"Ah, good, you've come," Patryn said as Vivi arrived at the storm zone. He offered a slight bow.

The camp, and the battalion at the front lines, was smaller this time. Only four ballistas were present, and a third of the archers were missing. Coshi and Anthony were discussing off to the side. The bivouac was generally much smaller.

The storm zone itself appeared like a quagmire of ether sticks and bones. Most of the ether sticks were cracked or snapped in half entirely. This wasn't the first time the hosts had been laid out for storms to reanimate, and it probably wouldn't be the last.

Patryn's voice had been far from enthusiastic. Vivi asked, "Is something wrong?"

"The missiles have all been tested, and are operational," Patryn said. "The first missile shows signs of wear from all the test runs, but it still flies. I expect it to break upon contact."

"The tip is the valuable part," Vivi said. "As long as we find that afterward, it's all okay."

Patryn bowed deeply. His demeanor was entirely different from practice. "Let's pray all goes well."

"Just make sure the missiles land on the biggest target there is, Patryn," Vivi said. "That's your job."

"I will ensure just that," Patryn said. He saluted, regarding Vivi as if she was a real commander. "The missiles will fire, and we ask for your protection."

Behind him, the rest of the ballistics team shared similar angst. They'd all witnessed the previous storm, and it looked like they placed their hope on Vivi once again. If things went wrong, they hoped Vivi would be the one to ascend, to protect them from stray monsters.

"Nobody will die today," Vivi said. "Get everyone ready and prepared."

Patryn saluted again, returning to the ballistas.

"That was good," Lucius said. "You weren't nervous commanding him. I'd say you need to work on your big words next. What's the word… The vocabulary, yes. Commanders need to sound big and smart."

Vivi sighed, shaking her head. You're one to speak about large, vast, sizable, tremendous words, Lucius.

"Yes, like that!" Lucius said. "Make your speech sound big and tremendous! Like the cavernous abyss!"

Vivi rolled her eyes and moved to Coshi and Anthony, who were talking to a surge forecaster. A woman in a white robe. "The layer of sandstone is thick," the woman was saying. "We can expect at least one large golem. The ether sticks and hosts won't be nearly enough to satisfy every wisp of the storm, but our hosts should prevent the storm from spreading. As for the estimated…" The woman spotted Vivi and hastily bowed. "Oh, Vivian Runeblessed! A great honor to see you. The estimated break time is in, ah, around thirty-five minutes."

"Thank you for the report, Ana," Coshi said. "Survey the storm from a distance from now."

The forecaster bowed, thanked Coshi, and exited with hasty feet.

"Hello, Vivi," Coshi said. She looked tired. Without a smile, the Luminary looked much older, though she seemed ready for a fight. "If I have understood correctly, our new ballistas should pierce golem skin."

"They're just new missiles, but we hope they can," Vivi said. "And I have one more weapon to help out."

She summoned Grandpa's nameless sword and offered it to Coshi. "It's a four-runed sword with all of the power runes and sharpness. It will demolish golems alive if you can manage to wield something as heavy."

"Four runes?" Coshi asked, voice soft. She held the sword with care, examining it, afraid to run ether through it. When she did run ether through, the sword nearly fell from her hands from the added weight.

As expected, the sword's ethereal presence shocked her, as all of Vivi's swords had previously. Grandpa's swords were next level from that. This one was at least twenty-five percent stronger than Vivi's best swords.

Somehow, it hurt Vivi to see just how far ahead Grandpa was from her.

"That one doesn't have a sheath yet," Vivi said. "And Grandpa is making something better. He doesn't fully believe in that sword. But this should help with the golems."

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Coshi and Anthony both eyed the sword in utter bafflement. Eventually, the Luminary raised her head. "Thank you, Vivi. How much is your Grandpa asking for this sword?"

"It's free," Vivi said. "He thinks it's worthless. And it has no name."

The two blinked. "Uh-huh…" Coshi said. "A four-runed inside-carved sword is worthless. I wonder what Piaro Vanhammer would say about that."

"Give it to whoever is best at wielding heavy weapons," Vivi said. She looked around. "Where's Iszul, by the way? He's not here?"

"Iszul is fifty miles from here, taking care of the second storm," Coshi said, expression suddenly gloomy again. "Shivenar's chances of beating both storms simultaneously are slim. It's unfortunate, but we had to give one of them to Iszul. He is working with our secondary battalion."

"I see…" Vivi said.

"Offering the ether to Iszul hurts, but it is necessary," Coshi said. "We hope he defeats the storm without casualties. As for this storm… We will hope your missiles deal damage, Vivi, and the rest will be cleared with your swords."

Gods, Vivi thought. Shivenar really is weak. Without my swords, they'd be dead!

"To their credit, this storm season is much tougher than the ones prior," Lucius said. "The toughest storms usually carry around thirty million ether. A lot, but a manageable amount. Over a hundred million is insane."

The sword was temporarily handed to one of Coshi's Lights. A burly man, who accepted it with one foot kneeled, as if he'd been offered a task to slay an evil god. Coshi seemed to trust him, so Vivi didn't complain.

The wait began alongside last minute preparations and checkups. The ballistics team tested the ropes and strings, making sure everything worked properly. Soldiers took test swings and stretched as a warm-up, psyching themselves up. Behind them, the food stalls were being closed and out of the way, non-combatants leaving back toward the city.

It looked like Vivi had nothing to do. She faced the storm zone, waiting for the storm to break.

"Ah, one more thing, Vivi," Coshi said. "I picked a mentor for you. He's arriving just now, if you wish to introduce yourself with the time we have."

"Oh, sure, I'd like to," Vivi said. The sooner she'd learn the concepts and strategies required to protect herself from ascension skills, the sooner she could start practicing in Paradise.

Coshi waved at someone behind Vivi. She turned her head.

And she immediately froze.

The man in question was over eight feet tall with sharp icicle-like horns. His bare feet revealed skeletal toes, feet covered by a brown wizard's robe. His features were a mixture of bone and skin, not quite a skeleton, but definitely not a human either. His teeth were open and skeletal, but the bones could move, forming a twisted line, perhaps a frown, as he spotted Coshi.

For a moment, Vivi thought she saw Uundref. This man was of a similar species, though his horns were different, and parts of his face had skin—scalp, for example, with hair growing—though the presence of skin only made him more unnerving to look at.

"Coshi, old friend," he said, voice barely audible. His tone was annoyed, as if he really didn't want to speak, but made some joke anyway. "Storms screwing up your home as well, eh?"

Coshi grinned—the type of warm grin reserved only for special reunions. She held out a hand, to which the man slammed a skeletal right on Coshi's palm.

The two shook hands, though Coshi's hand turned red from the impact. She shook the pain out of her hand, grin fading. "Your skin's still as hard as ever, Tsarvan. Ouch."

"Very funny," Tsarvan said with little emotion. "Hilarious, even."

He glanced at Vivi with his shiny blue eyes. He had no eyelids, though his stare was much better than Uundref's. Less oppressive, more curious. His pupils were like gemstones.

How strong is he? Vivi asked.

Lucius studied him warily, but he wasn't totally alarmed. "Strong. He's a hunter. No idea how strong."

The man's eyes turned back to Coshi, whose grin had returned.

"So how's life treating us?" Coshi asked.

"There's no us anymore," Tsarvan said. "Team's disbanded. Destroyed, rather. Venly got herself killed. Simon screwed off with some richer folk. The rest wished me goodbye. I own nothing these days, except my core and some few wisps."

Coshi's smile fell. "Oh. My condolences to Venly's family. Who got her?"

"That storming idiot overdosed on dullrot."

Coshi's face sombered further. "Drugs?"

"Drugs and bad decisions," Tsarvan said. "The team's gone, Coshi."

She bit her lip. "That's… a shame."

The two stayed silent, while Vivi awkwardly stood to the side, wondering if she should have said something. She decided not to.

"The past is long gone," Tsarvan said. "We've got this nonsense to deal with. You said you had a student of sorts for me. A prodigy."

"I do," Coshi said, turning her head. "Vivi, this is Tsarvan. My old ally. A deadly assassin with a strong heart. And Tsarvan, this is Vivian Runeblessed. The best runesmith in the world after her grandpa, and she's… well, she's essentially learning to use an exalted ascension skill."

Tsarvan stared at Coshi blankly, as if her words didn't make logical sense. "The best runesmith in the world? And how old is this girl?"

"Seventeen, I believe?" Coshi asked. Vivi nodded. "And she's fairly good at surviving ascension skills as well."

"Yeah, good luck," Tsarvan said. He turned to Vivi. "In what timespan are you looking to wield one?"

"I'm trying to use two or more at the same time, or maybe three," Vivi said. "I can train for maybe six hours every night." She offered the skeleton a slight bow. As odd as he looked, he didn't seem to be evil. Perhaps he would be a good teacher.

"Ain't no seventeen year old using exalted ascensions," Tsarvan said. "Not one, and certainly not two, and never in my life have I seen three."

"She already uses two," Coshi said, arms crossed. "It kills her, though."

Tsarvan frowned at her with his glowing unblinking eyes, clearly trying to decipher whether he was being lied to.

That was when the ground shook. Eyes turned toward the storm zone, where wisps were oozing out of the ground.

"I suppose we will discuss this later," Tsarvan said. He cracked his knuckles, held out his arm, and a blade materialized in his hand, made of pure ether. "Let us fight together, Coshi, and celebrate this grand reunion."

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