angeles ruins was enshrouded by the light of Animancy. Shiv could see pitch-black war clouds drifting above the ruins, their forms composed by smoke and ash. The sky beyond was no longer a canvas of black; rather, a softer light was seeping into the firmament. Even so, falling arrows twinkled constantly in the backdrop, spearing down as an unceasing meteor shower.

As Roland's latest barrage landed, pillars of flame speared up into the air, painting the world in additional columns of radiance. The ground shook, explosions rumbled in the distance, and the faint glare of Animancy was growing ever brighter.

Adam took aim in the direction of Lost Angeles as he prepared to release a Veilpiercer.

Shiv looked at him. "Aren't you afraid they'll spot us immediately? I thought we were moving under the cover of Whisper's Dimensionality."

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Adam replied, his eyes shifting between a brilliant dawn and the blue of a midday sky. He was searching for a place to plant his arrows. "Besides, they're all focused on Blackedge now. Every single Necrotech is surging toward the town. We should have an opening. I hope."

"Then their backs are exposed," Whisper hummed. The other orcs unsheathed their daggers and shortswords excitedly. "Now is the time to slit and gouge."

Adam fired his shot. A dimensional rift opened before them, and the Gate Lord sped across immediately. Shiv accelerated behind him, and finally, Whisper and the other orcs followed along. There was a wild urgency to Adam's movements. All caution was thrown to the wind. As Shiv stared through their dimensional exit, he saw billowing waves of smoke and ash spilling into the pathway.

The air stank of sulfur, and Shiv's Vibrosense enchantment shuddered all across his body. He could feel just how much force was being outputted on the other side, just how many explosions were hammering Lost Angeles into dust.

No matter what else Shiv had to say about Roland Arrow, the man was a true Pathbearer. Weeks upon weeks of nigh-constant combat, and he was still a godsdamned monster—still smashing the Necrotechs and the city they emerged from flat.

Master my ass, Shiv thought to himself. The Town Lord's been a Legend in hiding this entire time.

Adam crossed through the gate first, and immediately, he grew six sets of Hydrokinetic arms out from his body. He fired a barrage of arrows all around him, forming a wall of rifts to shroud everyone from harm. At the same time, he swung his rapier. It flashed time and again, and a small army of clones joined the group in record speed, and they began firing their arrows too. As they did, Adam pulled out his Hydromantic wand and used it for the first time.

A massive sphere of water exploded out from him. It splashed through Shiv and the orcs without imparting any force on them. As the water folded over them harmlessly, they exploded through each of the dimensional pathways, like the bottom of an ocean channeled across a dozen narrow tunnels. Before Shiv could understand what Adam was doing, the Gate Lord fired another dimensional pathway right at his feet, and a new exit revealed itself.

"Across, now," Adam said. "Shiv, you're on point. We keep moving. We never stay in one place."

Shiv didn't ask questions. He'd fought with Adam long enough to trust the Gate Lord's instincts. He accelerated across as his inertial sheath thundered. Adam tipped pace behind him. He had six Veilpiercers nocked already. And with the final water-forged hand, he summoned more and more clones, filling the space behind him.

"When we get across to the other side," Adam called out, "we need to destroy the Necrotech projectors powering the weapon. You can't miss it once you're high enough in the air. Just follow the beams of corrosive mana back to the launch sites. Ignore the artillery. There are already orcs fighting here. They've been silencing outposts and assassinating enemy elites, but we're going to need more of them to do any actual damage to the Vicar's army."

The exit was fast approaching, and Adam grimaced. "And then we need to figure out how to deal with Sullain himself."

"Well, if we distract him long enough, maybe the Inquisition will handle him for us," Shiv replied.

Adam shot a look at Shiv. "And how long will it take for them to arrive?"

"Not too long. I think." Shiv was pretty sure they were coming—that they didn't want to see Blackedge and especially Starhawk's Perch destroyed or taken.

"You think," Adam muttered. "Gods help us."

"Afraid they're actually the enemy, Adam. We're on our own."

Then, they were through the exit, and Shiv found himself blasting up into the air.

As he climbed high, he took in the ruins of the surrounding megacity. Kilometers of urban architecture were missing on all sides. Sections of Lost Angeles were pockmarked in deep trenches of glass, wounds scarred deep into the land by Roland's arrows.

Shiv looked around, trying to find Blackedge, and a flash of searing green led him to what he sought. High up in the air, something immense hung in the sky above Blackedge. It was practically twice the size of the entire town, and Shiv suspected that if it fell when the town's wards were down, it might just smash Blackedge out of the sky, whatever it was.

As the first rays of sunlight began spilling over the curve of the horizon, the weapon's shadow spilled down upon the ruined megacity. It was shaped like an inverted anvil, and beams of Necromancy were being channeled into it from across the city. Eerie, green circles were filling along the construct's spine. There were ten of these concentric windows in total, and right now, the first window was glowing with a radiant orb of Animancy, while the six after it were already infused with Necromancy. Shiv assumed once the remaining three windows were filled, the weapon would unleash its power on Blackedge, and all would be for naught.

But that wasn't the only issue. From all across the city, the Necrotechs were firing beams of corrosive mana up into the air. It wasn't just to charge their weapon, but also to box Blackedge in. A Necromantic barrier walled the city off from the rest of the world, like a cage holding prisoners. A similar cage was fused over the weapon, and even as Roland's arrows splashed against it, the explosions were blunted by the withering effect of Necromancy—and what little got through was consumed by the faint blue of Animancy.

"Quite a strange way to use a corrosion screen," Valor said, studying the scene through Shiv's eyes. "The amount of mana it must cost to shroud both the town and the weapon is astronomical. It would just be better if they formed a curved dome in the sky for the arrows. Ah. Sullain was never a good strategist."

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