225 (III)

First-Aid

Shiv froze. He stared down at her hand as if it were a snake being thrown in his face. Shiv coughed awkwardly and finally reached out to clasp her hand. They shook, and the Deathless winced internally. Stormhalt. Of course, just my fucking luck to run into someone from that family again.

"So, uh," Shiv swallowed awkwardly, "is the class gonna be a lot like this?"

"Sometimes less chaotic, sometimes more." Maxime chuckled. There was a twinkle in her eye. "I think if you can handle this, though, you probably will be able to handle the rest as well. Do you have a name, volunteer?"

"I, uh, I'm a first-year! I mean, Marcus Unblood," Shiv stammered.

Acting 17 18

"Unblood?" Maxime frowned slightly. "Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that."

It took Shiv a moment to register what she was trying to say. "Oh, yeah, that... uh, you know, we do the best with what we got, right?"

A surprising expression of sympathy crept over her features. "Indeed. And so you know, it's not all champagne and rainbows when you're on the other side. Nobility comes with its own problems."

"Nobility?" Shiv asked.

She nodded. "Let's just say, sometimes you wish you were an Unblood when you're born to certain families."

A loud cry came from another corner of the room, and through the clamour and din, Shiv heard someone howling for Maxime.

"Anyhow, it's good to meet you, Marcus. I hope to see you later tonight. I'll put in a good word with Hero-Biomancer Van Erren for you."

"Van Erren?" Shiv muttered. There was another family name he was familiar with. But she didn't explain anymore. Instead, Maxime was off, moving on to the next patient that needed her.

As Shiv looked on, watching as Maxime vanished in the crowd, he felt someone clap his shoulder. It was one of his fellow volunteers, the spade-faced automaton.

"Nice going, Marcus," the automaton said. "You got something that my scanners missed."

The other automaton, its head shaped like the clubs symbol of a playing card, gave a loud scoff. "Not a significant feat considering the quality of your scanners."

"Do you wish to finish our scuffle from earlier?" the spade-faced automaton asked. "Because I will be glad to educate you in offending me right now."

Its opposite rolled its head in place of its static eyes. "Please. Last time was a fluke."

The two automata sized each other up, and a low groan came from their patient. She lifted her head and stared at Shiv. Her mouth opened and closed several times, and then she whispered, "Water. Can I have some water?"

Psycho-Cartography: Somehow, I think this one might make a full recovery.

***

It took two more hours before all the ailing students from the Dragon Dorm were properly shifted to the on-campus hospital. During that time, Shiv executed two more hidden Master-Tier assassins without the girl's knowing, and only relented his watch when the Headmaster himself suddenly materialized and spirited her away. Where Hades Hymn had taken the half-giant girl, Shiv wasn't sure, but one thing was increasingly obvious: He wasn't the only person with a mountain's worth of trouble hounding his ass at Phoenix Academy.

Despite the calamitous event, there was no follow-up notification regarding a suspension of classes or anything of the like.

The on-campus notifications were silent for now, but Shiv kept an eye out. In the meantime, he internally grumbled about how his sightseeing had been ruined again, and how it hadn't been his fault, as the System-favored, this time. Instead, he had a certain Heroic-Tier Inquisitor to blame.

After explaining things to Adam, Shiv found his way back to the coliseum, where Young Lord Alec DeGraille was woken up by a blast of ice-cold water to the face.

He returned to consciousness with a ragged cry, and as he looked around, blinking through bleary eyes, he saw Shiv again, stripped of his perfect semblance, standing before him as a visage of death. The fear chain between them grew stronger, and despite his best attempts, the Young Lord failed to mask his utter terror. Shiv grew larger, his magic grew stronger, and he glared down at the offender who'd killed so many.

Shape of Monstrosity 140 142

"Irons is on the way," Adam said from just behind Shiv. He, too, was glaring at the mass murderer, though there was a sense of tension in his body language.

"You wanna just hand him over?" Shiv asked.

"It would be the proper thing to do. A trial will be conducted, an investigation will be underway, and after that… After that, I suspect the Hero-Inquisitor's reputation will take a hit. He might get kicked out of his organization. Maybe."

"What are the odds of him actually being placed in a Rubix Well?"

Adam paused. He looked aside as if trying to calculate the chances.

"The law takes some time," Adam muttered. "The nobility are not immune to punishment."

"You ever read about a Hero-Inquisitor getting put in prison?" Shiv asked, tilting his head. "Because I haven't. And right now, with all the things that are happening around the capital..." The Deathless shrugged. "I'm not dealing with more bullshit assassination attempts, Adam. I'm handling this today. Before classes even begin. We have enough problems: We're not doing defense here."

"So, what are you thinking?" Adam asked.

"My father, he's a very important person!" the Young Lord cried aloud. He tried to summon his flames, but the moment he did, Shiv tugged on his fear chain and seized him by the throat. Young Lord Alec DeGraille gagged. Shiv stared at him as if he were a cockroach peering out from a crack in the wall. Shiv sent a rush of Shapeless Tides through the Young Lord's already mutilated Pyromancy field. Alec shrieked—and his cries only grew louder as Shiv inflicted him with Dread-Tainted, forcing him to experience Daughter's terror on top of his own.

"I think I'm going to be having a conversation with this one's father real soon."

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Adam leaned in a bit closer to Shiv. "I don't know about this, Shiv. It's a lot of noise. Assassinating a Hero-Inquisitor..."

"Who said anything about assassinating?" Shiv replied flatly. "We don't need to kill him."

Adam blinked. "You're not going to kill him?"

Shiv laughed darkly. "I really, really want to. However, it would be nicer if he confessed, wouldn't it? To bring this thing to an end. And there's also another conversation I want to be a part of. One between him and his so-called half-daughter. I want to know why a dorm was burned down for this nonsense."

And with that, the Gate Lord's expression grew sour once more. Young Lord Alec DeGraille pawed at Shiv's face, trying to burn his way through Shiv's helmet. The flames he conjured were barely more than sparks, and Shiv ignored them altogether. Slowly, he drew his new "friend" closer and whispered into the Young Lord's right ear.

"Alright, Alec, I'm going to visit your father later. You're going to need to tell me where you guys are staying, how we're going to get there, and what kind of security you have around your house."

"I—" Alec gagged. "You… Let me go… You're going to wish that you were never born after what my family will do to you!"

"Nah, other way around," Shiv replied coldly. "And none of you are going to remember me, anyway. I'm not a very good Psychomancer. Not like a certain lady I know. But I'm good enough that I can find obvious things and crack them, and you don't have the Magical Resistance to stop me. Now. You can cooperate with a whole, intact body, or I'll find another means of persuading you. It's your choice."

Alec's eyes widened, but then he clenched his jaw, and he tried spitting at Shiv. The Deathless turned his head away, and the globule of saliva struck nothing but the wall.

"Alright, then." Shiv jabbed the Young Lord lightly in the stomach. Alec doubled over and heaved a puddle of undigested fish heads all over the floor. "You chose. This isn't going to be fun for you."

Shiv then spun on his heel and walked away from Alex. "Let's go," Shiv said, wrapping an arm around Adam's shoulder. "We probably don't want to hang around for this."

"I thought you were going to interrogate him," Adam said, looking back, uncertain about what they were doing.

"Oh, no, I'm not good at that. I don't like torturing people, Adam. Fighting them? Sure. Killing bastards? Hells yeah. Torturing people? I'd rather spend my time on something nicer. Thankfully, I don't need to do everything on my own."

And from Shiv's cape, Helix emerged, his Biomancy mana flaring around him. He looked down at his new plaything with a look of glee. "I hope you know some homework will come of this, Insul. I will leave his exterior untouched."

Shiv waved him off. "Just make it quick. Otherwise, I'll tell the other orcs, and they'll want to get in on the action too."

A collection of twisting wings stretched out from behind the orc. "Oh, we really can't have that now, can we?"

"W-wait!" Alec cried, his facade of courage crumbling.

"You chose," Shiv growled, not bothering to turn around. "You burned that dorm. You tried to kill that girl. And now the System has given you to me. Nothing is up to you anymore. Nothing."

"Please!" Alec wailed.

Shiv didn't hear the rest. Neither did Adam. They left that section of the maze and left Helix to his devices.

***

When they next saw the Young Lord, his flesh was unblemished, and he was most cooperative.

The entire process took less than twenty minutes.

***

"Gods damn it! Gods fucking damn it!" Hero-Inquisitor Simeon DeGraille slammed his fist down on his ebonwood desk over and over again, causing wards to flash each time. He vented his rage as he listened to the breaking notifications broadcast through the cube-shaped Diviner slotted into the center of his desk.

Apparently, someone had set fire to one of the dorms at the university. Apparently, there were 47 dead at the Dragon Dorm. And yet, his greatest shame wasn't among them.

It didn't take much deduction on his part to figure out who set the fire or why. Alec…

Simeon had told that stupid boy. He'd told him over and over again that he would handle this matter himself. Alec was already disfavored. Ever since the fiasco at the brothel—with the twins Alec burned to death—the Hero-Inquisitor knew his middle son was a lost cause.

But now, with this... The sheer amount of resources it would take the Hero-Inquisitor to wipe away the evidence would be nigh immeasurable.

And the girl was still alive! That damned useless fuckup couldn't even do one thing right.

But there's still Interrogator Sinjin, the Hero-Inquisitor reminded himself. He leaned back into his chair and let out a breath. Sinjin has never failed me. The moment Sinjin gets a chance, he'll use his Chronomancy and—

The Hero-Inquisitor's senses screamed. There was someone behind him. He could feel their presence with his Dimensionality and Awareness Skill Fusion.

Simeon turned. He shaped a lashing lance from a spark of electric—

Something struck him over the back of the head so hard he felt part of his neck break. Simeon let out a choked cry as his skull broke in several places. His vision swam, and an explosion of light left him briefly blinded. He tried to cry out and signal for help. But the Hero-Inquisitor found himself gagging, desperately trying to catch his breath, as something heavy slammed down on his chest.

He wasn't wearing his armor, so his sternum took the full brunt of the blow, and it turned to parting splinters. Blood filled his mouth, and Simeon's eyes rolled from the torment inflicted on him.

As his sight finally cleared, he found himself staring up at a skull-masked individual. And then the notification appeared in his eyes.

Hidden World Quest Activated: Slay Tanner "Shiv" Lowe, the Deathless, before he fully comes into his power and forcefully drives your world beyond its current Mana Stability Threshold.

Success: Integrated Earth will experience its next Ambient Mana Threshold Evolution. The [Mythical] Skill-Tier will become available to all Pathbearers within this Ambient Mana Zone; Evolve 10 Skills to Legendary-Tier.

Failure: A specialized Incursion will be triggered to destroy Integrated Earth in 9 years, 11 months, and 5 days.

Oh, Ascendants… Simeon quailed internally.

"Hero-Inquisitor DeGraille," the figure said. "I'm not very pleased to make your acquaintance, and you're going to hate getting to know me much the same."

DeGrail tried to rise. He summoned his Aerokinetic powers, but as a slicing flood of mana vectors poured down from the Deathless's leg and ripped through the Hero-Inquisitor's Magical Resistance, an explosion of agony tore through him. His suffering was amplified a thousandfold as his remaining mana fields were shredded as well.

The Hero-Inquisitor briefly lost consciousness, but a second later, a blast of cold water struck him in the face, and he gagged, wrenched back into the waking world. "I—what—why—"

"Yeah," the Deathless growled viciously. "That's kind of what I wanted to know, too. Get up, Simeon. You're going on a walk with me. Don't worry, this won't take long—because I'm not putting up with that. I'm going to do everything I can to have a nice and quiet time at the academy, and if it means breaking every bastard noble in the city over my knee to do it, then I'll do so with pleasure."

And with that, the skull-helmeted monster reached out and seized Simeon by the throat. The Hero-Inquisitor tried pinching the ring on his finger—tried sending a distress signal to his eldest daughter and her fellow Interrogators—but found the Heroic-Tier item missing.

"None of that now, Inquisitor." the Deathless chuckled as he pulled Simeon close and tightened his grip. The Hero-Inquisitor groaned as he tried to push the monster away—but his strength… It was titanic. And with each heartbeat, the damned monster seemed to get even stronger.

The unmistakable sting of Psychomancy punched deep into Simeon's mind, and that's when true terror exploded inside him. HIs Magical Resistance—there was nothing left! Nothing of his mana fields…

"I know all about you. All your little tricks. We're going to be heading to your private anchor now. We'll finish our conversation there. And when everything's clear, you'll be confessing your sins publicly. I'll make sure of it."

And then, the Deathless shoved Simeon into his cape, where the Hero-Inquisitor found three orcs and a goblin waiting to bind him.

"Heh," one of the gray-skins laughed, bending over to get a good look at him. "This one looks tasty."

Simeon promptly wet himself for the first time in decades.