Chương 44: Unravelling

The darkness surrounded her. She could feel the echo of the Materiality around her, but her body refused to respond as if her mind was severed from her body. There was only one thing in the darkness—a phantom pain, an all-consuming thing that was there, but she detached from it. She understood how much pain her body and soul were reeling from, but her mind was caged away from it.

'Let it go...' A cold numbness seeped through her body and soul. It was the cage between the pain and her. It beckoned her to ease her body.

'You did your part. Now, it is your turn to rest. Embrace it, the peace that you deserve now.' She tried to draw Materiality instinctively, and her mind thumped, paralyzing her thoughts for a moment, by the echo of the agony she had unleashed upon her body by daring to think of Materiality again. Her empty Nebulous Core trembled, as if trying to consume her soul that was slowly withering in specks of dust.

'Only misery awaits you. The longer you cling to life, the more you suffer. Let it go.'

'Who are you?' Was it an illusion? Her mother? No! Liesel didn't remember her mother's voice being so soft. Though her mother was once a kind woman, all the memories imprinted in her mind were of those angry screams, berating, and the hatred that was directed at the curse, but released on Liesel. Is it the Reaper? She didn't believe a Reaper was a real thing. And if it was, it should be a neutral voice, or a rough, manly one.

The Reaper was depicted as either of those beings, but never the soft-spoken kind, and very specific one in that, a motherly voice trying to lull a child into sleep. She tried to move past the cage, and the burning pain outside flared like flame dancing in the storm, forcing her away from the edge.

'Are you not satisfied? Your soul is withering. Clinging to life only prolongs the needless pain. Let it go. Your Soul Core has not formed yet. Unravel the Nebulous; let your soul form wither into dust. It is a gift that you can choose a painless death over the agony of hours. Accept it, child.' Do you talk to every dying Ascendant? Or am I special?

'Neither. Do you not believe in painless death to be a better outcome than needless suffering? You should be glad to have your wish of a painless death. It awaits you, accept it.' Liesel immediately clamped onto her empty core from all sides, making sure it didn't unravel. It was already in the process, though. Slowly she stretched her control outward, applying equal force on her blob-like Soul Form. A little at first, but that didn't stop the withering. So she applied even more pressure.

It took too much effort, but she could stop it, fortunately. If you really are the Reaper, you can wait until my soul is yours to claim. For now, it is only mine. The cage vanished. The roiling wave of pain consumed her consciousness. Slowly, in the blinding pain, she could feel her connection with her body again. Liesel dragged her finger in the sand, bringing it to her side. She dug into her pocket. She needed Materiality above anything else.

Even if her Soul Veins were to burn into nothingness, for now, she needed them. As her finger grazed the surface of the Materiality Core, another wave of paralyzing pain coursed through her nerves. Her Soul Veins refused to heed her demand. She pushed her finger around the Materiality Core and clutched it in her fist. Its surface felt hot, and her skin was scalding from the abundance of Materiality, exacerbated by her hypersensitivity to it. And she could feel a blooming hotspot underneath her.

A centipede was about to grant the Reaper's wish regardless of Liesel's struggle.

'Why must you insist on suffering until your last breath? Liesel forced her Soul Veins to draw Materiality into them from the core. It was slow. Barely a single unit's worth in a second, and it took an unimaginable effort. She didn't respond to the Reaper. It was a distraction. All her focus should be on making sure she denied her end as long as possible. But why did she insist? Naturally, the first reason was her half-finished work of assisting the expedition against today's swarm.

Just the thought of passing away now, while she could still keep her soul intact, filled her mouth with bitterness. She had to kill at least one more. Yes. Just one more. Her body had that much power. I want to use Soul Severance one more time. She said to the reaper. The other reason was Auram, perhaps. Liesel failed to see a way to save her life anymore by anyone, let alone a non-Archetype Alchemist. Yet, she wanted to allow Auram to have her closer.

It was the least she could do for the spirit after receiving help at every step that Liesel would no longer be able to repay. Though she might never make it through the storm to see Auram again, she would exhaust herself to death before she stopped. Every soul vein in her body must be burned when she stopped; otherwise, she'd not have fulfilled her promise to the spirit. As the Materiality reached her Soul's Core, she gasped for breath. Her eyes snapped open.

Her body was being dragged on the sand, away from the centipede. She stopped in front of Yehia, who crouched, helping Liesel to sit up. For a moment, Yehia just stared at her, unable to find words. Maybe she wanted to express her shock that Liesel was awake again, but right now, there was only one appropriate question: "Can you continue?"

"I..." Liesel exhaled, "Need a moment to breathe." Yehia didn't have the time to stop and look after Liesel. She got back to her feet, yanking Charbil away, barely managing to save him from being snapped in half. Yet the air exploded when the mandibles clicked. He had a little distance from the shock. His layering absorbed most of the impact, but the power of the explosion ripped his armor apart, and there were hundreds of tiny cuts on his body, probably from the sand in the air piercing his skin.

Jaisel shot a shallow Dostrike that cracked one of the mandibles, sending the demon into disarray, which was violent. Once it calmed, it instantly dove under the sand again. I have to move. Liesel used the wall as support to climb back to her feet. Her vision blurred for a moment, and she doubled her effort to soak the Materiality from the core.

"Yehia..." Liesel mumbled weakly. Dropping her hand to her side, she started walking towards Jaisel. The centipedes had a pattern, and they always pursued the prey that harmed them. So it would attack him next. The spearwoman glanced at her.

"My sword," Liesel said.

"Get me... my sword." Yehia nodded, shifting her eyes to the dead arthropod. She walked to the side, trying to catch the right angle to see the sword. Giving up as they didn't have the luxury to stand around, she used her Materiality sense to locate it, and grimaced instantly. The Blood Devourer was unpleasant to the senses. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Charbil!" Jaisel beckoned as he dashed towards the storm wall. Heaving, Charbil nodded as he got back to his feet. For a moment, the mage glanced at Liesel, as if asking if she could kill it. Liesel nodded as she grabbed her sword from the air. She was walking towards him. Her body didn't have the energy to run. And she had to preserve her Materiality for the Shade Severing Strike. Her Materiality was only at twenty by now. Not enough for the strike. She'd need at least forty to kill the giant insect.

When Farki Jan gave the signal, Jaisel began preparing his spell. His left hand clutched a pair of Materiality Cores tightly as he wove the spell circle. On the second signal, Jaisel slapped the ground. At the right moment, the mound of sand rose. The centipede lunged out and fell onto the ground, paralyzed. Jaisel had already readied the Piercing Strike. He waited, drawing out the time as Liesel got closer. Charbil raced from the side, lunging over its head, and buried his sword into the head.

He charged his sword skill, glowering at the sand crawler. Yehia knocked him aside with an energy construct.

"Don't waste your energy!" she shouted. Charbil blinked as he took his sword, which was carried to him by Yehia's energy construct. He nodded once, scowling at the demon. He at least didn't attack again. Jaisel took his shot, widening the crack on its head. The Centipedes were tenacious, and even this was far from enough to kill it. It would require another fully charged skill that would most likely strain the executor's Soul Veins.

Even after reaching the creature, killing it would be a daunting task; now that she was exhausted, she realized how damningly tall even the fallen vermin was. Yehia, of course, created a construct to use as footing. And Liesel did, but she was too slow. The centipede clicked its mandibles. Jaisel's eyes widened. He jumped to the side. Verka created a barrier to protect him, but that didn't have time to manifest properly. The impact sent the mage hurtling through the sand.

He stopped only an inch from the storm wall. A strand of his hair caught by the storm and ripped out of his skull. He was mostly unharmed. At this point, superficial injuries were the norm. Liesel settled her hand on the sharp ridge at the back of its head, channeling her Materiality into the blade. It was slower. She felt the Materiality's hum, and it was different, because her own channeling speed and efficiency were basically gone.

She didn't even know if she had wasted half of the Materiality to kill it in the channeling process. That was never the concern before. As she buried the sword, her soul flinched, just like the beast underneath her. She had missed the mark, and the blade was somewhere else. She hurried and haphazardly cleft the sword, cut its soul, but the only thing she managed to slice was its innards. Blood spurted into the air. The Materiality was echoing something she had never felt before. It was not a Soul Severance.

Probably the first time in years, the System didn't tell her she had succeeded. How long had it been since she failed to perform it under pressure? The creature let out the most pained screech that Liesel had ever heard its kind make. It paralyzed everyone's body for a moment. And when the creature jerked, Liesel was shaken off its head. She landed on the sand with a dull thud. The pain was nothing compared to the burning agony she was in. Shock may have given her a moment of respite.

The demon screeched again, looming over Liesel. Its mandibles stretched wide, Materiality concentrating on each tip. Yehia's spread struck its head from one side. The centipede crashed as Jaisel landed another Piercing Strike, knocking the critter onto the sand. It didn't move again. Though she had failed to perfectly execute Shade Severing Strike, it had touched the centipede's soul. It may have died without Jaisel's interference, perhaps taking Liesel along.

With a lot of effort, Liesel climbed back to her feet, heaving. Jaisel rushed to her side, helping her steady herself.

"I am sorry," Liesel uttered. She looked down at her shaking hand. She clenched the Materiality Core tighter, but even that was slower. Was she even absorbing it?

"It's not your fault. We are relying on you too much," the mage said.

"Yeah," Charbil yanked out her broken sword.

"You should stay by Yehia's side. We can take care of the rest. Seriously. It doesn't feel good to let you finish them off." Liesel extended her arm. Charbil took the hint and brought her sword back to her.

"I wish. Even if a failure, it preserves your energy, and that is enough."

"You can't seriously be..." Jaisel's words faded in his throat as Liesel shifted her eyes to him.

"We must be as efficient as possible," Liesel uttered. The mage found the courage to speak again a moment later.

"Burning the head first is a foolish endeavor. If something must go, it's the limbs. Only then..." He stopped speaking as Liesel glared at him again. She was not upset at his suggestion as much as the fact that he wanted to waste her energy speaking, when the next centipede was already crawling towards the surface. Who was to say she would retire and they would succeed? One mistake and they'd all be slaughtered one by one. Though it was a life-and-death battle, for the centipedes it seemed something else.

Liesel couldn't understand what, but they certainly weren't trying to eat them. Their attacks seemed intentionally trying to destroy the Ascedants' bodies. She could feel the thrum before it touched the sand. How long would that last? Liesel shifted her attention towards Fiya's team and started walking.

"Distract it for a moment," Liesel said to Jaisel, "Hopefully I can come back to finish this one too." Liesel settled her eyes on Fiya's back. Liesel exhaled as she forced her veins to take another drag of Materiality from the core. She was feeling floaty, and the pain almost seemed natural. Distant again. Her eyelids were heavy. No longer could she care about any of it. A far greater work was waiting for her.

The mage was standing, using her binding chains as bait to distract the demon, while Garvin and Markil tried to take out its individual limbs, each one sharp as a blade and forged of steel. That would allow them to cut the demon in half without spending much Materiality. Garol Borran glanced at her and, with a nod, shifted his attention to Charbil, dashing across the wasteland towards the warrior to heal the man. It wouldn't do much.

In the last five days, the strain on their bodies had turned the healing magic into bandages that unraveled on the first swing of the sword. Still, it would take care of the infection that might sprout untreated. Fiya flinched as she noticed Liesel approaching her. Her binding chain vanished. The centipede hissed, twisted its body, and bit at Markil. Markil dodged, and his feet slipped on the sand. And they stretched. Garvin struck the mandible of the centipede, pushing it away.

Fiya regained her composure quickly and created another chain. Something about them seemed to lull the centipede into a trance. Of course, their trance was equally as violent as their intentional hunt.

"Give me an opening," Liesel said, as she felt she had gathered enough to perform another Shade Strike. Her heart was slowing. And her words were slightly slurred. This might be the last one... I guess. She wondered how Auram would deliver the potion if Isa somehow prepared it. Knowing you, Auram, you'd have recklessly teleported in front of me, having no care for your disguise... so it is not ready yet, I suppose. Perhaps she could give the spirit another few minutes by withdrawing.

Unlikely that would mean much, other than exposing the spirit to so many humans.

"You are going to mess up again," Garvin said, scowling at her. That was just how he expressed his discomfort.

"There shouldn't be many. We can kill the rest on our own. Run back to Yehia and sit behind her." Markil smacked Garvin on the back of his head.

"Do you have a death wish or something? I will give you an opening." Liesel nodded. She began channeling the Materiality. Again, the pain didn't feel like much. Her mind seemed to have grown numb to it, but not in a good way. Just let it go, Liesel heard the Reaper's whisper, and the cold scythe grazing across her throat. She sucked a cold breath.

"How many have we killed?" Liesel turned her neck in Yehia's direction.

"Nineteen!" Yehia shouted back. Fourteen Shade Strikes, including the failed one. Verka killed five. If there are about ten more... they should be able to kill them. Markil shattered its shell, and Fiya used the Sand Echo that she had learned from Jaisel to paralyze the demon, and then her binding chain snapped its body to the ground. As Liesel approached the immobile creature, a thought occurred to her. If she was going to die, she might as well use her Soul Unravelling one more time.

It might succeed better than her Shade Severing Strike. The influx of Materiality will probably kill me. Still, she drew Materiality into the palm of her hand. The Unravelling rune manifested on it.

"Are you..." Fiya didn't finish her question. It was obvious after all.

"But your Materiality Poisoning. It's not safe." Liesel's lips stretched into a small smile.

"Perhaps. But my control is slipping. It's unravelling."

"What is..." Fiya's eyes widened in horror. Her body was covered in cold sweat. She settled her hand over its head. Materiality streaked through the centipede's body. Liesel's vision darkened again. She clenched her jaw, applying pressure on her blob-like Soulform, keeping it structured still. She didn't think it mattered. The centipede was dead regardless, but still, she felt she had to do right. As the second streak crossed, her mind blanked again. The Centipede's form unravelled. Liesel's vision darkened.

She was drowning in the darkness again. This time, the unravelled soul threads were there with her.