Chương 55: Tearing them down

The group sat huddled in the office building as they went over the gist of their strategy. The time for secrecy was over, and as far as Grim could tell, they were not holding anything back. SongJae had another Boon that let him see echoes in an area, and he could tell them what to expect when fighting the Giant. In a general sense, it relied on its physical might, but it still had a backup of Boons that it would activate if it was pressed. Beyond that, it was extremely tough and most Boons bounced off its skin.

While also being deceptively fast. He'd snapped out of that echo quite frantically and mumbled something about clubs being a stupid weapon. The general goal of the plan was to get inside the building but as SongJae found out through an echo, the giant was powering some sort of barrier and unless they had some sort of Boon to get through it, they weren't going to be able to pass until this thing was dead. Sam was confident she could get through it with her Boon.

[THE TRAVELLER] but she could only bring one other person with her at a time and she could only stay in there for around 15 seconds before it became too painful. She didn't elaborate on what that meant. So she wasn't able to just drag them straight past the giant without a fight, it would take over 15 seconds to cross the courtyard, and in that time she'd have no defence against the giant. That meant they'd need to fight, and in the current state they were in? That was going to get them killed.

They'd planned to rest until daylight so they could strategize, observe, and recuperate, but while she'd probably be fine in the morning thanks to her faster healing, Maya's sprain wouldn't be, even with [Healing Gloom]. It just wasn't fast enough. Not to mention Carrion was still pale from a lack of blood and Solomon still had whatever injury he'd taken to his ribs. Even if she wanted to, she doubted she had enough shadow to help enough to make a difference tomorrow.

Alyn's hand was working, however, giving her an idea on how to solve that issue, as much as she didn't like it." We're not gonna make it tomorrow," Grim said. Maya scoffed, "Speak for yourself. I'll go cut that thing down right now if you're too scared to try."" Are you saying we're not enough?" Solomon asked, his aura flaring up." Yeah. I am, and I think it's ironic how the two of you are the first to disagree, but you're who I'm most worried about."

Alyn touched Solomon's shoulder, and the aura he'd been flaring dissipated as Alyn's eyes grew just a touch deeper red." What are you saying?" He said. Grim took in a deep breath, "I can heal both of you, Carrion too." With the mention of his name, the pale man lifted his head from the office chair he was leaning in.

"Your shadow won't help, I can tell it'll break if I try to use it instead of my blood."" That's not what I'm talking about."" Then what? You been holding out on us, huh? Tryna lower the competition?" Maya accused her. Grim raised her hands as she shook her head, "No, that's not what I'm saying. If I wanted to do that, then would I have saved her?"" Me?" Natalie said." Maybe it's some sort of mind game you're playing with us, like the one you played on my uncle."

Grim nearly put her hand through her face, she was going to kill this girl. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author." I could do much worse, easier," Grim said, her temper flaring. She reined it in before she continued, "It's related to what happened with Orion after he died."" You killing him? Because I can do that too, much easier if I might add," Maya replied. Solomon sat up straight.

"Be careful what you say next."" No! I didn't kill him… I just… took his Boon," Grim admitted. There were various reactions around the group, but most bordered on disbelief tinged with confusion." You took it? Like the Boon? You took it from the system?" Solomon asked." Yeah, and I can transfer them to other people, including myself." Solomon's face drained of colour as he went pale, "Oh fuck. There's no way, it can't be. You're gonna get us all killed. Even if we get out of here, they'll kill us. How are you here?

Wait, wait. We might still be able to get out of this. Everyone get away from her now, before it's too late." He stood up and drew his gun in one swift motion that was becoming increasingly more common to Grim." Is that really your response to everything?" Grim asked." To a fucking Architect, yeah. Now everyone get away from her." Maya and Natalie stood beside her, followed shortly afterwards by SongJae while Carrion, Sam, Alyn and Solomon were on the other. Grim's thoughts immediately flashed back to Phil.

He'd reacted in the same way and had also brought up the Architects. She knew they were responsible for what happened with the system, but she wasn't sure what that had to do with her." We've been through this already, you really think you're faster?" Maya said." You don't understand, if they find out she's an architect, they'll kill her, and then they'll kill just about anyone who's come into contact with her. Us, if you haven't figured that out yet," Solomon explained.

"But if we kill her, we have a chance of making it out of this. Slim, but there's a chance."" I've literally got no idea what you're talking about. I don't even know what an architect is besides they broke the system and Saints, what are you gonna do? Shoot me? You'll alert every petal in the area that we're here and you'll die anyway. I only told you because I wanted to help you. Your girlfriend there can heal, right? So if I lent you her power for a moment, you could heal your wound," Grim said."

You don't get it. If they find out about this, they'll kill us or worse. Whatever, it doesn't matter, we'll have to do without it, and even if I don't shoot you, you still need to go." Natalie stepped forward.

"She's not going anywhere, not after everything she's done for us."" You don't understand, she hasn't done anything for us. An architect has, and that is the difference that is going to get us killed, unless she lea— Alyn? What are you doing?" Alyn crossed the void and laid out her hand, "You need touch to activate your power?"" I do, but… are you sure? What about him?" Grim asked, with a dart of her eyes towards Solomon." He's just scared, don't mind him.

My power works by leaching Aura from others I come into contact with. Touch works, but teeth are fastest. It takes training to use the other abilities, but healing is just about automatic. You all can use me as a battery, I'll be fine once I get it back." Alyn said." [SOUL TAP]."" Alyn, no. We can't do this," Solomon said, as he lowered his gun." We've got no other choice, and this isn't your decision. Now stop making a fool of yourself. We've still got a plan to come up with, and we need you at full strength."

Alyn glared at him as she commanded him to do so. Solomon looked like he was about to say something else, but he deflated and sat down in a chair instead.

"Fine, fine, I'll go along with this under one condition."" What is it?" Grim asked. His face looked ten years older as he spoke, "We speak of this to no one, okay? None of this or what you did leaves this room, and as for you? Don't get caught."" That's why I'm here," Grim nodded." [CEDE]." When Grim walked through the terminal room, it only took her a moment to find and grab [SOUL TAP]. There was a bit of resistance from Alyn, but it let up after only a moment, which Grim guessed was just instinctual resistance.

She'd already placed Orion's Boon inside her sword so she wouldn't have to discard it. The energy drain from that was much less than normal, which was a good thing, as she would have to do a lot of transfers today. After she came back to the real world, Alyn looked different.

Her face had gained some colour and the sharp edges of her had rounded off. She looked healthier in a sense." That was weird," Alyn said.

"It felt like you just took an organ out of me."" I've heard that before. Now, who's first?"