Chapter 300 (Milestone!)

Dublin, Ireland - 2:07 PM

The pain had almost completely subsided by the time I woke up. Parts of my body still ached while others were devoid of any feeling at all. It was like half of me was floating in an ethereal void, cut off from the world around me. That was worrying, but not unexpected.

The Soul Shearer’s soul shearing was an attack that worked entirely within the system. If you were hit by his weapon, then your maximum HP and any resource pools you had, Mental Points in my case, was lowered until it healed naturally. It had a set effect that couldn’t be changed no matter what anyone did.

What I had done, in contrast, could only be called self-mutilation of the soul. There had been a slim chance that I became a completely different person than I was before, if I even woke up at all, but I believed in my sense of self enough to know I’d pull through.

I had known the risks going in and had chosen to do it anyway. This was the only way to save Coe, and I couldn’t let him die in vain. There was too much history between us to not try and reason with him again.

That said, he was now back in Kansas and there was every chance that he was heading for Florida at this very moment. It would take him a while since his motorcycle had been trashed, so he had to take the train.

“Sara says you’re awake,” Jamie said from behind me. “She also told me to call you a dumbass.”

“I can hear again. That’s a good sign,” I replied, ignoring the insult. My hearing wasn’t fully fixed as the Weapon Master sounded a little distant, but it was better than nothing. “He’s gone, right?”

“The guy who’s apparently hellbent on killing you?” she scoffed. “Yeah, you sent him back home. I’ve got the skill book here and everything. Not sure I would have helped if I had the full story.”

“Then I’ve gotten the upper hand on Aaron. Bastard thought he was going to get away with making me choose between two of my closest friends? Better back that shit up. Guy doesn’t understand who he’s messing with,” I said, faking a laugh. Taking a deep breath, I opened my eyes. My forced mirth dissipated in an instant. “Ah, balls.”

“What is it?” she asked, and I opened up my awareness aura.

We were still in Croke Park Stadium, and I had been moved a few feet away from where I had fallen. That made sense; between my now stupidly high Constitution and the Anchored passive, I was looking at an effective score of well over 500 when it came to resisting forced movement. Since I couldn’t consent to being moved, that meant Jamie and Tony probably only dragged me a short distance before giving up.

The Lightning Pugilist was nowhere to be seen and I assumed he was out collecting more obelisks. I hoped he would continue to work with the group’s best interests in mind and not his own, but everything had gone so far off the rails that I wasn’t even sure if the administrators were going to let this count.

The Star Spangled Shadow Invasion had always been something of a clusterfuck, but this was a whole new level than anyone was used to, even me.

Any Patrons who were paying attention to my fight with Coe probably had a lot to say given everything that was discussed, but we were both under Administrator Black-outs so I had no idea what jumbled mess of information the administrators would be getting from them. Their confusion, at least, warmed me.

But there was another problem. I shifted, taking stock of my body, and sighed.

“Did Sara tell you what I did to myself?” I asked.

“No, she only sent me two messages. One asked me to take care of you because the price you paid was too high, and the next said you were awake,” Jamie answered. “I’m also supposed to punch you later, but apparently you’re not in good enough shape for it now.”

“Yeah, no, I’m actually in pretty bad shape right now,” I admitted with a grimace. “I mean, it’s not as debilitating as some people might have anticipated. It always could have been worse, but this isn’t ideal, either. Worth the price of victory, I reckon.”

“Are you going to tell me what you did to yourself? Or are you just going to reassure yourself and your wife?” she challenged, crossing her arms.

Frowning, I got to the point. “What I did was remove a part of my own soul, hoping that it would be powerful enough to strike down the Primordial Ice and kill Coe.”

“Mission accomplished, but how’s this any different from what that Shearer guy did to you?” she asked, furrowing her brow.

“This was self-inflicted and not at all guided by the system, so there’s… complications,” I sighed. “I’ve still got my hearing, which is thankfully getting stronger, but I can’t see, taste, or smell anything.”

“That’s worrying,” Jamie said, surprise in her aura. “But that’s not too bad, right? You still have your awareness thing.”

“I do,” I agreed. “But I also don’t have control of my left side, starting just a little bit after my heart.”

“Wait, what?” she asked, looking me over.

I lifted my right arm and leg and tried to do the same with the left. Part of my shoulder rolled, but other than that there was no movement. I was essentially paralyzed on my left side.

“What the hell, Franklin?” Jamie asked angrily, punching me on my right shoulder. I hissed in pain as I felt the blow echo throughout my body. “Fuck hitting you later, you deserve it now, dumbass!”

“Yeah, thanks,” I replied through gritted teeth. My left arm crossed over my body to rub where she had hit me.

The Weapon Master glared down at me. “You literally just told me that you don’t have control of that part of your body,” she complained, jabbing a finger in my face.

“I don’t have control over it,” I told her, sighing. “I’m using a localized version of Flight to specifically move my arm. It’s not easy or practical, but when you have as much experience as I do then you tend to learn a trick or two.”

“How not practical are we talking?”

“I might be in trouble if I get into another fight with Coe or someone of Sol Ligatus' caliber, but honestly being a Warmind covers most of my bases,” I answered honestly. It wouldn’t do to lie to my companion, especially when she’ll find out from Sara if I played it down. “Flight isn’t made for this level of control. It’s too clunky since it’s meant to be a whole body kind of thing.”

“Good thing you have all that psychic bull, then,” Jamie said, looking me over. She crossed her arms again. “Can you fix it?”

“There are a few options. All of them suck, but one or two aren’t entirely terrible.”

“Alright. That’s something, I suppose,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Then what now?”

“First, I need to get my screens back,” I told her, lowering my arm back to the ground. Constantly using Mental Points to move around was going to be a pain in the ass, but there were ways to keep it manageable. I reached up and touched the Medallion of the Warmind Uuska through my tattered shirt. Its Efficient Conduit skill was going to be handy. “System, assess and activate accessibility mode.”

I blinked as the darkness enveloping my vision suddenly lit up, showing me my screens even though I was without sight. Those who were blind before the system showed up would have an audible version, but this was great for me.

<<<>>>

[[Notice]]

Diagnostic assessment complete. Accessibility mode is now active.

[[Equipped]]

Medallion of the Warmind Uuska

(+30 Mental Points, +6 Wisdom, +6 Willpower, MP Storage+ skill acquired, Efficient Conduit skill acquired)

[[Skill]]

MP Storage+

This skill can store up to 300 Mental Points for future use, which can only be used by someone with the Warmind class. This MP can be exchanged between the bearer and the item at will, though all stored MP is lost if the item is removed.

[[Skill]]

Efficient Conduit

When activating Warmind abilities, you can use the medallion as a focus for your psychic powers. Using the Mental Points stored by MP Storage+ instead of your native pool, decrease the cost to use those abilities by 20%. This skill will not work with skills and spells that use MP in order to activate.

<<<>>>

“There’s an accessibility mode?” Jamie asked, arching an eyebrow. “The death game has an accessibility mode?”

I snapped away the notice and description of my necklace, and nodded. “Yeah. It’s hidden in the settings menu, but it is there. I can see text boxes now, but it’s not going to do anything to help me with my left side. That’s going to be up to me.”

“Okay, sure. But when I asked what was next, I really meant something that I could do,” she clarified. “From what I’ve been told, there’s only three of us left. You, me, and Tony. He’s out there grabbing more obelisks so that we’ll be set, with the warning that he screws us over then nothing will stop us from finding him.”

“While true, I hope it’s unnecessary,” I said.

“Whatever happens will happen,” Jamie replied with a shrug.

“Seems that way,” I chuckled. My body flew upwards slowly, and a wave of vertigo made me falter, dropping a couple of inches. The Weapon Master reached out to grab my arm so I wouldn’t fall, but I had caught myself by then. “Thanks, I’ve got it now.”

“You’re sure?” she asked, trying to sound like she didn’t care.

Her aura was a different story, however, and I smiled. “Yeah, I’m sure. The event won’t end until twenty-four hours has passed or if there’s only one contender left. I’m going to need to survive this, so I hope you don’t take your death at my hands personally.”

Jamie looked like she was about to argue, but seemed to think better of it. “Fine,” she said instead. “I’m curious about what I’m going to drop, anyway.”

“Then you’ll head west, I’ll head southwest, and we’ll start collecting more obelisks,” I ordered. “Once we’ve reached the amount we need, we’ll home in on Tony and take care of things from there.”

“So we’re basically on clean up duty now,” the Weapon Master stated.

“Yeah, you’ve got it,” I replied. “Everything from here on is going to be a cake walk, so long as Tony doesn’t go out of his way to attack me while he’s weakened.”

<<<>>>

[[Notice]]

The Patron [Hé-no] assures you that there will be no betrayal from Tony, and that second place is more than welcome.

<<<>>>

“And so long as he listens to his Patron, I think we’re going to be good,” I said, snapping away the notice. “Any questions, Summers?”

“No. Pretty cut and dry. If I run into anything strange, I’ll let you know through guild chat,” she answered before straightening out and cracking her back. Her armor really was a mess; it was covered in scorch marks, bullet holes, and sweeping gouges. I knew I couldn’t have looked much better. Before she left, she looked up at my head. “You know, I think that’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“What is?” I asked, reaching up. My hair felt fine, so I wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

“Normally people joke that gingers are the ones with no soul but, now that you’ve damaged yours, you knocked the orange right out of it,” she joked, jutting her chin at my hairline. “Half of it’s brown again, like it used to be before Pittsburgh.”

That surprised me. My hair changing color to become like flames had been the first thing to indicate that my Half-Angel heritage was becoming more powerful. The fact that it was receding was worrying, and I wondered how it would interact with Break Free.

“Thanks for the heads up, Jamie,” I told her honestly. “Be safe out there. Who knows what else these bastards will throw at us.”

“Yeah. You, too, Anthony,” she replied softly, as if reluctant to leave me. It didn’t take long for her to make a decision. Without another word, she strode off towards the exit, heading west.

I started south, but I didn’t fly over the wall. Instead, I went for the nearest door. Back when the event started, I had left behind a mark that was specifically made for my Heelies of the Twice Blessed. The first door I found was completely destroyed, but the next was whole. Putting my hand on the knob, I activated Celestial Wormhole and opened it.

<<<>>>

[[Skill]]

Celestial Wormhole

Mark a door by touching it and activating this skill; this mark does not go away until it is used or you mark another door. You always know what direction the mark is in and how far away it is. At another doorway within range, you may activate the skill and open the door to find that it leads to the door you marked prior. The range of this ability is equal to one mile per point in Dexterity added by the Heelies of the Twice Blessed. You may allow others to travel with you in this manner at the cost of one feather per creature. Each shoe has five feathers, for a total of ten. The portal will remain active for up to one minute or until the wearer enters, whichever comes first.

In addition, you may touch a door and leave a permanent mark. When using Celestial Wormhole in this way, double the range and increase the number of people who may travel to two per feather. This permanent mark may only be changed once every time the Heelies of the Twice Blessed is upgraded.

Current permanent marks: 1

<<<>>>

A golden swirl appeared in the frame, and I entered it. When I emerged, I was across the street from the Florida obelisk. I still had a beacon in the sky that would lead me to Mississippi’s starting point, and I headed that way as I looked through the text boxes I had missed.

To my surprise, there was only one.

<<<>>>

[[Notice]]

You have knocked Player [Coe Valen], Rubberbuilt, out of the Star Spangled Shadow Invasion. You have gained 72 Defense Points.

Defensive Option: Reflective Paint has been unlocked at all obelisks.

Kansas’ obelisk will now be marked.

<<<>>>

The fact that he was “Player” Coe Valen instead of Avatar struck me as odd, but it didn’t confuse me for long. Of course Aaron would have ditched him instead of dealing with the penalties of his death. It was both shitty and expected of the Fallen Angel. I still didn’t know what the bastard wanted or why he was doing all this, but I was going to find out one way or another, even if it meant I was going to have to throttle it out of him myself.

I was going to need to get far more powerful for that. Lifting my hand, I ran my fingers through my hair as I thought about how far behind their curve I was.

If it weren’t for the fact that Sara had to greet whoever came into her domain instead of attacking them, how screwed would I be against her?

And why wasn’t she messaging me?

The moment I thought of the question, I knew why. Resisting the urge to swallow as my mouth became dry, I looked to the sky.

“Sorry, love,” I said. “But it had to be done. You know why.”

The reply was swift.

<<<>>>

[[Patron Message]]

I love that you’re the hero, Anthony Franklin, but sometimes too much is too much. You cannot begin to fathom how livid I am that you did that to yourself, especially after you completely disregarded all of my quests for you to stop.

The past is the past, and I can deal with that, but I didn’t think you would completely deny my attempts to look out for you. You barely even entertained the thought of listening to me until the last moment, like I was an afterthought so long as you could achieve victory.

I’m hurt, Ant, and I’m mad, but I’m still on your side.

My time right now is best spent trying to figure out an alternate way to fix the damage you caused because the only one I know about is one that will tear you asunder. Focus on the event, don’t you dare even think about using Break Free until I tell you it’s safe, and stay out of trouble.

<<<>>>

I frowned as I read through the message, but nodded. The moment had caught me up, but I was too old to use that excuse. Plus, I couldn’t honestly say I wouldn’t do it again.

“I’m sorry,” I said again. There was no answer, not that I expected one, and I continued on my way in silence.

If Sara said that she was looking for a solution, then I’d leave her in peace. Whatever she found would probably be better than the ones I knew of. Fixing a soul wasn’t easy, and I still didn’t understand everything her blessing did to me as a Half-Angel.

I held back a sigh. It really felt like I was in the dog house for this one, and I would just have to make sure it wouldn’t be something I’d regret later on.