Magic Breaker Ch 202 - 204 (Patreon)

Chapter 202: Poison

I step onto yet another spiky sea creature. Long, poisoned spines dig through the pointless sole of my shoes, stabbing into my foot. Once more, my metabolism slows. My muscles numb. And I sigh softly, as I once more cure myself from poison with a cast of my mana.

“You know,” Sylves provides helpfully, “you’d get hurt a lot less if you weren’t reading that book at the same time.” She smiles brightly.

Tilting my head, I still hold the tome. “I really don’t think that’s the problem, Sylves. I just can’t see, you know.” 

“Ugh,” she groans, rolling her eyes at me as she twists in the air. She hangs upside down in front of my face, her hair dangling easily in the air. “You’ve got that mana-thing you do.”

“I’m using it,” I reply. “Clearly, I am simply sampling the poisons to immunize myself.”

She gasps, then frowns. “That’s the most blatant lie I’ve ever heard!”

“Nuh-uh,” I say.

“Yuh-uh!” she replies.

Smiling softly, I boop her nose, then walk past her. Promptly stepping on yet another spiky thing that poisons me. My body burns from this one, and I feel a fever creeping on before I purge it from my system.

[Biological Restoration 29 > 30]

“Richard, snack needed,” I say, and the hiy’ht throws me another cereal bar. I catch it out of the air, and Sylves gestures at me in outrage.

“See!” she complains. “You can see!”

Gently, I shake my head. “Nope, not at all. It’s not seeing, see, I can feel mana. And contours. The entire ground is spiky, so it’s tough to tell. Richard’s snack is filled with mana, so I can easily spot it in my magical sense.”

The truth is, of course, a little more complex than that. I am pushing myself, right now. [Observation] is reaching about twice as far as it usually does, powered by a flood of mana from my vessel. In fact, it reaches so far that…

[Observation 25 > 26]

[You have been granted a possible epitaph. Accept?]

[Epitaph: Distant Discretion (Power)

Thinly, sneaky, far-apart

From afar, stab the heart.]

I look at it, and shrug. It’s nice. But I think I can do better. Increasing the range of my abilities is something I think practice will already do. I want something a little more… unique from my epitaphs. Like how my Abiding Apathy feeds me mana from any spell I break.

Lost in thought, I step on yet another spike. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I say. “Three in a row on my bio foot?” 

“Nope,” Sylves says. “There’s another two on your prosthetic, you just haven’t looked.”

“... Dang.” She’s got me there. Whoops. Still, the coral forest has been nice. Sylves has, of course, been absolutely abusing her aerial supremacy to bully us. Which is funny. I’m glad she’s enjoying herself. 

It’s also amusing feeling her mana shift through my observation field. By now, I’m getting better at recognizing the others just based on their mana structures and movements, funnily enough. Sylves feels light and airy, and usually goes for twirls and spins. Opal’s mana feels twitchy and energetically direct, and Inu’s feels warm and solid, while Thatch feels so calm and yet ready to explode outward at any time.

Despite everything, though, this floor is mostly painless. I mean, not painless - the poison hurts plenty - but in general, it’s not too troublesome. It would be hell without a healer, though. Luckily, I’m here, and so is Jean. He rides on Opal’s back, right now, the enby easily carrying him around, and he heals their feet whenever they step on something sharp.

It’s been great practice for him, though his mana has been truly pitiful. So, he’s in charge of Opal and I’m in charge of… literally everyone else! 

And even with that, my stretched observation field, studying the tome, keeping up my suppression loops, and maintaining a whole prosthetic leg, I still have mana to spare. Which, of course, I use for smithing my vessel. 

By now, it’s changed. Just a few floors ago, when I almost killed myself with it, my vessel was reborn. It is almost entirely suffused with my mana, and  the material has gotten a lot stronger and more flexible. I can feel the ethereal space inside my chest having grown larger. 

For now, I don’t do any more smithing. After my big rework, the changes have yet to settle fully, and I don’t want to shatter it. Instead, I focus on reinforcing it. Core controller still feeds me info about that, too, after all. Vessels are really just cores, in the end.

I know as much, because I cut out those of Raven and Vincent. 

Their vessels sit firmly in my pocket, containment lattices woven around them. Vessels are perfectly smooth, and cores usually aren’t quite. They have lots of tiny facets, but as I’ve learned, that’s not because they’re like that from the start. Those facets are little mana structures, woven around them.

Of course, not all cores are based on vessels torn out of living creatures. What a messed up industry that would be. It’s perfectly possible to make them, and enhance them, without needing to kill anything. Cores are artificial vessels.

And real vessels, when not connected to something living, become nothing other than special cores. I then coat them with mana, create those crystalline containment structures by twisting it into loops and letting the mana stick to the vessel’s outside, which then semi-naturrally forms the facets for stability and…

[Vessel Construction 14 > 15]

[Job up! Core Controller 13 > 15]

There. Vincent’s vessel turned into a mana core. It’s a strong one, too. After all, this one was made by his investment into the vessel stat, and enhanced by the system. It’s nearly flawless, though he was clearly bad at controlling his mana, given the few cracks on his vessel.

His is in worse shape than mine, and frankly, that’s impressive. If I were at his level of control, I would’ve exploded a while ago.

“Ow,” I say, stepping on another poisonous spine. This one is slightly necrotic, but nothing compared to the mana that still sits in my stump, caged and raging. I’m keeping it there, periodically feeding it a bit of my flesh to spread and then [Deconstruct] it, building a model of it in my archive.

Every toxin I cure gets categorized and logged, it’s just that the girl in the dark’s venom is a lot stronger and complex, so I’m having to assemble it bit by bit. That’s okay though. I have nothing but time. “Ouch.” Nothing but time and poisonous spines.

- - -

Finding the exit out of the coral forest was almost easy. There was just a big crab exoskeleton on the ground, and the staircase extended from its back. The crab was house-sized, though. Must’ve been a menace when it was still alive.

But still, we make it to the safe room, and I gracefully accept my coconut, eating it. 

[Your stats have been reinforced!]

Somehow, we’re still alone. Delfine isn’t here, and neither are Anna or the others. Which is odd - I feel like we’ve been on a few longer floors. Maybe we missed them slightly. If I had a better skillset for detection, maybe I could tell… but none among us can. So, all we have to do is climb. And see how far we can go.

In service of that, I do what I always do. I prepare. I work on the things that I need. I [Suppress] my mana in my vessel as much as I can, pressing down on it with my will. There’s something there, I think. Something interesting. I just have to find it.

To make sure I have as many tools on my hands as possible when, eventually, we fight. I’m not confident we can beat Delfine, especially with her guards, or if Coldscar jumps into the mix. But we’ll try. There’s one more floor where we might be separate from them.

This next floor, then the final one. 

I breathe in with my ruined body, and carve more marks underneath my skin. And I smile. Because there’s just one thing to do. 

Put it all on the line, and fight for my life. Simple as that.

Chapter 203: Shipwrecked

We head to the ninth floor. Our options were a shipwreck on a deserted island with the moon in the sky, a spiraling pit into the earth, full of stagnant water, and a city about to be hit by a hurricane.

I head through the portal to the island. It’s a jungle, thick with bushes and leaves and the buzzing of insects. I reinforce the suppression field around me, and any of the bugs that try to fly at me just get stuck in it, then drop to the ground, flying back off when I walk away.

The night hangs darkly in the sky, and I can feel the moonlight filtering through the treetops, almost asking me to reach out. My mastery over the essence I’ve absorbed has grown a lot these days, so I can pinpoint the expressions it wants from me a lot more. It’s become less of a call and more of a… certainty.

Looking at the light, I know all it takes it to reach out and grasp it. My fingers trail forward through the air, and I grasp a strand of moonlight, then pull it back.

In between my fingers, I hold it. Light, corded into a thin thread. It’s a familiar sensation - a little like the bone-thread I worked with on the fourth. But it’s different, too. This one is softer, warmer. I twist it over in my fingers.

Then Sylves appears next to me. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at the string I’ve just plucked from the air. Very slowly, I reach out and drape it over her head, shiny and silver. She pauses, then reaches up and grabs it, pulling it in front of her eyes. “That’s nice,” she says. “Can you give me more?”

I nod. The moon here is strong. Much closer than outside the monoliths, where the eyes dominate the sky. Here, it can filter down more cleanly, and so, I grab another strand of it. The light dims, condensing in my fingers, and another wispy string appears.

Like that, we make our way across the island. I solidify wisps of moonlight for Sylves, and she hums happily as she collects them, weaving them into her clothing. They glow faintly as she moves, but they’re also sturdy. I could probably even make a shirt from them, and it’d be as durable as… what, chainmail, maybe?

Worth a thought, at some point. But they’re safer with Sylves for now. She can make better use of them than me, anyway. I just keep walking across the island, heading for where we saw the shipwreck. And by we, I mean Thatch. 

- - -

Before we reach the broken hull, there are a few things that jump from the trees to attack us. The first is a tiger-thing, except it’s made from vines and water. Opal cuts it down with a single swift stroke of their sword. The bound armament hums with purple power as it moves, and I see the wisps of their mantle again.

Crackling, ghostly plates of armor sitting across their frame. I think I even feel a wisp of a ghostly cape, just for a second. When I tilt my head at that, Opal just gives me a sheepish smile. I wonder what their mantle looks like, because its mana signature is faint, almost translucent. 

Other than that, we’re largely left alone - mainly since Sylves floats in the air above us, and lances of wind strike down anything before it can really get close. Enemies usually get somewhat stronger as we go up the floors, but this is a mixed challenge. A bit of survival, a bit of an objective, a bit of fighting. So they’re not overwhelming.

The thing in the dark was one of the only monsters on its floor, so it was intended to be terrifying. Something to run away from. Everything on this island is meant to be manageable, so we manage it.

Until we make it to the shipwreck, and find something unexpected.

There’s a skeleton sitting in front of it on the sand. It wears a hat, a wide-brimmed one with a feather set into it, and an eyepatch. And it looks at us. “Yarr,” it says. “I’m the late cap’n Blackheart, scallywags. What makes ye think ye’re worthy of my pirate treasure?”

I look at it. It looks at me. I look at it. The skeleton, notably, has a peg leg and a hook for an arm, in addition to the eyepatch. And it looks at me.

At my missing arm. My blindfold across my disfigured eyes, and the mana-prosthetic I use to walk. 

“Holy feck, yer a pirate,” it says.

“I fear there may be a misunderstanding,” I reply.

The skeleton gets up from the chest and approaches me, looking closely at my missing pieces. “Nay!” it declares. “Nay, there ain’t no misunderstanding. Ye landlovers are travelling with a true corsair! A buccaneer! These kinds ‘o injuries only happen on the high seas, ye see?”

Very slowly, I bring my single hand to my face, pressing my palm against it softly. “No way,” I whisper. “No way.”

“Why for someone like you, I’ll happily show ye my pirate treasure, matey!” it says.

A soft snicker leaves my lips, then turns into a defeated sigh. “Aye,” I say. “I… sure am a pirate.”

That, finally, stops the others from holding back their laughter.

- - -

[You have found a Treasure-Chest]

The tower announces it happily as we walk into the captain’s room. The skeleton, captain Blackheart, proudly shows off what kinds of feasts they used to have there. Unfortunately, their feasts have long since been devoured by the island’s scavengers. So, all that’s left is a raggedy table.

And still, our tour continues. The skeleton shows off the top deck, the ruins where it splintered, and talks my dang ears off. In fact, if my headphones still had battery, I probably would have taken them out and put them on. Tragically, to my great horror, the skeleton insists that it has to be me and not any of my friends to go with it.

What I don’t suffer through for my friends.

“Seriously, can’t I just lose another finger or something?” I ask myself. Unfortunately, the skeleton has sharp hearing.

“Aye, matey! That’s ‘ta spirit!” it praises me. “Ye’d give everything for a bit o’ treasure, eh? Like a true pirate!”

I sigh, but let its misconception stand. Instead, I just wave it off. “Treasure,” I say. “Please show me.”

“Right, right!” it says, and brings me back to the captain’s room. Finally, it opens a hidden compartment behind the rotting fancy chair, pulling away a few loose floorboards. Underneath there is the treasure chest. 

It’s a solid thing, two feet wide and one tall. Captain Blackheart reaches down and pulls it out, plopping it down in front of me. “Now, this is me pirate gold!” it says happily. “Spend it on booze and a ship, my fellow seaseeker!”

“I probably won’t,” I say.

“Please?” it asks.

Gently, I shake my head. “Yeah, probably not.”

The skeleton gives a sigh, then a wave of its hand. “Ahh, well. Worth a try! I’ve been waitin’ on an inheritor fer far too long! Island’s so empty, ye know? Ye heard me out, and even played along with this old hag’s jokes. Ye deserve this treasure.”

Huh. That's surprisingly generous. Not that I’ll say no.

With a quick motion, I open the chest. 

Chapter 204: Final Safe Zone

“Oh wow that’s a lot of chits,” Sylves comments.

“Are they all gold?” Opal asks, already reaching down. Before they get a chance, I reach into the chest and pocket a handful. Just for fidgeting reasons. Maybe to chew on them. Opal gives me a roll of their eyes, then takes some for themself.

It feels a little like we’re unearthing more hidden treasure in the treasure chest. There has to be something magical about it, too. Every time we reach in, the gold moves upwards towards us, as if on an elevator. Or a spring. There’s a good hundred golden chits in there, maybe a little more.

And then, as we dig, we see a necklace, promptly snatched by Sylves. Then, there’s a pair of boots, which Opal claims. A… frying pan for Richard, a ring for Thatch, and a helmet for Inu. And then, finally, there’s a shirt. It’s a dusky grey, almost anthracite according to Sylves. It’s also long sleeved and long by itself, hanging to the middle of my thighs. 

“If anyone tries to take this from me, I will, tragically, have to murder you,” I proclaim mournfully. 

Of course, this means that Opal, without hesitation, reaches their grubby hands for it. Then I hit them with [Suppression], and their authority of freedom boils against the skill, clashing into my efficiency. For a moment, they stare, smiling brightly as they try to tease me. Then I punch them in the face.

“Ow!” I say, holding my fist. “Dang. What high stats don’t do, huh?” I ask them.

Opal holds their nose, laughing brightly. “Bahahaha! I deserved that, I deserved it. Is your hand okay?” 

“Yes,” I say with a small smile. “Your nose?” 

“All good!” they say, pulling their hand away and showing a shallow bruise at best. 

Superhuman stats sure have made teasing easier, huh? There’s less danger of actually hurting someone. It’s almost fun. Is this how kittens feel when they play-wrestle? Then, with quick motions, I turn my back to the others, and change out my shirt, handing my previous one back to Sylves. 

“Thanks for the loan, dear,” I say.

She snickers in response, and takes the fabric back. My new shirt hangs snug around me, and I can already tell I love it. It’s light and doesn’t scratch my skin. Over it, I drape a sweater, and then my Kuro-cloak. In the meantime, Jean fished one last thing from the treasure chest, a little booklet for himself.

“Do they always give rewards for every member of a party?” I ask out loud.

Captain Blackheart shakes its head. “Nar,” the skeleton says. “Only sometimes, matey! Gold isn’t even guaranteed. But there’s always somethin’ in them there chests!”

“Thanks, captain,” Thatch says politely. “Can we… leave now?” 

“Hrm?” the skeleton hums. “Oh, yes, yes. The portal is on top of the crow’s nest. Good luck, mateys.”

And with that, it sits down on the ground, and we make our way to the next safe zone. Without even getting cursed. Truly, it pays to have fewer body parts.

Inu stares right into my soul as I have that thought. “Don’t you dare,” she whispers. “Don’t you dare say it.”

Wisely, I keep my mouth closed. That girl is too dang smart for her own good. Instead of focusing on her, I focus on climbing up the mast to the crow’s nest - with Kuro’s incredible help. The cloak tightens around my shoulders and arms, holding onto me, and shadowy tendrils sprawl from it, grabbing onto the wood and hoisting me upwards.

Then, I fall through the floor of the wooden basket of the crow’s nest, and land on soft sand. A moment later, I habitually look up - which, I am reminded, tells me absolutely nothing. Instead, I focus on [Observation]. Then I frown, and press more mana into the skill.

[Observation 26 > 27]

“Knew it,” I say, a moment before Anna comes into focus in front of me, wrapping her arms around me.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” she whispers.

For a stiff moment, I reach out and ruffle her hair. “Entirely okay,” I say. “Though again, please ask before hugs.”

She pouts at me, as if I picked the wrong words, then gives a sigh. “Yuki, I will start asking once I don’t have to worry about you dying every time we part ways.”

“You make a fair point,” I shrug. Then, I take a step to the side, as I feel Inu coming in from above. The girl lands in an elegant superhero pose - unlike Thatch, who smacks face-first into the sand. Anna looks over at them, then back at me.

She tilts her head slightly, and reaches out a hand. “Can I…?”

“Go ahead,” I say.

Her fingers trail across the bandages over my eyes. Then, her head turns to look at my missing leg, and the blackened, necrotic flesh attached to the stump. “What… happened?” she asks.

I shrug. “Nothing much. I just wanted to show some camaraderie with Delfine,” I say, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world. As I do so, I lean to the side just enough to have my face look at the oracle, sitting placidly in the sand. She even smiles at me and waves. 

“Oh,” the woman hums, holding a hand to her mouth again. “Have you also lost your eyes?” 

“Yep. We’re now rocking the same stylish bandaged look. I should get black bandages though, to contrast yours,” I hum in thought.

She giggles cheerily, and her guards stare at me with big menacing frowns on their faces. Coldscar and his troupe all sit around here as well. Without Raven, they look battered up, but it seems like they just fought through the Ire. Dove doesn’t sit with them, though - he must’ve abandoned ship once Raven was gone.

Very slowly, I approach the tree in the centre, and collect my coconut. Unlike me, the rest of my party is much more social. Opal instantly goes and bothers Coldscar, bullying the poor old man. Sylves flits about Delfine, offering her and her guards clothes and food for a “teeny tiny favour”. Thatch sits down, and somehow, conversations approach him instead of the other way around. 

[Your stats have been enhanced!]

The familiar notification greets me as I eat the coconut, and feed Kuro their part. Delfine gives me a strange look when she sees me feeding my cloak, a tilt of her head. Which, I guess, tells me that she was unaware what exactly Kuro was. Curious. 

Well, now she knows. And as she keeps looking at me, I keep seeing her face shift slightly. She really has a poor pokerface. My own expression remains entirely impassive, even as I carve more runes underneath my body.

With the healing from the coconut, I feed the poison underneath my skin some more. Then I take it apart, and feed it again. Then I take it apart again. By now, it’s been a few days, and I can feel the template growing more complete in my mind. Just a little left to go. Maybe another day. And then I’ll have a little secret weapon on my hands. 

Eventually, Delfine walks over to me, growing tired of Sylves’ teasing. She sits down next to me, a respectful distance away, and stares blindly into the sunset. “How do you deal?” she asks.

“With what?” I reply.

“The pain,” she says quietly.

I tilt my head, then smile. “Doesn’t bother me,” I say.

“It doesn’t?” she asks.

Slowly, I nod again, then turn to the sky. Not like I can see it, but I make the gesture, because I remember making it. “Yeah,” I reply. “Right now? Everything hurts. My leg is rotting. I have phantom pains from missing limbs. My eyes are still hurting, too. But, despite that, I don’t mind. You know why?”

“Why?” she asks.

“I’m free,” I reply. “I’m free. If someone tried to put me in a cage, if someone did this to me? I’d kill them. I’d kill them a hundred times over. But right now? I chose this. I fought and I lived. And I’ve paid back most of these injuries. I will pay back the rest later. And, on top of that,” I shrug. “I’ll heal. In fact, I’ll probably figure it out as soon as I take apart your healing skill. And then, I’ll be even more free.”

Delfine stares ahead, and I can see her face twitch. There’s a smile tugging at her lips, and yet… she remains silent. I tilt my head.

“It’s okay to cry,” I tell her.

The oracle turns to me, her mouth wide in surprise. Then, she chuckles for a moment, low and raspy. And nods. “So that’s the kind of person you are,” she says, smiling brightly. “Such a shame I’ll have to imprison you once you’re done with the monolith.”

I tilt my head. “Is that the kind of person you are?”

At my comment, I see her twitch. Flinch, almost. And she grits her teeth. “It is who I must be,” she says quietly.

“Are you afraid?” I ask, tilting my head more. “So scared of getting hurt? Of dying?” 

“Yes,” she says. “I’m terrified, Kuro.” Her hands ball into fists, and I see her take deep breaths to calm herself. What a silly person. Then, she turns to me. “Yet, you aren’t.” Her hand reaches out for me again, in that overly familiar way, and I shuffle back.

That seems to sadden her, as she flinches, but withdraws. I open my mouth to say the line, but she understands. “You enjoy your space, yes. I figured,” she says. Then, there’s a long silence. Her blindfolded, sightless eyes remain fixed on me. And then, in the calmest tone I’ve heard her use, she asks me something. I [Suppress] the sound from reaching anyone else, hiding our conversation.

“I have a request,” she says. I tilt my head and watch as she giggles in amusement at the motion. But then, she asks, finally. “Could you… tell me to be brave?”

Huh. What a simple request. Is that something I’m willing to do for a stranger? Does it overstep any of my boundaries? Hmm. I think I can. In the end, it’s just words, so it’s not that hard. If she asked for a hug, I’d have to turn her down. But I can do words, just to be polite. “Be brave, Delfine,” I say, trying to put on a slight smile for her.

Apparently, it worked. She rises from her seated position, gets up, and sits back down with her guards. I go back to my internal work, to all the hiding that I so desperately need to do. And then, I look to the exit.

There’s three portals, as usual. But, with everyone here, ready to go after us? The final floor is one we will all share. And, frankly, I can feel my fingers itch at the thought. 

Someone’s going to die. I’ll make sure it’s not one of the people I hold dear.