Chương 55: Chapter 52: Unceasing

Aaron's mind went blank with rage and grief. He hadn't even gotten the chance to visit her and her husband for dinner, so caught up in building his strength. Even on his free days, he'd always had a reason not to go. They'd kept up casually, spoken of the different kinds of meats and edible plants that could be found in the wasteland, remained friendly… And Richard simply threw her limp corpse away. Like garbage. As if she were nobody. He saw red.

Onward Evermore feasted on the rage, Windwhipped Seedblossom whips accompanied by more than ten dandelions, each burning through unimaginable quantities of energy as Onward Evermore used Cracked Plantshift to push past its natural biological limitations. A flurry of binding stalks shot for Richard's arms… and the man swung in a perfect, calm arc. In his left hand, that Aaron hadn't even processed he was seeing, a mushki feather. The town mushki feather.

The dazzling blue and purple mushki feather that was once on display in the square. It shredded Onward Evermore's attempts at capturing Richard, and even severed one of the Windwhipped Seedblossoms. Seeing Richard not be taken off guard, Onward Evermore changed tune, briefly taking control of a nearby giant dandelion to knock it out of the way as Richard swung at his Primary's body as well.

Richard followed through on the arc, lobbing off the head of the flower, but Onward Evermore bent itself around another stalk, slingshotting an inch over the ground back at Richard as the plants holding it up barely touched the stone. Peacemind Vapors exploded out to obscure the area, but Aaron wasn't even sure if it would affect Richard given the man was no longer flesh and bone. Richard stayed calm, sensing them even through the obscuration and cutting every construct sent his way to ribbons.

Even Bwurzix tried striking at him, but somehow, Richard always knew when to sidestep, and the resulting shockwave didn't even budge him- even the stone shards breaking uselessly against his skin. When a dandelion would slam down, Richard would always know where to step to dodge, then immediately cut it off at the stem. Despite the heads of the dandelions continuously regrowing with Bwurzix feeding them, there was a hard limit to how much they could utilize before they became strained and started to wilt.

Worse, Richard was so unbothered by Onward Evermore's attempts, he began to advance - not slowly, but sprinting. Onward engaged in a fighting retreat, but there was little it could do as Richard simply pushed through the smoke and vines to dice his primary into a continually diminishing ball of roots, unable to regrow faster than Richard could tear it apart. Onward Evermore couldn't even use the blade, as its grip was far weaker than Aaron's, and it knew Richard would simply knock End from its hands.

Unphased by their suicidal charge or burning of energy, Onward Evermore nearly ran; it would've run, if it hadn't been utilizing Aaron's energy this entire time, chipping away at its own control as it struggled to fight, process the emotions Aaron was emitting, and overwhelm Aarons gradually ramping-up production. The moment his Primary turned tail, Aaron surged forth, overwhelming it in a heartbeat. The entire plant orb tore open, and as Richard's mushki feather came down, End swung up, meeting it halfway.

A deafening gong rang out, and Richard slid back, Aaron's plants pinning him to the ground against the force. The roots encasing Aaron's now fleshy body peeled back as Onward Evermore willingly receded, giving up control to ensure Aaron wasn't hindered by its influence, knowing that it could not win back control without ensuring its own death.

He felt it instead take control of the nearby plant monsters that were running closer, spreading them out and away to gang up on and kill other assassins; having assessed the situation, Onward Evermore decided they would only stand in the way or be useless cannon fodder, in this battle, it decided to try and free up other guards to come help Aaron.

On Aaron's back spread two pseudo-wings, as the orb of Cracked Plantshift previously surrounding Onward Evermore remained attached and spreading wide, the very thing that'd allowed him to stay balanced in the force of their colliding blades. Aaron was forced to emit a new smoke- one with a far more misty coloration to push back the smoke so that he could see. It was clear that even his attempts to smooth out the energy within him were failing, his emotions boiling too far out of control.

Considering he could not see through the obscuration either and wasn't as good at translating plant information as Onward Evermore, it would only be a hindrance, so he emitted a smoke that was just as thick, but as invisible as he could make it to push back the existing smoke It gave their battlefield a hazy quality, the ring of thicker vapors surrounding them muffling all other sounds of battle in the city.

As the new smoke washed over Richard, revealing his face, Aaron could see that his expression had finally changed- to a frown. He didn't bother with banter, shooting across the ground with an enraged cry as End whistled through the air, leaving a clean wake where it managed to slice through the fog itself. Richard deflected it once more, and Aaron felt the opposing Burgeoning Memorabilia scream in pain, End eating away at its history.

The metal man braced himself against the force this time, and whether he heard the sword or not, he drew back stabbing forward with poise and control Aaron just couldn't. Aaron… didn't want to destroy the town's mushki feather, and so drew End back with a thought. In the next clash, Aaron felt his arms strain despite the supernatural strength coursing through him as Richard leveraged his body in a way Aaron just hadn't learned to, and with muscles Aaron simply didn't have.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself harder, tensing his jaw hard enough to crack teeth, utilizing the little training he had, pushing himself to the absolute limit. And, with every muscle in his body tearing itself apart, the most he could do was simply hold Richard off, his enemy not even close to looking strained or threatening to take a step backwards. Richard was a mountain of steel and muscle that Aaron continued to throw himself at, slamming his head against the wall fruitlessly. He didn't care.

Richard's blade bypassed his own at times, opening cuts in his fingers or wrists as the man tried to slice through his death grip on End; Aaron corralled energy in a lopsided display, forcing it into his hands not to increase their durability, but stitch them together. No matter how many muscles Richard severed, his limbs always patched just enough of the wounds to stay attached, Aaron barely able to prevent his limbs from being cut off entirely.

He hadn't scored even a single hit the entire fight, but Richard's frown continued to deepen. Even as he pierced through Aaron's chest, poking a hole in his lung, or split his carotid artery with a well-placed rapid-fire jab, because Aaron just kept going. While he couldn't drive Richard back, he was able to prevent the man from scoring a deathblow, and with Aaron's Primary, that was enough.

When Onward Evermore started to recover some of its energy and manipulate Cracked Plantshift more actively, firing off a bullet hail of seeds, a miniscule of pressure was taken from Aaron as Richard blocked every single one perfectly- but even that inch forced a dark grin onto Aaron's face. Then, his severed Windwhipped Seedblossom returned to full functionality, and the Secondary itself seemed more lively than ever, its mind running calculations and moving at speeds it normally didn't automatically.

It didn't try to grab at Richard anymore, knowing it would only end in failure: instead, it chose to nudge or distract him, Shooting out, the Secondary would harmlessly scrape against his chest or leg, always retracting before Richard could sever it. Either because his abilities had noticed something he didn't or as a simple annoyance, Aaron saw Richard's face contort more, resembling something close to controlled anger.

The bleeding wounds covering Aaron's body weren't healed unless absolutely necessary, but roots spread over them, stitching them closed, even as he moved fast enough that the bandages were torn open again and again. Practically pouring blood, he lunged forward stabbing at Richard's chest. The man didn't block him this time. Pirouetting to the side, Aaron watched in slow motion as the mushki blade arched straight for his chest- right be low the extended shoulder blades. It would split Aaron's heart in two.

'Got you.' The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. For the first time in the fight, he took control of the energy coursing through End; the edge bent instantly and, by sheer chance, Richard blinked the moment the change happened. By the time his eyes opened again, Aaron's U-shaped sword had sliced through both of his wrists, leaving only two stumps. Yet, the blade continued its arc, if dipping slightly.

Aaron threw every scrap of his energy into the spot where he knew the blade would enter him, and as it split his skin and bones, he was just barely able to slow it, even as he felt most of the energy dissipate. Barely able to deflect it, he found its arc curving away from his heart just a nudge more- almost enough. A small notch was cut through the bottom of his heart, barely a tenth of a millimeter shaved off, but still, he felt his heart beat sporadically at the damage.

Richard, as well, didn't hesitate despite his hands sitting on the blade, kicking Aaron in the chest with the force of a mule, and Aaron let himself be carried away by it. Windwhipped Seedblossom was the only reason his heart was spared a shredded fate, as it'd been in motion as well, grabbing the handle of the mushki feather and trying to pull it out. With Richard's kick, it'd overcompensated ensuring it didn't touch Aaron's heart, and a large hole was opened right below the vital organ.

Fffffffwhi- DING Aaron hit the ground and coughed up blood, seeing a combination of green and gold replace the red in his eyes as his Primary and energy pulled the blood from his eyes; there simply wasn't enough to waste any more. Even as his heart beat sporadically and Onward Evermore begged him to take over again, he refused.

"You'll just run like a coward." Whip holding the purple and blue feather, he found himself pushed back to his feet by Cracked Plantshift, some party within him controlling it as the physical manifestations of his corruption continued to run rampant within him. Looking up, he saw Richard's head bowed, a large crack running through him where Bwurzix had taken the opening to finally land a blow, the seed still halfway lodged into the metal.

Aaron saw blood dripping from two red stumps where Richards hands should've been- less than there should've been, but proof that Richard was still human within. More of the liquid drippled from the hole in his skull, falling down his face as he gradually tilted his face back up to stare at Aaron once more. The rage in Richard's face was gone, replaced by indifference. He took a step backwards, and Aaron knew instantly he was about to run.

'No.' His energy production absolutely rampant by now, he already had a chunk to work with and, through Mycelaric Expanse, sent a payload of energy into the seed sticking out of Richard. He knew that growing roots through flesh was borderline impossible, the only way to pierce deeper being existing roots, so he didn't even try to grow the seed, only using it as a method of delivery for something that was far more in line with Underworld magic: an indirect, harmless spell.

He found the wall within Richard's body, the control he held over his internal energy perhaps exceeding his external durability. Richard naturally resisted the incursion, peeling away the roots of his spell with rapid, fine slices, but Aaron was not to be denied. Siphoning from Bwurzix and his Primary, he used their energy as a hammer to nail his spell through Richard's natural defenses. {Weight: 2. 22} -> {Weight: 2. 82) {Corruption: 2} -> {Corruption: 2. 5} Using his voice for the first time, Richard let out a bloodcurdling scream as he clawed at his face and head, grabbing the seed and ripping it out- but it was already too late. Ethereal roots extended through Richard's brain, hooking on to the vital flesh housing his mind, and Aaron knew that it would never let go- the only way out was to cut off the offending body part, and considering where it was situated, that was no longer an option.

The man turned tail, running towards the wall of the town, stumbling once, but maintaining his sprint. Within, Aaron could feel a compass that would lead him back to Richard, no matter where the man went. He found himself stumbling forward… not to Richard, but Aliata, lying still to the side. He knew that she was gone, but he… he couldn't… Even as he stood over her, he knew she was gone. Reminded of her loss, he felt Bwurzix be unnaturally enraged, the dandelion ball's own emotions running completely rampant.

For reasons Aaron didn't know, Bwurzix had cared deeply about Aliata, and he felt the titan reaching out desperately to her, sensing that her signature was truly gone. One of the seeds from the nearby dandelions flew off to land on Aliata, to turn her into a soldier, but Aaron snatched it from the air.

"Bwurzix STOP God damnit! Don't turn her into a damn soldier!" KEEP (Grief, protectiveness).

"She has a HUSBAND, just STOP!" KEEP (Live on, live within, take, always, perpetual).

"Let him grieve! Let him decide if she will join you, this is not your decision to make!" He felt it thrash about in its mind, throwing a tantrum, and expending a significant amount of its energy to send down a collection of seed bombardments, several places around the city exploding, but he knew that they were all assassins. Bwurzix was simply holding back a portion as it wished to not starve, but cared less with each passing moment.

He tried thinking of what to say that might calm it down, but came up blank: it mattered not. After its rain of hail, he knew that it'd burned through practically all of its excess energy. It was forcibly put to sleep by its own starvation, and the dandelions all around the town slowed as they began to starve.

'Dammit Bwurzix!' If they wouldn't repel the assassins any longer, it was only up to him and his army of plants to fill the gap. Tapping into them, he could tell they were ragged. Despite being unnaturally durable, the Abyssal magic hit them in a strange way, and while it wasn't enough to kill them entirely, it felt like each pass made the dandelions… less conscious. They faded, interpreting his commands more broadly with each pass. But, they never stopped, and were slowly overwhelming assassin after assassin.

They weren't as fast as Aaron, but the guards had started feeding assassins to his dandelions, corralling them and watching with savage glee as they screamed. All throughout the city, everywhere he saw with his dandelion sight, the chaos was much diminished, even the gyroscopic titan nowhere to be seen. The battle was practically over… but not entirely. There were still holdouts and, despite his state, he limped forward, an exhausted, apathetic look in his eye.

* He watched the last assassin get away, jumping over the walls and falling into the ground- sinking below with ease. He'd seen multiple do that, which answered how they'd gotten so close to the town to begin with. He was sure that, if it was possible, Halisn had people watching in the ground below, but he simply didn't understand enough about Floor 1 to say what was or wasn't sustainable.

Many of the civilians gave him a wide berth, but the guards stood beside him respectfully, having seen his shambling form tear apart more than one assassin that came at him. Every single time they lay eyes on him, they rushed forward, ignoring all other targets to prioritize him alone. Perhaps they thought he was close to collapsing just because he swayed, but they always fell before he did.

Several times, they came upon bleeding, near-death people, and he would quickly plant a seed within them, taking them over and trapping their minds within- though only to save them. He assured the guards that he would release them after the battle, and even freed one to demonstrate that he could. The person he'd freed had to be put back under immediately though, as unlike the others he'd released, this one was still severely hurt.

If they were healed over time, he wasn't completely sure, but he could figure it out later. Escorted by guards, many were assured that he was actually helping them. He even went as far as to not use any civilians as soldiers, keeping their stasis bodies in the same place he'd found them. He worked for hours, and even as the last assassin fled the city, he knew it would be hours more. There were some people with healing-type Imprints, but they were few, and already pushed to their limits.

With his seemingly endless well of energy, he took a lot of pressure off them by removing the limited window they had to save someone. Despite that, the estimations for how many died were… almost unthinkable. Nearly a fifth of the town was dead, perhaps more than two thousand people. * Twelve hours later.

"It's not your fault, Aaron," Neenaw said gently as he stared off into the middle distance, only her, Utristnic and him present.

"You know it is," he said quietly.

"Not even I knew a faction of people like that existed. There was no way to see it coming."

"I should've. I had a Herald sent after me. I knew there would be more to follow, and I still came to town." After an intense discussion, it was ruled that they'd raided the town in an attempt to get at Bwurzix. Likely worshippers of the Abyssal monsters in general- more specifically, the Abyssal corpse hiding just below Halisn, though few knew about that- they no doubt took offense of a new nearby god, and came to strike at both its perceived "Demigod" and "Priestess."

This was the first time Aaron had heard anything about people viewing Bwurzix as a God… but it made sense. As for Aliata? He hadn't even known. She'd utilized Bwurzix's energy to craft her own Imprint the very first day his dandelion friend appeared. While it wasn't able to talk to her, it felt its energy on her, and apparently watched her frequently- by its own admission. It liked her. She was its favorite person outside of Aaron, and it'd been grief-stricken by her death. Now… there would be a mass funeral.

Aaron wouldn't attend. Too many people had seen the way the Abyssal cultists treated him. They knew that he was their target, and everyone else? Simply collateral, perhaps only to deprive Bwurzix of potential "Worshippers." The very idea of facing so many who knew that he was the source of their loved one's deaths brought him to tears. He couldn't face them. So he was self-exiling.

"There are people here who care about you," Neenaw insisted.

"Who? Yisti? Dead. Aliata? Dead. Ketzi wants to study End, you barely know me, and Utrisnic wants me out too." Hearing his name, Utrisnic snapped free from his resting glare, not at Aaron, but the devastation leaving no room for anything but anger… for, if there was no rage, Aaron knew that Utrisnic would collapse in the grief of his failure to protect the town.

'That's not- I- I just… I don't…" The taurin stuttered, but couldn't bring himself to say Aaron wasn't correct.

"I'm sorry, Aaron," he said instead, "I wish I could say I want you to stay… but…"

"I know," he said, wiping away tears.

"I don't want to see anyone else die because of me, and… I can't wait around any longer. I'm leaving, and I won't return unless every single cultist and cannibal are dead."