B4 Chapter 503: Ashen City, Finale

Kaius was more than experienced with the many varied ways in which growing stronger could be unpleasant.

Refinement was up there, though perhaps a little more tolerable than the years of agony it took to merge Rapid Adaptation, and the sensation of having his entire being melt when Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus had changed him.

The second he accepted the system’s prompt, his Aspects exploded. Every iota of essence that he had fed to his pillars, every scrap of power that he had forced to flow through his triumvirate, all of it.

One second, he was sitting focused, his entire attention directed inwards. The next, he was swept away in a tide of agony. It was like having every scrap of arcane power from the imperial mainframe injected into his veins.

His aspects might have been metaphysical, but the wave of shards that rocked through his soul cut him as easily as glass. From the point they once hung above his soul, a shockwave of energy expanded — scouring him from his deepest, most internal self.

Kaius gasped, lurching upright before he flopped back.

“Kaius!”

Nigh insensate, he couldn’t make out who had called his name, let alone respond.

Essence tore through him, attacking everything it touched. Lancing at his soul, it expanded and breached the edges of his soulspace.

Now in his body, it reigned with terror. Shudders wracked his body as his muscles seized, tearing sensations overwhelming him in a wave. His blood curdled, incapable of withstanding the simple superiority of the energy that suffused them.

Barely managing shallow gasps, Kaius grit his teeth as his gums wept blood. This wasn’t the end. No matter how destructive, he refused to believe that he’d made a mistake. He’d followed the system’s guidance to the letter.

Whatever was happening, it was a necessary step. No warrior was born in a cocoon of silk — blood and fire had always been his womb.

A single shudder wracked his chest, followed by a terrifying stillness. Health bloomed, a maddening itch only heightening his agony as the resource desperately tried and failed to restore the damage Essence left in its wake.

Rotten roots, had his bloody heart stopped?

Kaius tried to suck in a breath, only to hit a solid wall — his lungs filled with a soup of dissolving flesh.

Forcing himself to open his eyes, he saw only a painted smear of red. There was a faint impression of movement — his team crowding over him, maybe? It was hard to focus on with his body actively dissolving.

Kaius rode out the torment knowing, hoping, that whatever was next would come soon. Maybe he’d been wrong? Maybe there were latent risks to Refinement. Some preparation he had failed to make due to lacking knowledge.

With the thought, came fear. Surely not? The information packet they had received on this step of the Path had mentioned no such thing, nor had Xenanra.

The wave of essence hit his bones. The agony of it made him twitch. A crack ran up his arm, the limb flopping to his side. There was no more pain — he wasn’t sure if there could be more pain.

Gods’ scorn, the pain was nothing — it was the feeling of his body betraying him that tore him to the core. He should have been gasping. His heart should be pounding in his chest. There was nothing — no image he could focus on. Not even a sound, that too washed away as sticky heat trickled from his ears.

Even those worries fled as the essence reached his head. Unknowable colours flashed through his mind’s eye, and his thoughts blurred, leaving only the most basal awareness behind.

Time became meaningless.

The system stepped in.

Suddenly he was back, a witness to essence being chained by an alien power. Step by step, he was reborn. Bones remoulded, blood pumped hot, and his breath came in a violent gasp as his nerves screamed once more.

“If you don’t answer me right now, I’m going to drag you to the hospital between my teeth!” Porkchop’s voice sounded loud in his mind, full of panic and frustration.

“I’m. Okay,” he squeezed out, “Getting. Better. Part of it, I think.”

After that, he pushed away his friends’ pleas — he needed to understand what was being done to him.

Everywhere the System touched, his body was remoulded. It wasn’t stronger — not like the rebirth he had experienced during his ascent to the second tier. There was a little of that, but it felt fractional.

No, instead it felt like an acclimation. The System didn’t remove all of his Essence. Traces remained, coursing through his flesh as they slowly dissipated into nothing. Unlike earlier, there was no pain. He’d grown tolerant of the violence of its presence. More than that, he could sense it with a clarity that he’d never been able to before. It felt like it was his — an ownership that could never be revoked without his will.

Once his body was reforged, his attention dipped inwards — to his soul. There, the reclaimed essence grew brighter as it was compacted. Bit by bit, the System separated the glowing cloud into three distinct forms.

Pillars.

One second, there was nothing. The next, he felt a crunch.

His Aspects stood proud and tall once more, their previous murky grey replaced by a shining white.

**Ding! Refinement Completed! Alabaster Foundation achieved!**

**Ding! Moderate Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Trailblazer III**

Kaius took a deep, shaking breath as the process finished. It turned into a splutter, bloody remnants of his tribulation splattering into his lap. He blinked, only to realise his eyes were pasted over.

“Hells,” he said, wiping his eyes. It only smeared the blood.

“Here,” Ianmus replied, pressing a wet cloth into his hand.

He wiped at his face, staring at the shock of red that soaked the rag. His friends were clustered in close, their faces a shared mirror of concern.

“What in the fuck was that?” Kenva said, standing up and placing her hands on her hips.

“Refinement? I didn’t quite expect it to be that bad, but I’m fine now — better than fine, really,” He adjusted in his seat, only to realise the entire thing was saturated with his own bodily fluid. “Gross. I need to wash off his blood, I’ll explain what I can while I do.”

He’d long since lost any shame about being in his small clothes in front of his team.

Hurrying to the washroom, Kaius turned on a spigot and practically dove under the stream of water. It was a wide room — tiled, with a wide bench that dominated one wall and a series of taps above them.

Scrubbing at the buckle of his armour, he slowly disrobed — a steady stream of brown and red running into a nearby drain. As he worked, he walked his team through what he had experienced — the detonation of his pillars, the dissolution, and the rebirth. All of it.

Listening to his story, Ianmus slumped onto the washroom’s bench. “So, it’s an experience we’ll all have to go through, then. It sounds…unpleasant.”

Kaius grinned, his teeth still stained bloody. “Oh gods, is it. Worth it though — I got the next Trailblazer honour.”

His team stilled, before similar hungry smiles spilled across their faces.

“We best hurry up then, don’t want others to steal our thunder now, do we?” Kenva said, removing her armoured jacket to scrub at the embedded grime under another tap.

“What about the Refinement’s effects? I know you said it felt Essence focused, but have you checked the system description?”

Kaius shook his head. “No, but I will soon. Now that I’m not distracted, I thought it best we discuss our current situation.”

“The Tyrant,” Ianmus said glumly.

“The Tyrant,” Kaius agreed. “It’s up to something. It’s a threat created by the System, and has something to do with essence. Plus, we know it’s fond of direct challenges, based on Dross’s experience. I think we should be ready to face it head on, soon.”

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“You don’t think it’s going to attack the city again?”

Kaius hesitated. The guards and defenders of the city had survived. Today had been a meat grinder, and every man and woman who still breathed had come out the other end stronger for it. They’d been forced to grapple with monsters beyond their capability — it was exactly the sort of thing that aligned with the Integration. At least, it did with his limited understanding of what the system was aiming for.

He had no doubt that no one who’d lived through tonight would treat safety as a given ever again. That, and there would be those that learned they could face creatures as strong or stronger than them and succeed. If the Tyrant had been trying to nurture warriors with some sort of twisted care, it might have succeeded.

But would it stop?

“I don’t know. If it is a challenge, like we suspect, then it might not yet be done. We might have to persist through a few waves before it comes for us. We just have to be ready when it does,” he finally said.

“What else can we do? We’re already on alert, it’s not like we can magically get stronger just because we wish it so.”

“We need to stay close — no doubt if Rieker has the same suspicions, it’ll come up in tomorrow’s meeting. I want us to stick together as a team — if the Tyrant is really sending targeted threats to occupy us and the other elites, us acting as a single unit will not make too much of a difference for the defence.”

Kenva paused, thinking for a moment. “I’m happy to move together, but I think Ianmus and I should really focus on those fliers. They were lethal. Without us, some of the more dangerous ones will be able to run amok.”

“That’s fine — I just want us close enough to be able to support each other if anything happens. As long as we can push for it in the meeting, I’m happy.”

Kaius knew that it would be something of a hindrance for the defence. That pulling Ianmus and Kenva from such a high vantage point would limit their ability to leverage their strength. He couldn’t get the image of them being attacked by the Tyrant from his mind.

He felt responsibility for the people of Deadacre, but this was his team. Losing them might just damn near kill him, especially if it was because he wasn’t there to help them.

Shaking his head, Kaius banished the thought. He wouldn’t let it happen.

“I’m going to check these notifications — best we know the effects of Refinement in case it’s beneficial for the days ahead.”

Alabaster Foundation:

Aspect Refinement – First Stage

The first stage of refining your Aspects into an indomitable foundation that supports all that follows on the path, an Alabaster Foundation is a thing of fragile purity. Weakness has been excised, but cracks remain. With such a brittle thing, taking the next step will be precarious and fraught indeed. More importantly, to be satisfied with such a small victory is unsuitable for one of our oaths. Pursue further Refinements to solidify your claim as one who walks the Path, and secure your place within these walls.

As a stage of Refinement, the Alabaster Foundation begins the process of transformation that is mandatory to progress further on the path. Your existence has been remoulded, granting fractional benefits to baseline capabilities. Far more importantly, you have been inundated with essence, strengthening your connection to the energy, and the Aspects that generate it.

Infinitesimal improvement to baseline capabilities.

Minute Essence Resistance gained.

Minute improvement to Essence control and awareness.

Slight improvement to Essence generation.

Slight empowerment of Aspect abilities.

Slight improvement to Authority and Authority control.

…

Trailblazer III:

Honour

Pillars of the self, enshrining fundamental truths. Soon to be reforged in platinum flames so that they may support the foundation of all that will come.

Awarded to the first twenty to Refine their Aspects in a given cohort. Provides a Moderate decrease to the difficulty of further stages of Refinement. +5 all stats, +3% all stats.

Bonus: For being in the first five of your cohort to achieve this Honour the stat bonus is increased to +8 all stats, +4% all stats

Kaius blinked as he read the description of his latest Honour. It was bizarre: a total departure from the progression of every other honour he had received.

“Huh.”

“What? Something weird about refinement?” Porkchop asked.

“No, not that,” Kaius replied with a shake of his head, “It’s the Honour — Trailblazer III. The progression’s strange. It’s… Easier to achieve. First twenty to refine, instead of first five. Same with the bonus, it’s first five instead of first.”

His friends went quiet at his explanation, mulling over the change. Kaius found it almost hard to believe — an Honour? Getting easier to acquire?

“Maybe it’s unique to Trailblazer — or at least to Honours relating to eventual Ascension,” Ianmus said, breaking the silence. “It would make some sort of sense. Nurturing ascendants is one of the System’s major goals, and the Path is supposed to be a devilishly difficult endeavour.”

Kaius nodded his head slowly. It didn’t feel like a complete picture though. “Why such a radical divergence though? All of our other Honours grow more difficult to complete, but the bonuses and requirements are just as restrictive as ever.”

“Bah, it is not so strange. Those of the greatest potential are always given the most favourable hunting grounds in the dens. If the system wants ascendants, it will have greater reason to encourage those who are growing close. I would not be surprised if later steps of the path have guaranteed Honours.”