B5 Chapter 36

The last of the eleven Spawns fell apart with four blades embedded in its abdomen and chest. That left them with one more foe to deal with: the marble.

Whatever the marble was, it was still suspended above the sea of frozen flowers. It hadn’t moved at all, and it didn’t look like it was going to move anytime soon. Nonetheless, Zegrath got to her feet, shivering but battle-ready, and attacked. She released one final burst of Volca’s fire through her glaive, aiming to pierce and melt the marble from the inside.

Unexpectedly, Zegrath’s attack failed to do anything. Not only did she fail to scratch the marble, Volca’s flames fizzled out as soon as they touched it. Not even the Fire Spirit’s power did anything to the marble.

“What in the Spirits’ names?!” she cursed, her legs caving inward from exhaustion. The ice-attuned ether from the frozen flowers surged toward her, seemingly ready to freeze her alive, but I teleported to her side and conjured my spirit flame. Imbued with enough ether to coat myself and Zegrath, the flame blocked the frozen flowers’ attempt at harming us. That left only the marble.

Imbuing the enchanted sword with Annihilation Blade and all the spirit power I could muster, I slashed at the unmoving marble. The strike connected, executing an attack that should have been strong enough to scratch a Monarch Beast’s hide, possibly wound it even further, yet it did little to damage the marble.

“I... have no idea. The Devourer’s energy is stored inside, but I cannot destroy it.” Forget about destroying it, we weren’t even strong enough to damage it.

Zegrath’s eyes grew wide and she panicked for a moment but calmed down when she saw that I wasn’t doing anything. “How can you be so relaxed? I know how sharp your blades are with that Mantis’ trait, and you couldn’t even scratch it!”

Truthfully, the Caldera woman hadn’t even seen the full extent of Annihilation Blade yet. And that was probably for the best because it consumed lifeforce. If I’d been forced to use Annihilation Blade’s full power, the cavern would have likely collapsed. But even then, it wasn’t certain that we would have damaged the marble.

“The marble is weak. It contains less of the Devourer’s power than the Spawns. If we ignore its defense because that surpasses the defense of a Monarch Beast, we’re facing a Spawn with the power of an Evolved Beast. Third threshold, at most.” I explained, though it was clear that Zegrath didn’t believe a word.

“How can a weak Spawn have such a strong defense? Something’s wrong.” She shook her head, which I could only agree with.

The marble was odd. It was also alive, if one could say something like that about the Spawns in the first place. Were any of the Spawns truly alive?

Shaking my head, I focused on the vibrations within me. It was the Insignia that tried to urge me—

That’s not the Insignia. You know that.

Sapsie commented while Aureus had grown silent.

Alas, Sapsie was right. It was not the Insignia trembling deep inside me. It was the World that resonated with the Spawn marble, and I hadn’t even touched it yet. That changed, though, as I reached out to the marble. Zegrath shouted something and reached out to stop me, but the Caldera woman was too exhausted from using Volca’s fire to reach me in time.

The marble was cold to the touch. It was an unblemished structure that emitted... nothing. It was like a marble left behind in the refrigerator for too long. If not for the ominous feeling or Lifesight showing me what its insides looked like, I would have never expected it to be related to the Devourer’s Spawns. Or that it was as ‘alive’ as the Spawns.

My World did not calm down after I touched the marble. Quite the contrary, tendrils of soul energy surged out of the World in an almost desperate plea to bind the marble. Stopping a disaster from brewing was not all that easy. It took a considerable amount of effort to stop the soul energy tendrils. Retrieving them and sealing them back into the World was too cumbersome, so I hurriedly refined the World by creating dozens of soul energy threads. Infusing them into my World, I waited until the last of my soul energy units was used up. They’d recover in due time, but maintaining a few dozen units was much easier than thousands of golden particles that wanted nothing more than to bind to a marble created by Razarn’s nemesis.

“What’s going on with you? Are you okay? I told you not to touch that thing! What would you have done if—…”

“Everything is fine.” I interrupted Zegrath. “I know you’re worried, but I was never in danger.”

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“You were unmoving for several minutes. I shouted your name and even tried to shake you, but you didn’t react!” she retorted.

“I am fine.” I could only repeat. “But I think we should give the marble to Glacia’s Knight or Truthseeker Max to destroy. Maybe they can find something out about it.”

Zegrath did not look particularly pleased but nodded anyway.

Meanwhile, as my World continued to stir and attempt to convince me into binding the marble, something else clicked into place.

I think it’s time.

Aureus’ voice reverberated throughout my head. It was ethereal and filled with power unlike the Earthheart’s. It was so… different, almost like every sound he made was filled with the purest of power.

It’s not perfect, but I can always improve later. You need me at my full power now.

The inner World rumbled as Aureus’ words flowed out of my mind and back into the World. The Insignia’s etchings on the core flared up, its edges turning a vibrant brown. I had always suspected that there was more to Aureus’ evolution into an unknown race, but the true extent of his power unfolded before my mind’s eye only now.

This is not only my power. It is our power. Without you, it would have never existed.

Aureus rumbled, his words shaking the inner World and muffling its desire momentarily.

Then, at last, everything clicked into place. The last remnant of the Runic Tincture seeped into the Earthheart’s heart, completing his evolution and pushing their bond to the fated 3rd Stage.

It felt like reaching the 3rd Stage with our bond was a condition. A necessity to complete his evolution and to give birth to a new trait.

***

The trait was something Aureus had worked on for a long time. At first, it only required a more profound understanding of the Earthen Aspect, which gave birth to the Gravity Aspect. But as the months and years passed, serums were added to the equation. Later on, Elixirs and Essence would have pushed Aureus further, which were replaced by the Runic Tincture that incorporated everything the Earthheart needed.

And now a trait was born from within his heart. It pressed on me as well as our bond reached the 3rd Stage, which seemed to have jumpstarted the whole process, but there was more to it as well.

The heart was being remodeled. It was hard to tell at first, standing in the epicenter of a freezing cold cavern. It was so cold I barely felt my feet. However, the heartache that came slowly but unbidden reached me at some point nonetheless. It embraced me like a long-lost friend, only to betray me and puncture my heart. Nectar flowed out of the enhanced Pond of Life even before the aorta tore. When it did, enough nectar was already present to mend the wound.

But more was needed as the left atrium and ventricle failed. Sapsie kept me updated as my heart failed me, only to be jumpstarted by a burst of nectar and earth-attuned ether. Stronger energies formed within the heart, ushering the Insignia to life. However, without any more spirit power left to spare, the Insignia couldn’t do much to empower the heart.

Left with no other choice, I allowed Sapsie to summon tiny, compressed vines and roots from her main form within me. She greedily devoured the blood spilling out of the heart but readily healed the wounds created from the fletchling trait’s pressure. It was surprising how much a fletchling trait could impact the body. Then again, whatever trait Aureus had formed was affecting me much more than the others. Not only was it far more potent, but it also created a perfect structure within me, inside the heart, transforming it into something much grander than it already was.

Every beat of my heart hurt more, yet it also attracted my interest. How could it not when my heartbeat created enough power to harm myself? It was a little masochistic no matter how I thought about it, but that was fine. Probably, likely.

My heart felt heavier as the trait anchored itself, and the sensation only grew more pronounced with every passing minute. But no matter how worrisome it was, there was one saving grace. My World’s interest in the marble was being suppressed by the changes Aureus introduced to my body.

The trait had clearly manifested prematurely, even if only by a little, but maybe Aureus thought it was necessary to stop my inner World from foolishly binding the marble. If that had been the Earthheart’s plan, it worked. Quite well, actually, because I barely noticed the World.

I didn’t even notice that I was starting to pluck the frozen flowers to store in the onyx ring, or that I fused with Aureus to fly back to the monastery. The only thing I really noticed was my heart growing hotter and hotter as soon as we emerged from the freezing fog. It was bothersome but not unbearable, even if Zegrath was worried.

She spoke a lot more than usual, asked many questions, yet I barely understood half of them. The world around me turned into a blur. One moment we emerged from the Portal in the monastery and returned to the Grand Hall; the next, we stood in front of Truthseeker Max with the marble.

He looked like he had many questions, but my body wasn’t listening to me. The inner World rumbled once more as I handed Max the marble, which did not go unnoticed. Several pairs of eyes stared at me, but neither their faces nor their voices lingered in my mind, let alone their expressions.

The last thing I recalled was surrendering the Spawn marble and Aureus’ changes growing more pronounced. He occupied a lot more space in the World, more Gates formed all over the weave, and the existing Earthen Gates were improved as well.

Power flooded both the weave and my body, so why did I feel so weak and utterly exhausted?

With a heavy heart that burned brighter than phoenix fire, I somehow ended up at home, back in my room. Confused but happy that things were progressing, I curled up in my bed. A moment later, darkness’s embrace knocked me out cold.