Drown in your defeat. Learn to savor the taste. Let your limitations hurt you. Let yourself rage against your failure.

Or, you can turn away. It won't fix anything, but there is a mercy to getting struck down from behind. Warriors hate to admit it, but there is a blissful ignorance in not knowing what kills you. Not knowing the reason you failed. We do it as children. We close our eyes and pretend the problem isn't there. Because it is comforting. Because knowing that we are not enough scars us in a place that some would rather die than face.

And I suggest that you do die if you cannot face your heart with honesty. It is a mercy. Death is merely silence. Life will teach you greater depths of pain. And to sink into yourself and never rise again while challenging the Delve of a Legendary Skill is something most warriors would imagine to be a nightmare.

But most warriors are fated to feed the mud and soil. Most warriors never truly grow to become the adult that can face their problem with open eyes. They remain a child in pain. A child in the end.

You cannot be a child if you wish to be a Legend. Not in this world. Not against your sins.

You can doubt yourself. You can believe that you are weak. You can even fear. But these are just feelings. Sensations. What will save you is courage, and beyond it, understanding. Understanding, but not acceptance.

We all have limits. And we are to know and loathe them.

We all have flaws. And we are to rise above them.

Thus, if you stand on the precipice and find yourself uncertain if you might surface from the Delve, ask yourself this:

"Can I face the ruins of my self? Can I face my greatest shame, and find a way to stand beyond it? Can I survive the darkness of my heart?"

I cannot give you an answer. But those of you who understand already know. And those who are uncertain should wait until they do.

You must be paradoxically merciless and kind to yourself in different ways. There is a madness in courting the System's power, but it takes a sane mind to master the insanity needed to prevail. Be both. Be everything. Be more.

Drown. But do not die. Drown, and learn to live with the suffocation.

-Legend: Reforged from Ruin, Written by Semper Paragon Caine Hauser of the Descenders Union

166 (I) Prison

A mountain's weight in pressure crashed down on Shiv as he was teleported. He tried to swing his left fist at the walls of Dimensionality washing down around him, but his gauntlet was still broken, and his hand passed through the mana as if it was a flowing current. His own Portomancy was feeble and new. If Shiv had to guess, he wouldn't even be capable of teleporting a pebble right now, and considering he was probably trapped in a Legendary spatial magic skill…

Not felling good. His insides boiled with rage and frustration. He had been busy trying to bring the Tarrasque down. The damned Avatars and Ascendants had been absent for most of the fight, and even when Shiv figured out how to weaken the world-ending monster with his Drain Vitality Skill, they held back. What was the point of being a divinely empowered warrior beyond the limits of a Legendary Pathbearer if you were too scared to put your life on the line? Cowardly shi—

Psycho-Cartography: Complain less. Focus your mind. You're drifting all over the place. We need to get back to Blackedge and finish off the Tarrasque. We can't leave Adam, Uva, and everyone else on their own. Complaining serves no purpose. Accept. Adapt. Deal with it. This is no different from hunting lesser vampires as a Pathless. Solve the problem. Get the meal done.

Surprise pierced through Shiv as his own Psychology Skill intervened to re-center his mind. But it was what he needed. Why did he expect anything to be reasonable? Why did he expect things to be fair in any capacity? The System didn't care, and neither did the Avatars or Ascendants. But Shiv did, and so he was going to need to deal with it.

Everything is shit until you finally get it right for the first felling time, Shiv thought, thinking back to what Georges taught him. Fix all your main fucking problems. Then focus on being great.

And that's what Shiv did. He was being flung across time and space—could barely move with how much displaced pressure was crushing him. He didn't have any means of disrupting the magic; his Portomancy was too feeble to contend with the spell. But that didn't mean he was out of options.

In fact, Shiv had options available to him and only him.

He knew that because he could still see a sheen of vitality lining the world around him. Immediately, he started draining lifeforce from Integration itself. A warning popped up before his eyes. He ignored it with a smirk.

Warning: Ambient Mana Threshold is being destabilized. Continual destabilization will increase the chances of a Dimensional anomaly.

"Dimensional anomaly might just be what I want," Shiv muttered. His Vitae strands tore into the flesh of existence and began to draw in surges of vitality. He was a glowing shape of white and red within a cascading sea of static darkness. That didn't last. As he drained more, a rupture formed, and a claw of curling fire exploded against him. Shiv clenched his teeth as the hairs on his skin were singed. The temperature only climbed higher as the rupture was opened even wider.

For the first time, Shiv took a moment to gaze into the magical wounds he was inflicting the world, and his eyes widened. Within the rupture, he could feel mana of all varieties clash and intermingle. So many fields were oscillating and clashing together, and as Shiv thinned the barriers of existence, the strongest fields broke free. Such was why the heat was getting so intense so fast. And why there were other types of mana following it.

A solid fork of crystallized lightning nearly took Shiv's head clean off. He tilted his neck and blocked the blow with his arm. It still scored a deep scratch along his shoulder, and his wound bled openly—

For about a second. Then, he felt that familiar sensation of cancer spreading through his cells. A faint pulse of unstable Biomancy was hidden among all the other magical fields, and Shiv just snorted as he understood his impending death.

Magic was bullshit, but wondrous bullshit. Shiv loved every little thing it did to him or anyone else.

Dodge 21 > 22

As he took in another dose of vitality, the rupture before him burst open fully, and it was only the use of Outside Context Problem that saved Shiv's life. The flames that came for him were alive. A winged creature made from a white-hot blaze tore across the space where Shiv just existed, but cocked its head back in confusion as it realized he was gone.

Meanwhile, within the confines of his own Vitae, Shiv observed a fast-moving hawk-like creature and guessed that it was a phoenix or something. It was slightly larger than he was at his baseline state, but it radiated with such potent Pyromancy and Shiv suspected that it wouldn't face much difficulty if it wanted to turn him to ash. It flapped its wings, and the Dimensionality mana combusted. Its fire was more than physical, it was something that consumed the magical as well. Holes were burned into the dense, static mana that held Shiv, and through the gap, Shiv looked beyond the veil of dimensions for the first time.

And that proved to be a mistake. Shiv tried to pull his gaze away, but it was too late. His sanity was ripped open. It felt like someone had dragged a hook blade across his consciousness. Shiv gasped as he gripped his head and looked away. The effects of looking through the gap were so bad that his Outside Context Problem Skill collapsed as well. Once more, he returned to reality—and immediately died as he was vaporized by a passive wave of force and fire that exploded out of the phoenix.

Another downside to Pillar—it needs to be focused on to reach its true effectiveness.

His wounded Pyromancy field was mutilated further, and the thick weave of Vitae that emerged from Shiv's parting ash came out writhing.

Pyromancy 15 > 19

Gravitic Wrestler 178 > 186

Pillar of Orichalcum 225 > 226

Outside Context Problem 82 > 85

Vitality Drain 85 > 89

The additional level applied to Shiv's Pillar was the only reason he didn't immediately turn to dust before the phoenix. That, and the sudden dimensional storm that exploded out from the rupture. A dense flood of Dimensional mana clashed with the existential magic already encompassing Shiv. Space didn't so much tear as it did burst like a bubble. Shiv flinched, expecting chaos and madness to assail him.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Instead, he found himself crashing against the ground. A ground made from a reddish-gold substance—the very same hue as his pillar. The Deathless shook as he took in his surroundings, and he found himself in a ten-meter-long cylinder. The walls were lined with spell patterns, and Shiv offered the world a silent sigh as he realized he was in a teleportation anchor again. One that already had an occupant.

A huge, muscular wolf-man hybrid lifted its head and stared at Shiv. The lupine creature was chained to the walls by reddish gold bindings as well, and by this point, Shiv was reasonably sure the material composing this cage was Orichalcum. The wolf-man sniffed the air briefly and finally cocked its head. "Not food."

The Deathless has been spotted. The one to extinguish his Vitae will gain the Quest rewards.

The wolf-man's bright-blue eyes widened. "Huh. Well, that's something else. Wait. Are you the Deathless?"

Shiv wanted to reply, but his Psychomancy was in tatters, and he didn't have a mouth. He slowly held up two tendrils of Vitae to show he didn't mean any harm. Before he could ask the wolf man where he was, a loud siren pulsed through the room, and there came a booming voice that shook this anchor-prison.

"ATTENTION ALL WARDENS! CELLS NADIR-00344 AND 00551 HAVE BEEN COMPROMISED! THE CAUSE IS LIKELY A DIMENSIONAL ANOMALY. REQUESTING PYROMANCER/MAGE-HUNTER CONTAINMENT TEAMS RESPOND AND HEAD TO 00551 IMMEDIATELY. RESPONSE TEAM ZERO, YOU HAVE BEEN ACTIVATED. THE THREAT IN 00344 IS LISTED AS PRIORITY ZENITH BY LEGEND-COUNCILWOMAN VERONICA CHANDLER. ALL NON-MARTIAL PATHBEARERS ARE TO TRIGGER MAGICAL COUNTERMEASURES AND EVACUATE FROM THE VICINITY OF 00551. A LEGENDARY-TIER PHOENIX HAS BREACHED CONTAINMENT."

The telepathic broadcast hit Shiv like a concussive blast to the skull, and by the time it was done, his mind was ringing.

Well, I guess that explains where the flaming bird went. Shiv winced. He thought about the phoenix causing more damage or hurting people. He didn't want that. But like always, unexpected shit happened when he used his skills. The System was probably mocking him deliberately by this point—escalating the collateral damage he inflicted whenever it could.

"What are you?" the wolf-man asked. Its voice was low and inquisitive, and Shiv found it just an inch away from his body. Shiv tried to reply, but quickly realized he couldn't reliably do that without resurrecting first. He tentatively reached out and started sapping from vitality from reality—doing it to the wolf-man was too risky and hostile.

The wolf-man watched Shiv as he slowly drank in lifeforce from the world. A new rupture began to form where Shiv did so, so he crawled to the other side of the cell and repeated his action. Even with him being careful, the three small ruptures began to bleed liquid-infused diamonds into the cell. The wolf-man looked on with narrowed eyes, but he did nothing to stop Shiv. There was some slack to his chains, so he could have definitely tried attacking the Deathless, but he held himself back—waited to see what might happen.

As Shiv took in a final rush of vitality, he resurrected and emerged from his Vitae a whole person once more.

The wolf-man's eyes widened at the Deathless's metamorphosis and let out a sniffle. "Well. The System's ugly hand is heavy on you, my new cellmate. That, or I'm hallucinating things again from loneliness. Are you real? Are the notifications I'm getting true?"

"I hope so," Shiv grunted. He looked up and saw a small transparent porthole lining the ceiling high above. "Been through too much shit to discover I'm just made up."

The wolf-man let out a quiet laugh. "Well. You might have landed in more trouble than one can overcome. You're in the Well, now. So if this is a teleportation mishap, you have my condolences, but I fear you won't be leaving this place ever again."

Shiv ignored the wolf and shot up toward the ceiling. He slammed fist-first against the glass blocking the exit and winced as the blow he delivered was reflected into his knuckles. Instead of slamming more strikes against the anchor prison, he tried to glance out from the cell to get a better understanding of just where avatars had teleported. As soon as he looked up, a mechanical something fell over the porthole, blocking Shiv's line of sight. A moment later, Shiv found himself staring up at a heavily armored automaton holding a studded mace.

It looked down at Shiv with a single glowing eye and waved at someone unseen. "He is here. I have located him."

"But it doesn't sound like you came here by accident," the wolf-man continued, looking up at Shiv. "It sounds like you were sent here on purpose. So. What did you do?"

Shiv pressed a hand against the glass and tried to rip it out using his gravitic field. The insides of the cell groaned. The wolf-man's Orichalcum chains rattled slightly, but Shiv realized he was an insect trying to uproot a tower. This prison was Orichalcum, which meant that its Toughness could be adjusted, that it couldn't be moved unless you were stronger than it was durable. On top of that, it had a force-reflection enchantment as well.

He wasn't going to be breaking out of here through brute force.

Shiv frowned. I need a moment. I need to think.

With that thought, he manifested his temporal shell to buy himself some more time. The world went still. A dense layer of golden mana flared around his body. But before he could do anything, the insides of the cell flashed with Chronomancy as well, and promptly unleashed a discharge of concentrated Magical Resistance at Shiv.

It would have ripped through his temporal shell in an instant if he hadn't gone out of context. The Magical Resistance consumed the insides of the cell in a swirl of prismatic colors, and the wolf-man let out a cry of misery as he was brutally affected. Shiv winced in shame. Right. He wasn't the only one in here.

While the discharge died down, Shiv focused on coming up with a plan to escape. He wasn't going to break out directly. So, that left him with a few other options. The most direct one was seeing if he could out-tough the cell with his own Pillar of Orichalcum Skill. Maybe Shiv could push through this prison with his pillar after enough time, but that came with several problems. The first was how it would leave him vulnerable to the magic infused within this chamber. He had no means of defending himself while the pillar was active. If he activated his pillar, he would also end up crushing the wolf-man.

That wasn't something Shiv could accept. He didn't want to hurt anyone without a proper reason.

Direct as using his pillar to grind against the cell might be, it was simply impractical and risky.

So what else did he have? Shiv looked at his skills, trying to find a solution. He wasn't going to cook his way out of here. His Creeping Void would just flood the cell in darkness. It wouldn't help him get out.

But that led him down a path toward new possibilities: deception.

He had still had a few corpses left in his cape. And then there was the cape itself—it was a minor dimension; a hideout. He could use that. He just needed to get the people up top to open the cell. Then, he would go out of context and freeze time again to escape.

As the first fingers of coldness brushed against Shiv's soul, he acted. He pulled a body out from his cape before unequipping the cape from himself and wrapping it around the body. He dove into the cape right after, and pulled himself toward the Forest of Alloy. As he tumbled into the pocket dimension, Shiv released both his Outside Context Problem and Strider Skills.

The corpse fell, and Shiv felt gravity lurch up around him. For the first time, Shiv realized just how uncomfortable it was for the people inside the cape. Everything was moving constantly, and as his decoy corpse impacted the ground, the dimension went still, causing Shiv to bounce off an iron tree.

A brief moment of silence followed, and then there came sniffling. The wolf-man let out a sigh from the outside. "Well. Serves me right for wanting to have a conversation after eighty years in solitary. Of course he died immediately. Why wouldn't that happen."

Deception 23 > 25

The sheer sour misery in the wolf-man's voice made Shiv feel a bit bad, but the deception was necessary if he wanted to escape. The Deathless waited at the edge of the pocket dimension with bated breath. He listened carefully. Soon, with luck, the Pathbearers of this place would come down to retrieve his body. The moment they descended to make sure, he would move and make his escape.

Shiv counted the seconds. He could hear the jingling of chains outside, could smell something foul seeping into his nostrils. "Gods, is that the wolf-man? Do they not let him bathe?" Shiv gagged.

"No, Insul. I'm afraid that's me." Shiv spun on his heels and found himself surprised. Propped against a large tree made from bundled wires and branches of plastic was Bonk. His legs were pointing in the wrong direction, and one of his arms was missing. He had a tourniquet tied over the stump, and a half-broken club lay across his lap. He grinned happily at Shiv and waved with his remaining arm.

"Bonk," Shiv said. "How the hells did you get in my cape."

The Deathless has been spotted. The one to extinguish his Vitae will gain the Quest rewards.

Bonk looked at a notification for a beat but went back to ignoring it just a moment later. Shiv was still suspicious, but the orc was in no condition to fight. Or so he seemed.

"Well. It all started when we got swallowed by the Tarrasque. It clamped down on my legs, and then I got struck by a piece of hull. That didn't knock me out, but slamming head-first into the roof of the Tarrasque's mouth and then getting blasted by a psionic attack did the trick." The orc chuckled, and wheezed in pain. "I suspect I must've been launched into your cape at some point while unconscious. How fortunate."

Shiv wasn't sure if he believed the orc's story, but a feeling of relief radiated from him. He wasn't alone here—even if his only ally was a badly wounded orc, it was better than being completely isolated.

"So," Bonk said. "What is the situation?"

Shiv was about to reply when there came a sound from the outside.

"I didn't kill him," the wolf-man said calmly. "He was alive a moment ago, but he suddenly ended up dead right after. I think he's a Chronomancer. The cell had to discharge its Resistance into me for a reason. Unless you all are trying to torture me for fun again. I think he struck the ceiling with his head and died. That's my best guess."

"I'll tell you in a minute," Shiv said to Bonk. "Right after I get back."

"Get back?" the orc asked.

Shiv sank into his Vitae and froze time in the same instant. He launched himself out from his cape right after and re-entered the cell.

The first thing he did after re-entering the cell was pull the cape off his decoy corpse. The next was launching himself upward, upward toward the previously sealed porthole. Shiv knew it was open now, considering the automaton Pathbearer he'd seen earlier had half of its body within the anchor prison. Unfortunately for Shiv, the automaton was big, and thus blocked the way. Unfortunately for the automaton, Shiv wasn't going to stop. He had no intention of rotting inside a prison cell at the whims of the Ascendants.

He impacted the automaton's body in a rush of speed.

Even so, Shiv refrained from hitting the automaton overly hard. It was just a common guard as far as he knew, and guards didn't deserve to die. Not like orcs, not like the Inquisition. Shiv was going to pull his punches here as much as he could. Escape was still his top priority, but that didn't mean he was going to grease his way with the blood and oil of the innocent.

He thought back to all the slaves that died in Theborn, at all the casualties in Blackedge.

Too much. It's always too much.

Another blast of Magical Resistance churned the inside the prison cell just as Shiv shot free. He flung the automaton aside and made sure the mechanical Pathbearer suffered only a dent to its midsection and nothing more. As the Deathless looked around, he found himself in a wide and alloyed valley. Tall Orichalcum walls flanked him on both sides, and Shiv guessed he had no more than 20 meters of width to work with. What's more, there were dozens of cells lodged in the ground ahead and behind him. They all looked just like the one he'd escaped from, and when gazed down on from above, he saw shuddering layers of near-transparent force serving as lids for each of the prison-anchors.

A rush of color danced in his peripheral vision. As his head snapped to the right, he saw that there were spell patterns spilling down from the valley walls. Dense waves of mana poured along their edges, appearing almost like liquid.

Just what the hell is this place? Shiv thought.

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