Mana exploded outward in a shockwave, blasting dust and shards of stone across the vault. Selindra shielded herself with a barrier glyph, teeth gritted. Varik stood firm, coat whipping in the gale.
Lucen dropped to his knees, fingers clawing the floor. His thoughts blurred, half his mind drowning in static. Images flickered, cities collapsing, shadows tearing across skies, screams swallowed by endless dark.
But under it all… a voice.
Not words. A resonance. Like the relic itself was whispering, testing the edges of his mind.
He spat blood, grinning through it. "If you're… trying to scare me—" another cough wracked him, "—you're gonna have to do better than free horror movies."
The system stuttered, then shifted.
[Relic Integration: 52%.]
[Sync Stabilizing.]
The veins dimmed slightly, their pulse settling.
Selindra lowered her barrier, eyes wide. "He's… adapting."
Varik's answer was simple. Certain. "He always does."
Lucen lifted his head, vision swimming, a smear of black light still burning at the edge of his sight. His voice was hoarse, but steady. "Alright. So who's buying me dinner after this?"
The relic pulsed again, softer this time, like it had found a rhythm to match his.
And his system chimed once more.
[Relic Integration: 61%.]
[New Passive Trait Unlocked: Abyssal Resonance.]
[Description: You can withstand, and partially channel, abyssal-class mana.]
Lucen froze. Then laughed, rough and wild. "Oh. Oh that's just unfair."
Selindra stared at him like he'd grown horns. "You… you're turning into something else entirely."
He shot her a tired smirk. "Relax. I'm still me. Just me… but scarier."
Varik stepped closer, his shadow falling across Lucen. "Can you stand?"
Lucen flexed his hands. The veins shimmered faintly, then receded back into his chest, leaving his skin pale but clear. He pushed himself up slowly, wobbling once before catching his balance.
"Yeah. I'm good." He paused. "Mostly."
Varik gave a single nod. "Then we move."
Selindra sheathed her blade, but not without a sharp glance at him. Distrust radiated off her, edged with something harder to name.
Lucen ignored it. He tapped his chest, feeling the echo of the relic's pulse syncing with his own.
'Well. Looks like I just got promoted from problem child to walking apocalypse. Neat.'
His system chimed again, one last time before going quiet.
[Relic Integration: 68%. Incomplete.]
[Further sync will resume automatically outside containment field.]
Lucen exhaled slowly, eyes still on the dais. "Guess we're not done yet."
The vault groaned around them. And somewhere deeper, something shifted.
—
The heavy doors groaned as they pushed back into the outer chamber. The air shifted, lighter, but threaded with something metallic now, like iron dust. The torches along the walls sputtered as though the vault itself was exhaling.
Lucen walked slower than the other two, one hand pressed to his chest where the relic pulsed faintly. Every step sent a ripple through him. Not pain, not exactly, more like he was out of tune with his own body.
Varik glanced back once, just once, then kept moving. Selindra stayed close, her eyes cutting toward him in intervals, suspicion sharp as glass.
The guardians' bodies still lay where they had fallen. Massive forms, carved from abyssal stone and bound in shattered sigils, their dark cores cracked and inert. Their presence filled the hall like monuments.
Lucen stopped. His breath caught.
The relic in his chest thrummed, harder, in rhythm with the sight of them. His system pulsed awake:
[Detected: Abyssal Construct Remnants.]
[Relic Resonance Activated.]
[Assimilation Possible.]
"…Oh no," he whispered.
Selindra turned. "What?"
But before Lucen could answer, the veins across his chest flared again, and the nearest guardian twitched. Not alive, just reacting. Its cracked chest cavity seeped black motes, drawn toward him like filings to a magnet.
"Varik—!" Selindra barked.
Varik had already stopped, his stance steady, not yet drawing his blade.
Lucen staggered as the motes hit him, sinking into his skin like ash into water. He gasped, body locking.
[Assimilation in Progress.]
[Warning: External corruption detected.]
[Counterbalance Applied: Abyssal Resonance.]
The relic flared in his chest, absorbing the motes, then dispersing them. His mana surged.
[+45 Mana.]
[+Experience: 2,000.]
[Level Up — 34.]
[Max Mana: 205.]
Lucen doubled over, hands on his knees. The veins along his arms blazed, then dimmed, stabilizing.
Selindra's voice cut the silence, sharp, demanding. "What did you just do?"
Lucen coughed, laughed once, hoarse. "I think I just… ate him." He jerked a thumb toward the husk of the guardian, which now lay hollow, stone shell crumbled to dust.
Her blade half-raised. "That isn't funny."
"No—seriously—" another laugh, half delirious, "—apparently the afterparty buffet's all mine."
Varik's eyes hadn't moved from him, steady, unreadable. Finally, he said, "Control it."
Lucen straightened, chest still heaving. "I'm trying, believe me."
The second guardian stirred. Or rather, what remained of it, the fragments of its shattered form shivered, dark essence unraveling and drifting toward him. Lucen staggered back a step, but there was no avoiding it. The motes sank into his skin, filling his vision with black static.
[Assimilation in Progress.]
[+75 Mana.]
[+Experience: 3,500.]
[Level Up — 35.]
[Max Mana: 240.]
[New Spell Acquired: Abyssal Grasp.]
[Description: Manifest tendrils of abyssal energy to bind or crush targets.]
Lucen froze, staring at the notification. "…Oh that's not ominous at all."
Selindra's expression hardened. "Varik. This isn't 'control.' This is corruption advancing unchecked."
Lucen pointed at her with both hands. "Hey! I heard that. Pretty sure my system would've red-flagged me if I was turning into some abyss-zombie, thanks."
Her jaw tightened. "Or maybe it already has, and you can't see it."
"Wow," Lucen said, deadpan. "Reassuring."
The third guardian's remains finally responded, its body crumbling into nothing as waves of abyssal motes surged into him. Lucen clenched his teeth as the relic pulsed, greedily pulling it in. His muscles locked, sweat dripping from his temples.
[Assimilation in Progress.]
[+120 Mana.]
[+Experience: 7,000.]
[Level Up — 36.]
[Level Up — 37.]
[Max Mana: 310.]
[New Passive Trait: Abyssal Reservoir.]
Varik moved, steady hand gripping his shoulder, not stopping him, but grounding him. The contact was firm, anchoring.
Lucen's system chimed again, slower now, like it had steadied.
[Assimilation Complete.]
[Corruption Level: 0%.]
[Relic Integration Progress: 82%.]
Lucen exhaled shakily, leaning into Varik's grip for a second before forcing himself upright. He wiped sweat from his forehead and gave a ragged grin. "Well. That was… educational."
Selindra's voice was ice. "That was a disaster."
"Disagree," Lucen shot back, holding up a hand that still shimmered faintly with abyssal energy. He flexed his fingers, watching shadows curl like smoke. "I call this… a win."
Her eyes narrowed. "You absorbed abyssal constructs. No one survives that, let alone harnesses it. You're… unnatural."
Lucen tilted his head, smiling lazily despite the tremor in his stance. "Lady, I've been unnatural since before I could shave."
Varik finally let go of his shoulder, stepping past both of them. "We're leaving."
Selindra stared at him. "You can't seriously think—"
But he didn't answer. He simply started toward the vault doors, every step deliberate, leaving them little choice but to follow.
Lucen slung his pack up, shaking the lingering haze from his head. "Guess I'm the new battery, huh? Maybe next time I'll absorb a vending machine."
Selindra didn't even flinch at the joke. Her voice was flat steel. "You won't last. Whatever's inside you now—" she jabbed a finger at his chest, "—it's only sleeping."
Lucen smirked, unbothered. "Good. I could use the company."
The relic pulsed again, faintly, like it was laughing with him.
—
The outer air was sharper than before, the kind that clawed into your lungs and made every breath burn. Snow dusted across the cracked stone steps leading out, and the sky had dimmed toward twilight.
Lucen blinked into it, flexing his fingers again. His mana felt… endless. Not just fuller, but denser, like every particle of energy in him had gained weight.
[Max Mana: 310.]
[Spells Available: Shockweave Bolt, Ignition Burst, Soundlash, Piercing Flare, Crater Bloom, Cataclysm Vector, Frost Spire, Abyssal Grasp, Void Pulse.]
He whistled under his breath. "That's one crowded menu."
Selindra walked ahead, silent, her coat snapping in the wind. But her eyes flicked back once, sharp, measuring.
Varik's pace never faltered. He moved as though nothing had changed, though Lucen knew better.
'He's watching. He always is.'
The snow swirled harder, wind howling through the broken landscape. And under the noise, faint, Lucen thought he heard something else. A whisper.
The relic, deep in his chest.
Not words. Just… hunger.
And his grin widened.
"Guess dinner's on me tonight."
—
The wind hadn't let up since they'd stepped out of the vault. It screamed through the broken ridges, carrying needles of ice that cut through cloth and skin alike. Snow came in waves, sometimes light, sometimes thick enough that the horizon blurred into a wall of white.
Lucen pulled his hood tighter, though the cold hardly seemed to bother him anymore. The relic pulsing in his chest gave off a faint warmth, enough to keep the bite of frost from sinking deep. He found himself watching Selindra walk ahead, coat flaring in the gale, every step precise, calculated.
She hadn't said a word since they left the vault. Not one.