The world froze as Harvey watched his friend’s head get boiled inside his helmet. A helmet he’d crafted for him. Armor that was meant to save his life. Marcus suffered in his own right, his hair and flesh burning as he struggled to maintain his grip.

  “No!” Harvey screamed, Fireballs appearing in his hand. He threw them with all his might, but the chaos of dozens of battles taking place between himself and his friend intercepted the skills before they had a chance to turn the tide.

  “Julian! Somebody help him!”

  A wretched cough turned into violent laughter from the man pinned beneath his feet. “Ha! Yes! That’s what you get, Bossman!” Gary struggled to turn his head, a black-toothed smile on his face, before he spat a glob of black ichor into the mud.

  Harvey stood frozen, praying to whatever god would listen to save Julian. Seconds turned to hours as thanefire continued pouring into the helmet, a wicked gleam in Marcus’ eyes despite the burning and bleeding wounds covering his torso.

  God? System? Please!

  War continued to rage all around them, similar scenes of death and desolation taking the lives of dozens of Veilstriders and Ossari alike. But all Harvey could see was his friend. Kneeling on the ground, his sword at his side, and his life rapidly fading. The emberheart inferno that had protected him ever since that first zombie chased him up a tree slowly burned down to nothing before winking away completely. Julian’s body slumped, collapsing to the ground. Marcus kept hold of the helmet, revealing the lifeless, grey face of his hero.

  Gary’s laughter only grew louder, torturing Harvey’s pain-stricken heart. Tears flowed like rivers, his eyes turning red in a mix of rage and despair. Aftershock crashed down on the side of Gary’s skull, and laughter turned to despondent wails. Thunder drowned out the screaming until a sickening crunch left his weapon covered in black blood, bone, and brain matter.

  You have slain Level 44 - Revenant. Essence Gained. 7912 Merit Earned.

  Harvey didn’t hesitate, flooding Booster the second he confirmed Gary’s death. He flew towards Marcus like a missile locked onto a target. The Prophet stood above Julian’s corpse, his helmet held up like a trophy. It was dented and scarred, but had never broken.

  Searing pain erupted in Harvey’s chest as he flew, brilliant radiance leaking from his own armor making him look like a firework. His body screamed in agony, but his mind ignored it all as he crashed into the revenant. The impact sent them tumbling 20 feet, their bodies a tangle of limbs and metal that carved a shallow canyon in the ground. Through it all, Harvey kept a vice grip around the murderer’s slender chest and was pleased to find himself lying on top of the revenant when they finally came to a stop. Scrambling up to his knees, he pinned the battered and bloodied Prophet and got to work.

  Using Echo Forge, Harvey conjured two small orbs imbued with the Imprint of the Architect of the Veil’s End. One covered in dense blue script, the other red. The blue orb was mushed into the bleeding hole left by Hannah’s explosive arrow, a sickening squelch filling the air as the ball was pushed deep into Marcus’ flesh. When he was unable to jam it in any further, Harvey activated the arc charge, unleashing devastating lightning inside the Prophet’s body.

  Screams of agony filled the air, and Harvey was grateful Marcus was kind enough to open his mouth wide for him. Gripping his neck tight, Harvey jammed the wildfire charge into the open mouth, activating it before covering his lips with a gauntleted hand. Searing light still burned inside his chest, but he knew it was nothing compared to the pain he delivered to the man flailing beneath him.

  Skeletal hands burst from the ground, clambering to grasp his legs. He let them. The pain kept him awake as he watched Marcus suffer. An Ossari warrior charged toward him, but an exploding arrow turned him into bone shrapnel before he could do anything to save his master.

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  “You’re going to suffer,” Harvey snarled as he pushed a second arc charge into the wound after the first one crumbled to dust. Terror was all he could see in the revenant’s eyes, the teal orbs shrinking to pinpricks in a sea of cloudy grey. His writhing only grew worse as a new round of fire and lightning began, until the skeletal hands wrapped around Harvey’s legs snapped.

  Like Julian’s Firebreak Mantle, Marcus’ final skill breaking was the herald of his demise. His eyes rolled back into his head, and Harvey got the notification proving the general was really gone. Still, Harvey didn’t move until the last lightning bolts faded, stillness finally returning to the chaos of battle.

  Scrambling to his feet, he ran to Julian, the rampantly beating wardrum of his heart pushing him forward despite the utter lack of essence and energy inside his body. Killing the dragon, crushing Gary, and finishing Marcus had taken everything he had.

  “Julian! Julian, are you ok? Come on, man. Please don’t be dead. Please,” Harvey sobbed. Pulling a health potion from the pouch around his waist, he cradled Julian’s head and tipped the ruby tincture into his mouth. Half slid down his throat, while the rest leaked out of the corner of his lips. There was no response. No color returning to the lifeless grey flesh.

  “No, no, no!” Harvey stammered, conjuring an orb with Inkbound Essence despite the cracks being created in his weave. He squirted a heavy dose of Healing Ink inside, pouring the last shreds of mental energy left inside his soul to imbue it with his Imprint.

  His creations were supposed to decide when souls crossed the line between life and death. They’d brought plenty of death already today. Now it was time for life.

  Dropping the orb between them, healing mist filled the air around them. His body drank it in, letting it restore the flesh drained during his battles.

  “Not me! Him!” he begged, but there was no response from the body in his arms.

  As a last-ditch effort, Harvey reached for the sword lying beside them. He could feel one charge remaining of the Burst Healing arrays he’d inscribed in the Sentinel’s Arcblade, so he wrapped Julian’s limp hand around the hilt before triggering the runes with Modular Array. Healing light emanated from the antler hilt, but it surged into Harvey’s own palm.

  “Harvey!” Hannah shouted from outside the mist.

  He didn’t respond, unable to choke the words out through his sobs.

  “Harvey,” she cried, sliding down into the mud beside him.

  “He’s dead!” Harvey wailed.

  “I know. I… I couldn’t,” she stammered.

  They both froze when the Mark on the back of Julian’s hand began to glow. It was the tattoo he’d been given after claiming Veils End. A lone tower standing atop a rocky hill.

  The Defender of Veils End.

  “Is he?” Hannah began, only to quiet when it lifted from Julian’s hand and moved to Harvey’s.

  “No. No! This is wrong! This is all wrong!” Harvey shouted to the heavens. “This is his, not mine!”

  Similar flashes appeared across the battlefield, tattoos lifting from the hands of Veilstriders, both living and dead, before shooting towards Harvey. One even flew out of a Slipsack tied to Julian’s waist.

  Mark by Mark, they sank into the back of Harvey’s right hand. The sigil of the lone tower slowly transformed into a fortress surrounding a golden tree. Again, searing pain overwhelmed him, brilliant light like what shone from his chest illuminating the dour battlefield once more.

  “Ahhh!” he growled.

  “Come on, we need to get you to safety!” Hannah said, trying to pull Harvey towards Buttercup.

  Struggling through the pain, he managed to lift Julian’s corpse and place it into a slipsack. It felt despicable, tossing the body in a pouch full of smithing supplies, but he wasn’t going to leave him here. Lying on the ground, Harvey saw the Unbroken Sentinel Imprint crystallized on a shard of skin. Gingerly, he picked it up and added it to his slipsack as well.

  I’ll make sure your Legacy’s buried with you.

  Grabbing the discarded sword and helmet, Harvey finally let Hannah drag him onto Buttercup’s back. Sprinting through the mud, they found Elena hiding behind the rubble of an icy watchtower.

  “Stay here, I’ll help clean up the stragglers,” Hannah commanded.

  “I’m coming with you,” Harvey replied.

  “No! You’re not. You’ve done more than anyone could have asked for already,” Hannah shot back.

  “I can still fight,” he snapped.

  “You can barely stand! I’m not losing another friend today, so you’re going to shut up, sit here, and keep both of you alive!”

  “Hannah!” Harvey complained.

  “No!” she screamed. Buttercup reared up, tipping Harvey off the back and into the mud.

  Pain jolted up his back as the air was knocked from his lungs, and a spray of mud coated him as the deer dashed away. Tiny raindrops fell onto his face, somehow stinging his skin despite having a body that could slay dragons.

  “Just rest,” Elena whimpered. “I’ll wake you up if any Ossari head our way.”

  She helped pull him under the rubble, using the cover of the fallen tower to hide from the war outside. Nestled in a dark corner, sandwiched between an icy log and muddy earth, Harvey wept until exhaustion lulled him into a dreamless sleep.