Nate watched as the tree Evindal rode shifted to catch his falling wife. Portos didn’t seem inclined to let up and rushed for the finishing blow, only to lunge through a rift that opened in front of him. The other end of the rift was in the sky, so Portos appeared in the air above and immediately began to fall. The man likely would’ve survived the impact with the ground, but Nate sensed Helen weaving mana already, wings of blood appearing on the back of her brother, carrying him towards the ground. Descending at the same time was Allais, wrapped in a serpent made of light. In the distance, Evindal had caught Aisling and was clearly healing her. Nate had expected it to be instant, but as his farsight sphere moved over the pair he realised why there was a delay. The Concepts of Light and Venom were seared into Aisling’s burnt flesh, his mentor bereft of hair and clothes, her skin a cracked red, leaking blood. Her eyes were closed, but Nate could sense the damage there, as well. Evindal’s own Concepts of Time and Life were fighting the damage. Fighting, and winning, but the progress was slow. The elf could save his wife, or he could come to their rescue but not both. Nate didn’t begrudge him his choice. He just hoped they could hold on.

  Both sides stared at each other as the coiling snake made of light made landfall. The Golds on Allais’ side looked to be tired, but the seven left clearly still had fight left in them. Of the six Nate had sent into the skies, none had returned. Something Aisling did, no doubt. The Earth Mage was dead courtesy of Jorge, and Frick had downed two himself, with Britt successfully handling one. The last two had fallen to the metal spears. So far, no one on their side had fallen, besides Aisling. But with Allais in the fight, and Evindal out of it, they were left to face down four Platinums. Four, against their one. Nate could tell that Kartier, Helen and Portos were all somewhat tired, but even tired, they might be more than enough to wash over them, especially with the Blood Constructs finally having expended their mana.

  The pause held for a moment longer before Allais spoke.

  “Surrender yourselves and I will spare you.”

  Portos looked confused but a knowing smile crept onto Kartier’s red lips. Helen simply looked resigned.

  Nate figured out Allais’s intentions quickly, “You’ll use Null to get his father to agree with your version of events, but what about the rest of us?”

  “I’ll keep the girl,” Allais explained, waving a hand at Britt, “to keep you behaving until King Bordain can take control of you. A Legendary Crafter will have uses in his new Kingdom. Everyone else? They’re just to keep you from fighting against what comes after. Perhaps I will keep Kiri with me so that I have my own leverage.”

  The Golds’ eyes widened at the mention of a Legendary Class, but the Jamisons’ did not. Clearly Allais had shared her suspicions with them, or she’d had another spy among the Princess’s cohort.

  “As if I would ever let myself be imprisoned by you, you bitch!” cursed Kiri.

  “No?” asked Allais, her voice as reptilian as the serpent in which she cloaked herself. “Then die.”

  A lance of light launched from the coiled serpent’s mouth at Kiri’s head faster than Nate could follow. Kiri was already moving but not fast enough to avoid the beam of light. Right before it would’ve struck her, burning her side, a small flicker of another Concept appeared in Nate’s senses and he watched as the beam of light was suddenly flying back at Allais. The burning light struck the coiled serpent that surrounded Allais and, to Nate’s surprise, it hissed in a mixture of anger and pain.

  “Is that a Familiar?” he sent quickly to Frick, getting a grunt of affirmation in response.

  “Start it. Golds,” Nate sent again.

  The flicker of a Concept grew until a mirror of ice stood before Kiri. From the reflected surface stepped Coralie, the short woman’s eyes shone with a fiery anger at odds with the ice crawling away from her feet as her Domain began to spread.

  “You promised! You said you would spare her!” screamed Coralie, the battlefield quieting again for a moment as lines were redrawn.

  Allais waved a dismissive hand at her daughter's statement, “She would have lived. As much as I dislike your choice of partners, I can at least admit that she doesn’t die easily. Now, come back over here. I ignored you fleeing the battle before, unwilling to fight your lover or her friends, but you will show your loyalty to everything I have worked to achieve for us.”

  Allais stared at her daughter, cold anger burning in her eyes. Nate, however, let his focus drift slightly. Conceptual Insight was humming quietly as it picked up on changes taking place, both among his own allies and friends, and the arrival of Coralie. More than a few Golds had died already, releasing the processed mana from their Class Cores, to be absorbed by those battling them. Perhaps others couldn’t tell what was happening, but with his Skill to feel the nature of Concepts around him, he could tell that something had changed for both Britt and Null. Britt had always felt solid and reliable, like a pillar you could lean against. That feeling was shifting in real time. Instead of a pillar, she had begun to feel like a towering statue, immovable and resolute. He didn’t want to interfere with her veil but he did wonder for half a second if this was how Stalwart felt. That had been her potential Embodiment, he recalled, and he suspected that’s what was happening. Null and Britt had both been pushing themselves hard. More than that, they had lower-tier Classes which meant they levelled faster than he or Kiri. He just needed to make sure they had enough time to let them finish levelling up. They were going to need it if they were truly fighting four Platinums with only Luc to support them.

  If Britt felt like a towering statue, the area around Null felt like undisturbed water in the middle of an ocean. The waves and swells of mana crashed into his small puddle and vanished, leaving not a ripple upon the surface. There was something more there, now. Previously, Null had always felt like an absence of mana, a hole in the tapestry of the world. Now, though, it was different. He wasn’t a void. Instead, he was the calm in the middle of the storm. Nate wasn’t sure what he had done, but the Concept felt deeper than before, laced with additional meaning.

  Finally, there was Coralie herself. Her Concept wasn’t shifting, but he could tell she had already passed her second evolution, likely from glutting on the stores in the Guild vaults. Who knew how far Allais had been able to push her daughter with those supplies, but whatever it was, there was a new element to her. Perhaps that was how she had been able to deflect her mother’s attack. Embodiments for all three, Nate decided, strong enough for Conceptual Insight to acknowledge them and their impact upon the world. If Coralie had managed to push herself up a tier, then she now held a Legendary Class, and likely two Legendary Skills. Nate knew that was true for Null, since the swordsman had admitted he had evolved his primary Skill to Legendary, giving him control of his aura. It was the Embodiments that would matter, though. Embodiments were force multipliers and they now had three such individuals. Only Kiri and himself lagged behind, the price of their advanced tiers. Or, he supposed, it just meant that the others, for the barest of moments, could be considered to being close to their equals.

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  The tables had shifted with Aisling’s defeat and the sidelining of Evindal. Four Platinums and six Golds against one Platinum, four Golds, two Silvers and a Frick. The advantage had clearly been towards Allais and her followers. But, with Coralie’s intervention and the following momentary reprieve, the odds had shifted again, back in Nate’s favour. They still only had one Platinum, but now they had seven Golds. More importantly, instead of two Golds with Embodiments, they now had five. Of course, Nate had not been idle, or more specifically, Frick hadn’t been. The Earth Mage was dead and Allais was so caught up trying to turn her daughter back to her side, she must have forgotten to keep track of Frick. The new rune was finally formed and Nate almost wanted to turn off his sphere of awareness. He wouldn’t, but he wanted to, because he knew he was going to hate feeling what came next.

  “Do it,” he sent to Frick.

  The screaming match between mother and daughter was rudely interrupted as the ground beneath the enemy Golds collapsed. Two reacted fast enough to start to dodge, but instead felt themselves drawn against their will into the hole as the first step in the gravity portion of the rune seized them, dragging them into the black hole of collapsing dirt. Then the second part of the rune activated, and the earth stopped resisting the pull of gravity and instead surged in with such crushing force that all that was left was a slight indent in the ground where the trap had activated. Earth, Gravity, Power and Time had come together, letting the rune alter its behaviour after the initial trigger, creating a collapsing pit trap that combined the power of gravity with the durability and force of earth. Nate felt through his sphere as the Golds were crushed, bones cracking, lungs collapsing, and blood soaking the dirt and sand. Two had survived inside the earth, their durability enough to resist the pulverizing forces, though unless they escaped soon, they might suffocate.

  Nate looked at Allais as her eyes flicked to him, filled with rage. He smiled at her, sadness evident in the twist of his lips. He didn’t like killing. He probably never would. But he liked people threatening those he cared about far less. She had forced his hand and now she was reaping the seeds of discontent she had sown.

  Without another word, the battle was rejoined. Nate felt as daughter fought against mother, beams of light freezing in midair like burning white flames and being reflected in every direction. So many Concepts were present he couldn’t keep track of them all. Deverell and Britt fought to keep Portos at bay, whips of blood scoring against Britt’s projected armour and slicing through Deverell’s Tethered Arms as the pair were pushed back. Null and Kiri battled Kartier, the Platinum’s short sword flashing in quick arcs that felt like blood already dripping onto the sand. The pair still struggled to keep up with the bloodbound duelist and were taking small wounds as they gave ground. Kiri’s blood dripped freely. Her healing apparently slowed by the Concept Kartier was using. Null’s, however, seemed normal, his own Concept and Embodiment likely countering Kartier.

  Luc stood in the back and Nate could feel tiny rifts springing into existence as the Arcane Riftwalker attempted to disrupt their enemies. Conceptual Insight was enough for Nate to sense how Helen was once more empowering her siblings, the Blood Magic that connected them functioning across multiple spectrums, enhancing aspects of Kartier and Portos. An arrow flew out of nowhere, hazy even to Nate’s senses, punching a hole through Portos’s shoulder. The wound was closing before the arrow had even landed on the other side. Nate teleported, appearing near Helen and released a pulse from his Mana Release trinket. The impact was minimal, and he could feel as Helen’s spells flexed before regaining their shape within the cocoon of blood that protected the Blood Mage.

  Nate’s reserve was still less than half full as he worked hard to refill his mana, but his Conceptual Automated Existence was far less reliant on his own Mana Reserve than other Skills could be, though using unattuned mana from a gem would result in a far weaker creation. Reaching into his Runic Gallery, he grabbed the remains of the Hundred Year Flower of a Faebloom Elm. When he had been gifted the Legendary flower, it had displayed twenty-three petals. At Evindal’s direction he had eaten one per day, absorbing their energies as the flowers' natural life affinity influenced his own Mana Reserve. He was pretty confident his Life Affinity was now high enough for his goals, or at least, he hoped so. The flower had thirteen petals left—more than half—and he did consider if he was throwing away his chance at a Mythic Life Class by using it, but he had time and could find other ways to raise his affinity if needed. He was willing to take that risk if it meant saving his friends. He just lamented that he didn’t have any processed mana with which to empower the Golem. He should have collected some from the battle, but then, if he had, Null and Britt might not have levelled.

  Either way, he was committed now. As the flower twisted, taking on a form consistent with that of a blooming flower, Nate used his Intent to alter and empower two Subconcepts. Life had many meanings, many interpretations. When he had gazed upon it the first time, he had touched upon the Divine as he interpreted the core meaning this flower took upon itself from Life. Propagation. It had many meanings as well, but the flower leaned towards breeding and spreading. Nate empowered that aspect of the creation. The second was something that he felt more keenly when he used Life. Life was change. Not necessarily growth, because change was not always good; in fact, it could be deleterious. Change could result in devolution or even death. Change itself, Nate suspected, was a higher Concept, but there was an aspect of it endemic to life. With his Intent, he twisted the beautiful flower, turning it towards mutation. The Skill finished flowing and the animated Golem of Life formed. Nate was forced away as he felt the effect the existence had upon reality. In the barren soil around the creature, thousands of tiny flowers grew, sprouting up in a cacophony of shapes and colours, only to wither and die as they collapsed under the weight of uncontrolled mutation.

  The warped flower of Life lunged at Helen Jamison and Nate watched as her shield of blood shifted. Parts of it grew bright red and felt like they were pillars of reality, undeniable. Other portions burned or froze as the nature of the blood itself mutated. A section around the mage’s head blackened as flesh grew and then decomposed in real time, revealing the woman beneath. A second later an arrow lanced through the hole, straight through the woman's head. The shield collapsed and the Platinum fell to the sand, dead before she hit the ground.

  Kartier and Portos screamed in anguish but it was Allais who reacted. Nate felt the light bathe his barrier before he could react. He sensed it burning through his shield like some kind of venom as it ate away at his protections. Trying to teleport failed as he felt the light around him eating away at his connection to everything else. Panicking, he reached for his Spatial Release trinket in the hope that it would let him reconnect with his surroundings and move, when the light around him froze solid. A moment later the frozen light cracked, along with his barrier, the bracer entirely drained. Coralie stood between him and Allais.

  “Stupid girl,” growled Allais. “You would deny me, for him?”

  “He is her brother,” Coralie whispered, her back straight even as she looked like she wanted to crumble.

  “Then she can pay for his crimes!”

  Kartier shifted, blocking Null as a lance of light passed straight through Kiri’s chest, disintegrating it.

  Kiri fell, and as she did so, Nate felt it as reality twisted, a smile blooming on his face because it wasn’t him that was calling on something higher. Something Divine.

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