Ashier was Aughal, both the city and the region. The former was due to their unquestionable control over all aspects of life, formed when enemies of the Octyrrum had broken the will of the people but failed to destroy the Spires and finish their plans. There had been resistance from the remnants of the old ruling class, of course, but Rorshawd had proven more than adept at extinguishing dissent.

  As for the region? That was all in their class. In the same way Ashier knew no region could have two Tyrants, not for long at least, they knew there was a link there. One that was weaker than it should be, perhaps not even there. Normally, they suspected, a Tyrant would be locked into whichever region they developed into. While their influence could spread beyond their borders, the actual nexus of power could not.

  They were different. Not that Ashier had any intention of abandoning their charge. Once more the world had come under threat and the workings of the gods were beginning to unravel. They had seen the sign themselves when a false sigil had shown itself within the Divine Quarter that was incongruent with the religion that had remained unchanged since the beginning of time. It should come as no surprise that the Crest was using any method at its disposal to corrupt mortalkind. Fortunately, Ashier had been able to rapidly suppress any false beliefs that might have been spread.

  Now another, more direct assault on Aughal had come, and one more heretical than even debasement of the second holiest site in the city. Mortals, taken and corrupted in thrall of the Crest, had stormed over the walls and into Aughal. Ashier could have extended the Shroud to entirely cover the city at any sign of danger, though its strength was dependent on what it covered. Shield the Spires and you’d need Rorshawd or Gtoll to break through. Any Blessed could manage it if it stretched to the city walls, as at that point its primary purpose was to protect from sandstorms.

  Loss of life was contained better than when Casia Seliri’s traitorous ilk had come before. These were a people now hardened to war, aware that danger could come at any time. Most remained barricaded in their homes but the duskers, noble servants of the Octyrrum that they were, fought. Even the leveless, even under the sun. One of the projects completed in their first week of rule was to install canvass tarps everywhere, not only in dusker streets. The tradeoff for their fearsome strength could be mitigated, though Ashier still felt a sigh leave her borrowed body as she saw one section below become shredded. As her Praetorian’s auras attested, several of their subjects had just become brave sacrifices.

  Ashier shifted her attention to that sector. Doran’s role was to coordinate the mass defense of the city. They were a Tyrant, but their only real experience with leadership had been a decade as an assistant to a draconoid they’d led a failed coup against. Their class gave them authority, but the means to wield it effectively was through other people.

  There were two primary exceptions to this. Rorshawd, who still constantly strained against their control, and the Spires themselves. As Casia had first discovered, the power of the Octyrrum could be called upon from the Spires in a variety of ways. The red gem of the Sun Spire glowed brightly as they entreated it to strike down the enemies of the Octyrrum.

  Burning light lanced out towards the enemy auras that were shared with her courtesy of Doran, striking targets that were no longer concealed by tarps. Normally Ashier made use of this when monsters approached in waves large enough to justify the cost, as every activation drained the mana of the Spoke and weakened the Shroud. But these enemies had the capabilities of mortals and had bypassed the first layer of their defenses. Ashier killed a dozen in seconds, though it wasn’t enough. Hundreds were here, and there was no way they’d marked them all.

  …

  The approach to the next rift was decidedly more tense, and this was only partially due to Tlara joining them. There was the fact that they were anticipating another face off with the mutilated corpse of a former fellow hunter, not to mention the one moving with them. Tlara had wanted it out preemptively due to how her Stasis Pouch power worked, and also to get a better feel for it. Seeing the thing that had almost torn him to pieces calmly walk alongside them almost made Daniel empathize with those who had been wary of Hunter.

  One good thing to come of it was that he’d been able to scan the monster while it was uninjured. His Encyclopedia cared about the health of whatever he analyzed, though active effects like domination didn’t count toward entry progress. While this was all well and good, his trepidation of what would happen when he scanned the hexscuttle stalker was born out as the notifications got… disturbing.

  You have scanned a Monst-

  You have scanned a Creat-

  You have scanned a Monst-

  You have scanned an Entit-

  You have scanned a Monst-

  The notifications flipped between the three for several pages worth, always prematurely ending before whatever was giving him the alert, be it his Spoke or the Octyrrum as a whole, gave up.

  System Alert: You have scanned a System Anomaly. Due to lingering, catastrophic ??? of the target, clarification of Monster status with possession of Soul Remnant is unable to proceed. Information acquired from this scan will be partitioned until this is resolved. Further analysis of similar targets may yield parseable results.

  This was the closest the Octyrrum had gotten to sounding like the Arcadian, which made sense given the glitchy preamble. He’d essentially given it a taste of the workings of an enemy god. It might have failed altogether if not for the addition of the monster domain in his Spoke. That wasn’t what disturbed Daniel though, it was the entry for soul remnant he managed to find by navigating through new text revealed in the [Spirit] entry.

  Soul Remnant (Concept, Domain: Astral)

  Soul remnant signifies the remains of a Soul that was almost wholly destroyed, preventing degradation into a Spirit. This can be accomplished either through unconventional forms of Communion, or use of Concepts or Powers above usual Mortal means.

  It confirmed Willow’s fear, anyone taken was lost without any hope of eventual recovery. Not that returning from a spirit would give any hope of reviving that which had been broken, but some trace of the old soul would carry on. Not for any of the taken. Janice had almost been one of them.

  At the very least only the gods could break Souls to this degree, but that just made him think of what Hunter had somehow avoided. And when Daniel thought of Hunter-

  Their pace toward the power core was faster, both due to his urging thoughts and the fear of more elites hiding in the shadows. Not all of them were necessarily guarding rifts as, on reflection, only one might need to ‘anchor’ it and prevent him from distance capping it. That only added to the danger posed by wandering astral projections.

  Consider all of that, and that the team was moving on a different floor. The fastest path had led Daniel back to the staircases and up to the third floor, where he was then sent up another two by a less grandiose one lacking any rift or elevator. He doubted the Arcadian would path him through corrupted rifts anyway, but it was always nice to have Shuni upfront confirming that.

  Things became less dormitory and more functional as they climbed. Daniel noticed a few things strengthening a conclusion in his mind, pipes along some of the walls, more lit displays, and what might have been a pneumatic tube system if someone hadn’t hacked apart half of a non-reinforced wall to salvage it. It was hard to say because of what it might mean, and that despite having traveled kilometers in this place, he hadn’t come across a window yet. The ruins were just too wide, and they hadn’t hit an edge.

  His observations turned from the ransacked surroundings to Tlara’s hand gestures. Daniel hadn’t paid the closest attention during the trip, but he was fairly sure she hadn’t flipped him off the entire time. The vaguely humanoid monster, which was a different answer to the question ‘what if you combined a humanoid and a spider’ than Spinner, responded in various ways. Another disturbing thing he had to put up with.

  “What?” she asked as quietly as she could after he stared too long. “Don’t act like you all didn’t talk me into this.”

  “It’s just,” Daniel tried to compose his thoughts and settled on the less existentially mortifying topic, “this is a lot to go through.”

  “No shit.” Tlara gestured at the humanoid monster. “Look at this fucking thing I’m dealing with. Think it’s easy? Dominate most monsters and you know what they can do, just have to imprint your commands. How the Crest am I supposed to handle something with this many powers?”

  “Your others did good,” Khiat replied, causing both to wince with how far her voice carried.

  “What, you mean the ones that died or got maimed?” Tlara continued her reasonable streak by choosing that moment to actually explain something, rather than make someone drag it out of her. “You can give monsters set commands once you dominate them. Tell it to hit a bitch with its strongest stuff if it’s close to kicking it. With common shit people already figured out the best ones to set up. But if I tell this thing to do that, who knows what it’ll do?”

  “There isn’t any room for interpretation?”

  Tlara took some time to answer Daniel’s question. “No. Monsters like Spinner was, maybe. Never heard about it happening with other Beastmasters. Maybe a few thought they found one that was smarter, or ignored what they saw. It’s not like everyone else was telling me some could think and I was telling them to fuck themselves.”

  Just me and Willow, then, Daniel thought, but he didn’t want to speak the words and turn the conversation hostile. “We did tell you what it did while we were fighting it,” he said, opting for a more diplomatic approach. “Plus, you’ll probably have an easier time getting a handle on how it fights from actually seeing it fight.”

  “Yeah, yeah. At least this is good for something out of combat too.” Daniel looked blankly at the bag of holding Tlara had tossed him, and then at the blank spot on his belt.

  Oh no.

  …

  Shuni didn’t chastise the group for idle chatter when she rejoined them because, as it turned out, it wouldn’t have mattered. As they neared the power core, the route taking them through several locked doors Daniel had to open through the Arcadian app after getting close enough, the unmistakable sound of fighting reached them. It was accompanied by a noticeable, and variable, breeze in the air.

  “It’s the corrupted avianoid,” Daniel guessed. “They already cleared the rift. She’s the only one who could take an elite anyway.”

  “So we’re fucking off, right?” Tlara grimaced when her brilliant plan wasn’t met with immediate universal approval.

  “This is a good chance to take her down.” Daniel gestured up ahead as another gust of wind blew by. It was nothing strong enough to push someone over, but something was generating that. “Shuni, could you scout out the next room? It looks pretty big, you’d have space to hide.”

  The Rogue shook her head almost instantly. “Not saying I’m not that good, but a level 4’s a level 4. Wouldn’t risk getting close to one normally. I don’t like the feel of this wind either.”

  “We could wait until the fighting stops,” Khiat suggested. “It’d be easier then, right?”

  That was the safe play, but there was one good reason not to delay. “If there’s any chance the avianoid can corrupt the rift once they beat the monster, we have to go now. This is a big space, larger than the stairways, and without it we limit where we can teleport. I’m sure she’d prioritize guarding this spot too, considering she hasn’t tried to go after any of the others. Bulwark.”

  Daniel took out one of his walls and stretched it across the way back. The section was wider than needed, but that allowed him to fold flaps against the sides. When the frame stiffened, the bars of hide running across pressed against the sides of the passage affording the item some resistance against being pushed down. The security doors they’d passed would have provided more of an obstacle, but other hallways had branched into this one since they’d passed the last checkpoint and Daniel didn’t want to get flanked without warning.

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  This would work better if I had some of Padri’s traps, he thought, marking that as something to bring up when he was in Aurus next. It was too late to change anything now. “We’ll have to see how the fight’s going before deciding on who to hit. Best case they don’t notice us and we jump the survivor before they do anything. If I can get to the rift, the corrupted avianoid may also run off again since that fully clears the corruption.” Pulling out his blast bow, Daniel activated Reassure. “This is nothing we haven’t done before. Let’s do this.”

  His ability eased some of the tension in Khiat and Shuni, but Tlara plainly resisted it. Her half-strength glare would have made him rethink what he’d just done, but there wasn’t time for that. They’d let almost half a day pass between claiming rifts and a huge opportunity was dwindling nearby. Now wasn’t the time for doubt, it was time for action.

  …

  The lower aft power core was the first area of the ruins Daniel had seen with an atypical astral rift. In other places they had been flat sections of the wall composed of a material his Focus refused to identify. Here, the rift was three dimensional and took up the center of the space.

  The main section of the power core was just over a hundred meters in diameter, with hallways and doors leading off from various points, including upper catwalks that led to the top sections of the rift. What immediately drew the eye wasn’t the astral rift, as there was an intense duel ongoing when they entered, but it still stood imposingly to watch their arrival.

  A shell of mechanical devices fit around the roughly cylindrical column, which connected both to the floor and the ceiling which reached up high enough to make even Khiat feel inadequate for this space. The surface was mostly smooth beneath the metal and glossy construction materials the ruins used, but it bulged into a sphere three times the diameter of the main shaft halfway up, out of reach but not Jump range.

  Whatever the elite had done to ‘claim’ the rift was surely enough to prevent the corrupted avianoid from causally corrupting it again, as she would have had ample opportunity to lay a talon on it with her speed and the open terrain. Not that the elite monster, of which there was only one, was making it easy for her.

  Avianoid Monstrosity - ((3), Totem Warrior - 2, Forced Transmutation, ~Converted~)

  Daniel’s first, horrified thought was that this was Tak. It looked somewhat similar to what he turned into when using the power of the same name, but it was soon obvious this wasn’t the case as it launched into an attack as they entered. Wingcraft wasn’t the target, fortunately. The monster was flying around the large space, harrying the corrupted avianoid who was constrained both to the ground and to her questionable control over True Enchanting. That was the only possible explanation for the relative stalemate that had formed.

  Ephemeral gusts began to appear in one of the elite’s wicked hands, gathering as time passed and it continued to fly. The corrupted avianoid had armed herself with a spear and small shield, the lack of any ranged weapon an odd choice given the matchup and her use of one before. After ten seconds, the elite began to dive with the hand holding a maelstrom stretched forward. A spear raised to meet its charge, yet the monstrosity did not dodge but flew into the weapon as it attempted to shove its hand into its enemy.

  The corrupted avianoid managed to lean out of the way, a few feathers flying off the non-crystallized parts due to proximity, before there was an explosion of force centered on the elite’s hand. A gale was released into the chamber following the initial burst, and as the elite tore itself off the spear, wounds already rapidly healing, its head spun to the six of them.

  “Shit, that’s some kind of sensory feature!” Shuni exclaimed, cursing her luck. “Gonna need to play it real safe.”

  “Scatter!” Daniel’s gut feeling at the sight of the explosive attack paid off as a horrendous screech targeted them. He’d seen Tak’s monstrous form use this power and knew how boneshaking it could be. He felt blood in his ears as he ran straight forward, letting the others take a different angle.

  Tlara and Khiat were looking for cover while Shuni and the stalker grew hazy, activating stealth powers. Sigron remained in the backline, accurately assessing that against a flying opponent he’d be more needed there. The Knight had also yet to regenerate the spectral hands, weakening his staying power.

  Daniel stopped halfway along the path separated from the surrounding workstations by railings, warily eyeing the two Identify Creature made clear were enemies. The sonic attack appeared to be a signal to them to leave rather than a determined effort to kill them. The other version he’d seen hadn’t been able to do anything other than knock people out at close range, and it didn’t sound that much more powerful.

  When the corrupted avianoid also didn’t immediately attack, Daniel held up a hand behind him. There was no way this was being resolved peacefully, but every second the enemies spent deciding on who was the larger threat was one their Rogue and Rogue-adjacent could spend moving into position.

  Both will try to screen me from the rift, Daniel thought, taking advantage of the delay himself to strategize. If we’re trying to take out the avianoid it’d be better to hold off anyway, though she doesn’t look too injured.

  Neither did the monstrosity, though that was due to its insane Regeneration. It would be the first to break when its mana ran out, unless the interference from Wingcraft allowed someone to score a solid hit on the one batting for team corruption. We need to gang up on her, Daniel decided, but get hits in on the other one when we can, otherwise it can tank through enough to kill one of us before we bring it down.

  The lingering question of when he should go Beast Mode to hold off the corrupted avianoid was put aside as the first person made their move. The elite’s eyes shifted to the broad dome ceiling and suddenly rocketed up toward it. Tlara’s shouted command in response revealed who the target was before the attack did, the hexscuttle stalker becoming noticeable with its four back limbs anchoring it to the ceiling.

  Two projectiles shot out of its hands, one a burst of its poisoned needles while the other disgorged a clump of constrictive vines from the palm. The onrushing elite ignored the needles, which began slowly pushing themselves out where they hit, while tearing the vines apart before they could constrict anything. When the two closed all four knife-arms tried to stab into the elite, detaching the stalker from the wall. Tlara apparently realized the mistake in one of her commands as her words laced in more curses, but it was too late now.

  The dominated elite was beginning to fall as Daniel’s attention was recentered on the corrupted avianoid. She had switched out her gear to a larger shield than last time, paired with a trident. Her choice of weapon initially confused Daniel, until he realized it had been selected to try and counter him. She doesn’t need something too big with how much bonus damage that will deal, and I can somewhat evade slashes. Get me pinned with one of the tines though and I’ll have problems.

  The active elite being split away from the corrupted avianoid forced Daniel to reconsider his plans, and so instead he shouted, “I’ll take her on, everyone else down the elite! Stay clear!”

  In the time it took him to say that she was already most of the way to him, coming out of a standing position at something beyond a sprint. Daniel only had time to activate Elemental Onslaught and drop an elemental smoke bomb before he had to Dodge Roll out of the way of a stab.

  Damn it, no way I can make for the rift now, he thought, feeling the stormcloud around him only mildly tingle as the lightning affix on his armor protected him from the majority of the damage. His trance power had stacked once and that would soon change, but only if he could land a shot with his fire ammo. Let me at least fire a few, he entreated his opponent, who was twirling her weapon so fast she was-

  Two of the three prongs caught him below the knees, cutting the skin and trapping the leg. A blow from the shield then cracked several ribs, throwing him down onto the floor while the sharpened tips of the trident continued to savage his leg. Despite his preparations for the refight, his opponent simply outmatched him in melee as it stood. Daniel was able to get off a single shot as he fell, but the avianoid was so durable that the pellets only broke skin or slightly cracked crystal depending on where they landed.

  Fuck, already? No choice. Far earlier than he would have liked, Daniel activated Beast Mode and felt the world shift slightly. The shield came down to slam on his head, but his furred arm was already moving to block with his own. Translucent wood cracked apart under the stress, but enough remained for it to regrow. Likewise, the Focus in the center remained undamaged. He couldn’t access any of its functions while in this form, but it being bound to his soul still enabled it to be more durable than anything this pretender could throw at him.

  He leaped backward, headless of tearing more skin on the trident, throwing down a fire smoke bomb as he did so. His hands weren’t quite fast enough to equip bone claws amidst the reshuffling, but that was the most important part. Something he’d discovered when testing Elemental Onslaught was that an active trance would persist when he swapped forms, though once broken he not only had to wait out the cooldown to switch back but the full ten minutes of the ability’s normal one afterward.

  Otherwise, the ability continued to grow in strength as the elemental damage from both types of bombs counted as separate sources, constantly refreshing the trance at its minimum interval. He wouldn’t have done this as a human because he still had to be inside the cloud, but right now he could take the pain.

  In fact, the circumstances had led him to a new awakening.

  Elemental Wildcard (Feature, Intelligence, Cooldown, Modifier, Level: 2)

  You possess the Power to shift the Elemental Affinity of an Ability or Basic Attack to the following Types: Damage: Fire, Cold, Lightning, Earth. Activating this Effect requires no Mana and does not require Channeling, however once activated this ability cannot be used again for one minute. This is a Magical Effect that functions in an area of Magical Suppression if the affected ability or basic attack does as well.

  Not bad, not the best. It was a shame he hadn’t advanced strength more since intelligence powers were ill-suited to what he was now, but he at least had ample opportunity to awaken what strength should have given him earlier today.

  Dodging wasn’t a part of it as ducking the attacks from the avianoid’s weapons didn’t trigger any response. He was forced into a fighting retreat as it was a struggle to even remove items from storage, which turned into a real pain as they left each smoke cloud.

  He was definitely at a disadvantage, being unable to turn the fight toward the large rift and instead using the various aged tables and railing as terrain to enhance his movement. Balance, when combined with his heightened instincts, made a jumbled environment preferable to a blank one because of how his body was able to move.

  While he was faring better than his first encounter now that the proper Daniel was in control, there weren’t many openings for him to slash back. At one point the avianoid had tried to equip what looked like some kind of whip, but it had come out stiff and unusable, leading her to dissolve it rather than have it fall into his hands. An attempt to land a cold-infused bone claw Cleave failed as a shield rapidly emerged to block him, the avianoid ducking under the spectral part, and the Focus buckler was forced to take a stab meant for his heart in return.

  Probably be dead without that, he reflected as they once more exited what was now very painful smoke. He was about to tune into Pack Insight to see how the other half of the battle was going when the answer decided to come to him instead.

  Diving out of the air, the unchained elite monster swept toward them. One massive arrow stuck out of a healing wound on its lower abdomen, and while the fact that it wasn’t instantly healing meant the rest of the team had been putting pressure on it, there wasn’t any other sign of damage. Daniel’s eyes widened as the warped lower talons settled not on the metallic constructions of the floor but the air a meter above them, before it spun toward them, arms shifting to wings.

  The corrupted avianoid responded faster, backing away into the clouds of elemental damage. Daniel saw why that was preferable as spectral edges appeared around the elite’s wings, cutting the air in a wide range that expanded as it spun faster. The slicing plane revolved instantly to the movement of the wings giving him no confidence in dodging them, and the first rotation left him bloody as the Cleave-like attack still dealt damage despite being blocked by the Focus shield.

  My counterattack power won’t trigger unless I fully dodge, Daniel thought, disappointed but not surprised that the ‘splash damage’ of the first hit prevented him from activating Opportune Moment. There wasn’t time for more much else as the next curving false blade was moving toward him in less than a second.

  He ended up having to briefly Flash Jaunt away from the chained attack, enduring the hazards of the Astral here rather than get diced. The elite had practically locked onto him during the move, proving more of a threat with its range and speed than the avianoid herself. It was both its advantage and disadvantage, as once the ability ran its course it was left open with lower mana reserves.

  Daniel was running up with both sets of double claws, feeling the timer on Elemental Onslaught running down, when his hands subconsciously changed position to be stretched out to the side. Another awakening, the choice of strength earlier massively paying off.

  Ravaging Cross (Ability, Strength, Natural Melee Weapon: Attack, Committed, Level: 2):

  You possess the Power to make an empowered Attack using two of your limbs, improving the cutting power of the strike for a modest amount of Mana. The damage of this ability scales with your Strength. This attack has a chance to inflict Effect: Bleed on the target, scaling with your Attribute: Luck and inversely scaling with the opponent’s endurance. This is a Magical Ability that does not function in an area of Magical Suppression.

  The monstrosity was prepared to meet his charge with a slash of its own when both of Daniel’s claws came up to meet along its side. His lips curled into a frown when he intrinsically felt the bleed effect fail to take hold, and unlike Khare he didn’t have an easy time spamming out this ability.

  Daniel caught oversized talons to his chest in reprisal, though both he and his opponent healed too quickly to care about incidental wounds like that. He was fully prepared to turn the next minute into the part of a werewolf movie where two lycanthropes tore each other to pieces, but something stopped him.

  It wasn’t the corrupted avianoid, who he’d forgotten after they slipped away in the cover of his smoke bomb. It was what he sensed the astral rift in the center of the room, visible now that he was outside the smoke cloud. Willow had been able to do this anywhere, yet near a large astral rift, in a place with a strong connection to that plane, Daniel managed it as well. Light reflected off the glass-like exterior from the illumination within, showing that Hunter’s soul was near.