The specimen was honestly more than Zelamir could have hoped for. He was fast, strong, ate basically every type of magic that got close to him, and had… well, not exactly impressive control over his own essence, but far better than he should have. It was inflexible and rigid, but that also meant his essence was incredibly stable.
In fact, the more Zelamir considered that, the more suspicious he became. The specimen’s control couldn’t be that good, not in the middle of a battle like this. Reisha hadn’t really brought his full strength to bear, not by a long shot, but he was still pushing the specimen hard.
The target being functionally immune to magic was making things difficult for Zelamir to contribute. He wasn’t a brute fighter like that idiot Tesir, and it had been difficult enough to snare the specimen in illusory traps the first time. It had required a mix of magical and chemical compounds to achieve the desired effect, neither of which had worked half as well as they should have.
Zelamir could well believe this human boy had killed Halifex. All it would really take was surviving the initial ambush and being quick enough to keep him from retreating. Given Halifex’s inexplicable arrogance, that moron probably hadn’t even tried to break away from the fight.
That just reinforced the need to capture him so Zelamir could figure out the exact chain of events that had led to creating a new divine beast, but he was concerned Reisha wouldn’t see it that way. Once their leader issued his orders, he rarely deviated from them unless some new information came to light.
In this case, the only way Zelamir saw things going differently was if Halifex showed up at the Gold Spire in the next minute or so, or if they managed to decisively contain the specimen without killing him, neither of which were likely to happen.
No other divine beast could have followed that frantic battle like Zelamir could. His powers of observation were unmatched—Reisha himself didn’t count—and the speed at which the specimen traded blows with the Son of the Crown was unreal. Tesir couldn’t have done it. Nobody was that fast.
Zelamir was a practical man. He knew he couldn’t keep up. He knew his attacks were barely more than an annoying distraction and that, without resorting to magic, he had no real way of influencing the fight. He was a bad match up for the specimen. All that aside, his senses tracked every movement, and he was both impressed and concerned by what he saw.
The specimen was learning. Every second, he figured out more about how Reisha moved and thought, and the gap between them shrunk. The human boy was learning, forcing Reisha to try harder, to use new tactics, and it was all happening at an extraordinary rate. He was even feeding on scraps of Reisha’s mana with every clash, though Zelamir didn’t think he was aware of it.
There was something else, too. At first, Zelamir dismissed it as the normal essence fluctuation everybody went through when they used it. Even Reisha, indisputably the strongest immortal on the planet, couldn’t hold his essence perfectly still. There was no reason for the specimen to be able to do better, except that he inexplicably did.
So why is his essence growing?
It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t possible. Essence didn’t just spontaneously appear out of nothing like that. It was the expression of the soul, the vital energy of life. It was experiences and learning, emotions and memory. Essence grew slowly, the same as anything else. And it was not possible to track it visibly increasing over the span of a single minute.
Is he hiding it somehow, and Reisha is forcing him to let more out? No, that can’t be it. This free-floating essence isn’t actually doing anything.
A thought occurred to Zelamir, a possible answer to the riddle that was this human-turned-divine-beast. He was far stronger than he should be for one so young, most of which could be attributed to growing inside the gods’ system that stole essence from its victims. That only worked because of the foundation it was all built on, and there was a strict agreement to keep it all contained.
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Did this new divine beast breach that containment somehow? Did he bring a piece of the system with him? That would be… the end of everything if he did. Reality itself could unravel. Surely the gods would never allow that to happen. It would violate the Compact, and Legra would go to war over it. But if not that, then what?
The evidence was clear, though, and Zelamir was a firm believer in reason and rationality. The only explanation he could think of was that the specimen was somehow stealing essence like he was still inside the confines of the system. And if that was the case…
“Reisha, I think he’s still connected to the Garden’s system. He’s an essence parasite! We have to kill him!” Zelamir called out. There was no choice. The experiment was a failure, and the results needed to be terminated. They couldn’t afford to hold back, not against something like this.
* * *
Velik didn’t know what an essence parasite was, exactly, but he supposed the term could be applied to him as a general descriptor. Zelamir wasn’t right about him being connected to the real system, but it was a fairly impressive guess considering how little he had to go on.
Understanding lit up Reisha’s eyes. Whatever niggling doubts he might have had vanished, leaving the man with a clarity of purpose, and that purpose was to snuff out Velik’s existence. He’d already been fast and strong, but now he started actively drawing on his real power.
That had the unintended effect of feeding Velik more mana. His regeneration kicked up to maximum speed, completely refreshing his physical body and even hastening the growth of his missing arm. By now, he only had a few inches to go to reach the wrist, and at this enhanced speed, it wouldn’t be more than a minute before his hand was fully functional.
It also had the entirely intended effect of literally setting Velik’s whole world on fire. All he could see was an unending stream of flames ranging from blue to violet to pure black. [Sun Eater] ate the magic, but it couldn’t keep up. There was no outrunning it either, since the fire wasn’t coming from Reisha. It just appeared everywhere all at once.
Velik was glad he’d taken the time to farm enough essence to create [Seal of the Relentless]. It had already saved him from being completely destroyed in melee with Reisha, and now the elemental ward part was keeping him from being roasted alive.
His escape attempt had failed miserably, probably because the [Dread Lance] he’d used hadn’t so much as made Reisha blink. It had been one of the weakest ones Velik had ever shot off, roughly equivalent to the first one he’d ever done back when he’d first made the skill, which meant it was about a hundred times weaker than the one he’d used to flush Zelamir out of hiding a few minutes ago.
But with mana rushing into him now and [Sun Eater] healing him as fast as the flames burned him up, he had a chance to go on the offensive. Velik gathered up power, his senses locked on Reisha as he worked. Despite the flames blinding him, he knew exactly where both his opponents were, and he suddenly found himself with an unexpected choice.
He could turn the skill on Zelamir and probably kill the monster. That would technically accomplish his whole goal, avenging himself and Chalin for the misery they’d suffered from the dungeon seed they’d discovered as children. Even if Reisha killed him right after, he could count that as a victory.
Or he could tag Reisha with that [Dread Lance]. It wouldn’t kill the man, but it might stun him long enough for Velik to escape. He could flee, grow stronger, and try again, but only if it worked. And if it failed, he’d undoubtedly be killed without the chance to get his revenge.
Velik didn’t know what to do, and he had at best two seconds to figure it out while he channeled the mana he needed into the beam of disintegration that was [Dread Lance]. In the end, it wasn’t hard to figure out. He’d accepted his fate when he’d stepped past the boundary. The quest was more important than him, and not because it was a quest, but because it was what he truly wanted.
Coming back alive was just a bonus. He could only hope the essence gain from killing another divine beast would help level the field against Reisha. If it didn’t, then getting his revenge would be his last act in this world.
Then the choice was taken from him.
The flames were snuffed out in their entirety, and with them went the mana Velik needed. No! his mind protested, but it changed nothing. He didn’t have the reserves necessary to ensure a clean kill. Escape was his only option now.
He didn’t think to question why Reisha had called off his fire, not until he saw the man’s face and realized it wasn’t Reisha who’d done it. A new party had joined the fight.
“What have you done?” Reisha whispered, looking past Velik.
And Eslaka, in all her fiery glory, descended to the blackened dirt, landing beside Velik, mad laughter spilling from her lips.