It is a mistake to think that social skills belong to an entirely separate category from their martial counterparts. Everything is interconnected. All skills build on each other. All skills influence how you use other skills, for they are as if silos within our souls. The experiences you have and the triumphs you will reap are enabled just as much by the breadth of your capabilities as by their depth. And more importantly, as you use skills in tandem, they merge. So, eventually, the barriers between the social and the martial will collapse altogether.

But even before that, words are capable of violence. People like to deny this because they do not wish to face the weakness in their own hearts.

How many times have you flinched at an insult someone has offered you? And how many times has that insult echoed a certain voice in your mind?

Words are more than weapons. Words are poison. Poison that afflicts your thoughts. Poison that can reshape the world.

Words are viruses. We deny this, but our kingdom is shaped by words, by text, by understanding. The wrong understanding, a toxic understanding, is a venom that becomes a cancer, and a cancer that will bring down a culture.

And this is why Rhetoric and Psychology are non-negotiable skills. You have to understand them. You have to be able to wield them because you are not apart from your culture. We ascend alone, but we live among others, and among others is where we will experience transformations. Not all skills are equal, and not all outcomes are pure. Recognize a skill for what it is: a means of influence, as is violence, as is force, as is magic, to change something, no matter what the method.

Words are violence, words are violence, words are violence.

Say it to yourself until it becomes as true as stone.

-Words as Weapons: Where the Social Intersects with the Martial

185 (I)

Rhetorical [II]

Veronica's command slammed into Shiv's chest and broke a few ribs before his Shapeless Tides flickered back to life and pushed back. Adam wasn't so fortunate. With a short cry, he was driven to his knees, and he gave a keening wail as his spirit broke before the Legend-Avatar's command.

"I surrender, I surrender!" Adam howled through unwilling teeth. "Ah, you godsdamn—release me!"

Shiv didn't have a chance to help his friend, however. Instead, he found himself overwhelmed by Veronica. She spat order after order at him, her words exploding against his body like a chain of mana bombs. The physical aspect of her words was converted into Overflow Tides, but the spiritual wound Anthony inflicted on him earlier came into effect once more. His Shapeless Tides collapsed, and Veronica's words invaded his being. Gone and Kura struck. A blurring shape tore at Veronica's face, while dozens of golden shadows stabbed at the Legend from all angles.

Veronica scoffed quietly. "Miss."

And the attacks did—every single one.

"Cut yourselves."

Gone managed to stop herself from tearing through her throat, but the Magical Resistance lining her body came afire with strain. Kura's mana defenses shattered as a blast of Animancy cracked through to her soul. She let out a shrill scream as a time clone burst into being beside her and lopped off her left hand as well.

Shiv tried to get up, but a beam of light tunneled a searing wound through his abdomen. At once, every moment of shame and failure he experienced rushed through him, and by the time the brightness scythed away from his body to torment Candles and the others, he found himself gasping and shivering on his knees.

Once more, that feeling of absolute hopelessness overtook the Deathless. He tried clenching his fist, but a greater power than his own overcame him.

"Lay down, boy."

His hands went slack, his muscles went limp, and he nearly crashed down on the ground.

Then something impacted Veronica at blistering speeds again. Gone bounced off the Councilwoman's chest like a cannonball sliding off a ship's hull, and her golden quills were pulsating with such power that Shiv felt his Chronomancy field come apart from the sheer temporal friction she emitted. Veronica flinched back, her Reflexes outmatched for once. But her flesh flashed red, gold, and silver—then she properly teleported right behind Shiv.

Shiv's Shapeless Tides returned. A circulation of new tides drove out the mana roiling inside his soul. He exploded back to his feet, drove his elbow backward, and discharged his inertial sheath. Veronica teleported through the blast and tried to whisper something to Shiv. Her words never made it out. Bonk swung something against her Dimensional veil. Rather than trying to strike her directly, he phased into her, and the Legend-Avatar snarled in annoyance as she teleported once more.

Gone blinked beside Shiv, and she immediately snatched him back. The next thing he knew, their group had retreated from the opening he was making, falling back along the curving walkway that surrounded the chamber. They were halfway across when Veronica offered them a brief nod. "Alright. I'll let you have this moment. Go down swinging if you want. We can talk afterward."

Shiv looked around and reached out to touch Adam. He sent his vectors slicing across the Gate Lord's body and grunted with strain as he tried to pry Veronica's influence free. Just as her Rhetorical Commands were shattered with Adam, she waved her hand once more. A portion of the wall behind her vanished into spreading patches of static blackness. If the situation didn't seem hopeless enough, they had just crossed a point of absolute despair. A small army of wardens emerged, each of them heavily armed and well-prepared to assist the Avatars.

Shiv counted twenty at first, then fifty, and then three times that. They flooded out from the static in ordered squads. Vanguards at the front, and behind them were wedges of Poly-Magi, shaping an interwoven mix of spells. They pressed Shiv and the others further back along the walkway, but the Deathless and Adam battered them with mana-hydras and arrows, respectively.

Shields were lifted. Then the wardens took on defensive postures as Kura's golden shadows burst into being around them as well.

"I can't do this much more," Kura groaned. Her head sagged forward. Blood gushed from her eyes, ears, and mouth. It took a lot to strain a Legend. Holding an Ascendant of Midnight and also a small army of Heroic wardens back at the same time was more than a lot.

The other Avatars entered the fray just then as well. The old man that had stabbed Shiv earlier—Anthony, Avatar to Harlock the Midnight—manifested just beside Veronica. He tipped his hat at Shiv as if saluting him after a proud bout of sparring. Then came a young man, no older than Shiv, clad in brilliant plate that was nearly blinding to behold. He had been the one to fire that beam of light into Shiv that forced him to relive all his worst moments. A new Waif peeked out from behind him, the girl's features a snarl of fear and disgust. She had the same wicked dagger as always, but Daughter herself was nowhere to be seen. Yet, there was still a fear chain connecting her to Shiv, a fear chain that promptly winked out as Shiv's Shape of Monstrosity Skill collapsed.

Emerging behind Veronica was a large automaton with a reflective body. Within the reflection was the faintness of a woman, and even though she was wreathed in shadow and steam, Shiv knew she was glaring at him. "Daughter. Is that the one that scarred you?"

A whimper sounded through the world just then. Such was all the confirmation the woman needed, for in the same instant, something pierced Shiv's very soul, branding the core of his being.

Curse Gained: Hands of the Bloodied - Anything you craft and create will be stained with blood and degrade at an accelerated pace.

Shiv grunted and clutched at his chest as an insidious, clenching weight settled inside him.

Warning: You have earned the everlasting enmity of Maiden the Genius.

Great, he seethed. Like it didn't have enough bullshit to worry about.

Next to Maiden's Avatar was a man who wore nothing but dirty rags. He waved a hand, and some of the wounds inflicted upon the wardens dissolved into dust. Finally, another automaton Pathbearer entered through the patch of Dimensionality as well, its head glistening with shivering lights resembling a complex lantern of some kind.

And if that wasn't bad enough, another familiar figure made herself known. Jessica Hawgrave, Titansbane, hovered into view just over Veronica's shoulder, and she looked down at Shiv with a hint of pity.

The wardens made their move and pushed forward again. The Vanguards at their front parried and struck at a few golden shadows, dispelling them. Kura reorganized her own clones and made a new defensive line in response. It wouldn't last for long, however. Shiv could see how faint her Chronomancy was; Kura was on the verge of collapse.

Most of the curving walls separating the reactor core chamber from the opening Shiv made to the crawlspace beyond the cube had outright vanished. More Dimensionality crept along the edges, and soon, Shiv and the others would be utterly surrounded. With every passing second, more wardens were pouring into the fray. Blades, hammers, magic, and more crashed down against Kura's expanding line of golden shadows, and Veronica just looked on with a casual anticipation in her gaze.

Shiv wouldn't let her have that satisfaction. He got up and pulled Adam back to his feet. The Gate Lord tried to throw himself down once more, but Shiv just kept him standing. He growled, trying to keep his thoughts together, fighting through the dense burst of pain and confusion clouding his mind. "Adam. What… what do you think might happen if I slam into that rod real hard?"

The Gate Lord stared at the spinning nuclear reactor, breathing heavily. "I have… no idea. Cripple? Cripple?"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Silence.

"It's not going to be able to reply right now," Veronica answered on Cripple's behalf. "A few of my fellow Avatars and their Ascendants are currently having a conversation with the Strongest. It gets confused sometimes. But this time, I can't really blame it. Stormhalt really made a mess of things. My grandmother too. Politics and interests get messy, kids. That's rule one of becoming a Legend."

"Grandmother?" Shiv muttered.

"Kathereine the Songbringer," Veronica said. She rolled her eyes and shook her head as if she was dealing with the antics of a teenage child rather than some kind of god. "It's absurd. I know. All this madness for a silly feud. It's part of the reason we need you. I'm going to bring the Starhawk back to the fold. He's still important to the Republic, and he needs to understand that his personal discomfort is not more important than the safety of our nation."

"I know about the ritual," Adam snarled. His voice was near-feral, and his bruised and burned features made him resemble a beast more than a man. "I know what you intend."

"You have no idea." Veronica sighed. "No idea. It's much worse than you could possibly imagine. And much better as well. You can't imagine the cost nor the prosperity this will bring." Adam's answer came in the form of a large arrow that burst into existence an inch away from her eye. It shattered against her eyeball without inflicting a mark. "But I will show you. And you will come to understand that in this world, we can choose between bad choices and nightmarish choices."

"Yeah, I'll show you a nightmarish choice." Shiv tried to fling himself at the reactor, but found his Shapeless Tides inactive again. He let out a frustrated shout and swung a mana-hydra at Anthony. His mana was parried as Veronica commanded it to miss. "I'm gonna rip your asshole out of your ass, you old piece of shit."

Anthony looked at Veronica and narrowed his eyes. "Reminds me of another angry child I once knew."

The Councilwoman ignored him. What she didn't ignore was Adam firing an arrow at the nuclear reactor. A Veilpiercer impacted the spinning rod—and did nothing but leave a thin gash in the material.

A loud ringing noise filled the room as Veronica sighed. "Do you have any idea how valuable that thing is? Magic doesn't work well with it. And it doesn't go off that way."

"How about Pyromancy?" Shiv said, trying to whisper to Adam.

"I have no idea, Shiv," Adam hissed, trying not to collapse from his many wounds. "I'm not even sure how the damned thing works. Where's that bloody wolf-man?"

Shiv looked at Gone, but the goblin was missing again. "System knows. The reactor-thing… It irradiates people, right? Well, maybe if we could destabilize it, more radiation would come out. Maybe if we hit it with enough fire, it'll go up in a big blast or something."

"That's practically suicide," Adam retorted, "and it wouldn't do anything. Hitting you with Necromancy didn't do anything, Shiv. It's just suicide."

"It'll be our suicide," Shiv corrected. He tried to keep his tone light, but his insides were filled with bitterness.

The Gate Lord stopped struggling for a moment, and his gaze dropped. He nodded his head to his friend. "I suppose you're right about that. Our suicide. Gods, how did we get here?"

"You said it, Adam: gods," Shiv answered.

The Gate Lord laughed. "I hate you. And I hate that I'm going to miss you if I die."

"Yeah? Me too, 'cause you're not going alone. I'm not letting these felling shits have me. Not to experiment on. Not to keep as a pet. Not to gain ten Legendary Skills from."

They shared a look, and nothing more needed to be said.

Dying was an ugly thing, but doing it next to a friend made it easier than doing it alone.

Just then, however, a heavy weight settled on him. It crashed down like a building avalanche, and the Deathless was forced down to his knees. For a beat, he thought that Veronica had unleashed another attack on him, but then he realized she was barely standing as well, as were the wardens and the other Avatars. Everyone had been affected.

An anomalous pressure clung to the atmosphere, and with every passing second, the weight crushing Shiv only grew. He followed the sensation back and realized it had originated from the nuclear reactor. It was spinning faster than ever now, turning at such a velocity he couldn't count its revolutions.

Then, from above, he heard a loud, cackling laugh. "I got it! I got it!" Five called out to everyone below. "I..." And the wolf-man suddenly realized how dire the circumstances were. He made eye contact with Shiv, and after a beat, slinked back over the edge and began to flee along the upper walkway. Usually, Shiv would be quite annoyed with people abandoning him in dire circumstances. Right now, he couldn't blame Five at all.

It looked like everyone except Five was bound. One after another, Kura's golden shadows vanished, extinguished by the magic-suppressing presence of the fully-activated nuclear core. Yet, the Ascendants didn't rush forward, didn't sweep through all the prisoners trying to hold on for a last stand.

The wardens didn't sprint into battle, either. Instead, everyone struggled. Everyone tried to recover. It felt like the very mana within them had been unbalanced—sapped.

Shiv guessed it was because of a readjustment in the ambient available mana in the world. It felt like there was less of everything: less of himself, less of reality, less of the System itself. A notification flickered before his eyes, but it blinked out before he could read what it had to say.

Kathereine's faint form revealed itself once more, but she snarled as she struggled to maintain herself as the mana-suppressing effect of the reactor fully triggered. The other Ascendants reacted poorly to the sudden suppression as well. Daughter, turning visible just behind the automaton containing Maiden, burst apart with an echoing cry. A towering lighthouse of an Ascendant faded into glowing smoke and embers. The darkness trying to push through from the outside and the doorway leading into the nuclear reactor chamber all but vanished as well.

Cripple hadn't been lying, but it had understated the effects. It said that this would become a veil against the Ascendants, that it would be a functional barrier to them being able to easily track where Shiv and the others fled. What it actually felt like was a bottleneck, something that choked the flow of magic to a halt entirely, and something that thickened inside Shiv's veins like plaque.

Even so, Shiv could deal with discomfort, and he still had a bit of mana inside him. With a snarl of frustration and effort, he forced himself back to his feet. Faint vectors glided across his body, and even though he couldn't use his Legendary skill to the fullest, it was still enough to grant him might and leverage.

He used it to launch himself through the stunned wardens, at the woman who caused him so much pain. Shiv's fist collided with Veronica's jaw in a loud pop. In that moment, they were both less than who they were. He crashed down the moment he struck her. Her head snapped back, and she let out a pitched cry as she nearly collapsed.

Anthony caught her. He thrust down with his dagger—and stabbed nothing as an arrow impacted the edge of his blade. Adam burst through and dragged Shiv back across in an instant.

But their escape was a short one. As soon as Adam emerged with Shiv from his collapsing tunnel, a cry sounded through the air. "Stop and fall!"

Shiv resisted Veronica's command for the merest of moments, and then his skill failed again. He slammed down on the ground as both of his legs broke beneath him. Adam folded over right beside him, and Kura screamed with him as they both went down. A ragged cry of exhaustion came from Shiv, but by now, he was beyond the point of caring. He began crawling toward the Councilwoman, but he didn't manage to get close to her at all before he was pinned in place by the Vanguards. Though weary and deprived of mana themselves, they didn't hesitate to throw their bodies on top of his to lock him down. Something pulled at one of his broken legs, and Shiv clenched his teeth, trying not to scream.

Veronica looked down and was about to say something when she suddenly twisted right. An arrow tore past her and slammed into Hawgrave's chest with a resounding squeal of inertia. Adam was still fighting as well, still firing even as he was compelled to lie upon the ground. As Hawgrave staggered forward with every step, struggling against the mana-suppressing field emitted by the reactor, another two arrows hit her in the chest.

Something tugged hard on Shiv once more. In an instant, he slid out from underneath all the Vanguards, and they were too sapped to respond in time.

"Come on, Insul, come on," Bonk gasped, groping blindly across Shiv's stomach. The Deathless let out a hiss as the orc picked him up. A Vanguard tried to stab Bonk, but a fast-moving ball of golden-green death tore into his throat, giving the orc time to retreat with Shiv. "We're not done here yet. Don't—"

Veronica pointed at Bonk. "Split."

Her voice hit him, yet its magic was ultimately reduced.

That didn't make a difference.

A diminished Legend was still far more than a Hero.

Bonk was shredded down the middle in an eruption of blood and shattering mana. The orc didn't get a chance to do anything as the left and right sides of his body fell in opposite directions. Shiv toppled between them, splashing upon a carpet of gore. As wetness soaked his face and chest, Shiv felt something inside him explode. "BONK!"

"BREAK!" Veronica cried again.

Gone screamed this time, something inside her shattering in tandem with her Magical Resistance.

"Paralyze!"

Shiv turned, roaring with incoherent rage—only for his spine to shatter into fragments. Darkness burst behind his eyes, and he crashed face-first back down upon Bonk's ropey insides. "F-fuck…"

Before Veronica could say anything else, Adam's Righteous Dawn blazed to life once more. It grew ever brighter, and its flames of burning radiance were used offensively against the approaching wardens and Avatars. Already drained by the nuclear reactor, Adam's azure dawn sapped their souls further, and the first row of wardens promptly toppled over, absolutely spent of energy. Hundreds crashed down upon the ground, and a small hill was made. The Avatars held up better, and Hawgrave merely doubled over before continuing on. Yet they were affected as well.

Adam's sun grew brighter with every passing second.

Shiv had no idea how the Gate Lord was pushing through the effects of the nuclear reactor, but he was glad that Adam could.

Yet, as Adam's Righteous Dawn flared, it began to fissure and crack. Shiv's eyes widened as he wondered if Adam was pushing himself too far, but then a rush of strength hit him, and suddenly Shiv didn't feel so weak anymore either. He consumed his physical wounds using his Biomancy field, and in the next moment, he was back on his feet as his Shapeless Tides returned.

"VERONICA! I'M GOING TO FUCK YOUR CORPSE WITH MY KNIFE!"

He wasn't the only one. More golden shadows reappeared, forming a stampeding herd. They stomped down with bladed legs, shredding through the gaps between the downed wardens' armor. Blood spurted as they lifted their feet, and they cut down any in their path, any who failed to resist, who were far too weak to survive. Then the golden shadows crashed against the Avatars proper. The battle resumed.

Veronica teleported away, and in her place, something flashed. It was a dense construct, infused with Dynamancy, and it blasted outward in a massive wave, preparing to swallow everyone within the chamber. Shiv slammed shoulder-first against it. He didn't know how long his Legendary Skill would stay functional, so he used every bit of strength he had to throw the blast off at an angle.

Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides > [Error]

Inertial Overdrive > [Error]

Strider of the Unbending Path > [Error]

It was difficult, far more difficult than anything he'd done with the skill before, yet he managed. His Frictionless Vector worked, and the Dynamancy blast cleaved out at a 45-degree angle to his left. It tore a chunk of the other walkways away and ripped one of the walls open as if it was a piece of paper.

Before the Avatars could respond, Shiv swung his mana hydra into them again, and the detonation of bright red mana swallowed the edge of the room. Arrows flew from Adam, crashing into the Avatars. One arrow came two, and two became four. The wardens tried to mount an offense, but Gone tore through their frontline, and several Pathbearers disintegrated into puffs of bloody mist outright.

"Shiv!" Cripple's voice filled the room. The automaton ascendant sounded strained and distracted. "If you can hear me, run now. Do whatever you can. Run, now! Flee!"

But there was nowhere to run by this point. The Avatars were beginning to advance through the bombardment, while all around Shiv was a crawling sprawl of black static. Veronica's power was still spreading faster than he could keep up with. Soon, even with the reactor's effects, she would have this entire room under her control.

But before Shiv could fully despair, another divine being spoke within him.

The voice was faint, but it was clear and true.

"Shiv," it whispered, "I need you to reach Adam for me. I need you to make contact with his being. Please. It may be your only chance."

Shiv's eyes widened in disbelief. "C-Composer?"

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