Chapter 18: The Turning Point
<em>ULYSSES: get your ass to Samanthas house NOW.</em>
<em>ULYSSES: Jack is here. For Maggie. For YOU. </em>
Still reeling from the message, Mathias flew towards the Brown residence as fast as he could. He had put on the Shroud costume the second he had read Ulysses message, consequences and his meeting at Dynamis be damned.
Even while flying under an invisibility veil made by Quasar, the Concordians might catch his signal inside the city. He didnt care. This was a bloody emergency.
How? How was he still alive? The whole chemical nt had been burnt to cinders with him inside! Had that demon spared him? And what the hell were Ulysses and Maggie doing at Samanthas ce? How did Jack know they would
When he noticed the smokeing out of the suburbs, Mathias elerated, his body stressing as it moved faster than safe speeds. By the time he reached Sams ce, mes ruled the day.
The sight could have been taken straight out of a disaster movie. The garden was aze, Browns alien nts ashes or embers. Most of the houses walls had crumbled, as if someone had set off a bomb nearby. Fire had spread to the houses ground level, spreading to the floors above. Sirens resonated through the district, and Gearsmen would soone to put out the fire.
The scene brought nightmares to life. A dreadful thought crossed Mathias mind, brought to the surface by intuition.
Jack was back, and he had brought that fiery fiend with him.
Kari, he spoke through Network with uncharacteristic panic. Go to Samanthas ce, ready for a fight. This is an emergency.
Already on my way. Sam sent me a message. She paused, as if having information she hesitated to share.
What?
Your friends are there. We nned a surprise birthday party with your fath
Mathias stopped listening when he caught sight of his father beneath debris. DAD! Secret identity be damned, Mathiasnded next to his father, dropping his invisibility spell.
Victor Martel had seen better days. Laying on his chest, his lower body covered by a broken wall, he had gone pale and into shock, his eyes nk. Even with Mathias costume protecting him from the smoke, he could feel the nearby heat.
<em>Not again, please not again</em> Its okay Dad, its okay! Mathias told his father, or perhaps to himself. Channeling all his willpower into his ss, he formed two flying arms out of them, lifting the wall to release his father.
Half of him.
Mathias briefly mind stopped working, after it processed the information. The walls remnants fell to the side, revealing the ghastly truth.
The lower half of Victor Martel had vanished below the intestines; most of the organsid bare on the ground, charred husks surrounded by dried blood. The spine had gone ck. His life had gone out.
Mathias hearing became a long, stringy note; blocking out all sound, blocking out everything. He was there, but he wasnt there either, his mind overwhelmed. His fingers had gone numb.
No no No. He had to be alive.
<em> </em>
Network came back with nothing.
It hadnt worked with the fiery monster either. Perhaps it had an area effect that blocked it.
<em>Yes, thats right, </em>he thought, his breath bing faster, his perspiration shorter. His father was just badly wounded.
Its okay, its okay, I just need the right spell. I can patch you up, Dad, I have Spellcoins. He opened his ount with feverish fear. Give me a spell that can heal my father, now.<table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Purge</strong>
Affinity: Green
Dot: 1
Price: 4
Activation: Active, Voice, Direct Touch Vector.
The caster purges a target (including themselves if they wish it) of all non-magical toxins, diseases, and poisons affecting them.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Something stronger! Green. He checked the Green spells, typing at the Dot Two area.<table><tbody><tr><td>
<strong>Insufficient level. ess denied.</strong></td></tr></tbody></table>
Give me ess!<table><tbody><tr><td>
<strong>Insufficient level. ess denied.</strong></td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td>
<strong>Insufficient level. ess deni-</strong></td></tr></tbody></table>
Fuck your level! He smashed the button with his fist this time.<table><tbody><tr><td>
<strong>Insufficient level. ess denied.</strong></td></tr></tbody></table>
Cursing whoever designed this unfair system, Mathias ordered his ss arm to gently take his father and put him on his back. He didnt need higher spells. He could cauterize the wounds, patch up the circtory system with ss.
He was magic.
Or so he thought, until he saw the gaping, bloody hole in his fathers chest. Whatever st had hit him, it had wiped off Victors ribcage, heart and lungs in one go.
His eyes. His fathers nk eyes kept staring straight at the sky, lifeless.
When Mother had vanished, Mathias Martel had raged, and cursed, and cried until his eyes had dried.
This time, he burst outughing.
A hysterical, joylessugh. The maniacalugh you fell into when the world just pulled the worst, sickest joke on you. The kind ofugh of when you took too much at once, and couldnt process it any other way.
It was an hallucination. A bad dream, sent by the Maleking to torment him. He would just wake up in his bed, and find his father working, and he would forget it all. He just had to close his eyes, and snap them open.
He tried.
It didnt take.
As the dark reality settled in his mind, Mathiasugh slowly died in his throat, alongside his voice. He just stood there, staring at his fathers corpse, unable to decide what to do next.
It was all a joke. He held a thousand spells in his pocket, and Dad Dad
It took a gunshot,ing from the burning mansions first floor, to break him out of the soundlessness of his mind.
His body was on autopilot while his mind still focused on his father, Mathias flew towards the window nearest to the gunshots origin, the ss entering his field and rying him in the information.
The Werner family as a whole, Samantha, and Maggie had retreated upstairs, inside arge bedroom, cluttering next to one another for protection. A frightened Perse held a crying Samantha in her arms, while Viviane held Ulysses close to her chest. Maggie wielded a gun, whose barrel let out a little smoke. She tried to look fierce, but her despairing gaze betrayed her true state of mind.
A monster blocked the window exit, while the corridor leading to the room had sumbed to mes. The creature had a humanoid shape and little else of human origin. The incarnation of death shone with a zing me almost too bright to look at, a congration of various colors mixed into a discordant, disharmonious whole. Two blue stars shone where the eyes should have been, below two fiery horns. The room didnt catch fire as he walked, the mes licking the bed ready to consume it yet strangely unwilling to spread further.
You might think Im crazy, but I dont even care. Cause I can tell whats going on. That was Jacks voice. Even higher pitched, Mathias recognized it. Yet that underlying, unnatural echo of cackling embers sounded like that dreadful entity he fought at the nt. Its hip to be square catchy tune. And youre out of ammo, sis. Shall I start with you?
Jack was no longer Jack. Not that Mathias cared, as he gathered his reserves of ss into the shape of a lens, focusing as much light as he could within it, beyond his limits.
Sam, should I burn you to death the same way I killed your dear mommy and daddy? Wouldnt thatplete my Brown set, eh? Or perhaps I could kill the Werners first? So many choices.
Glimpsing Mathias form through the window, Jack turned his head to the side, giving Mathias a direct line of fire. By now, his lens had be a miniature star. Not that Jack minded. Oh, hi Matt. Hows the family?
With a furious snarl, Mathias unleashed his beam at the murderer.
The ray of light, the strongest he had ever mustered, went through the window, shattering it and causing Samantha to scream in panic. The ray hit Jack in the chest with so much force, it propelled him through multiple walls all the way to outside.
The blow and the structural damage caused the ceiling to fall, but Mathias reacted quicker. Gathering his shards into makeshift-pirs, he used them to stabilize the room. He flew inside, a ghost checking up on the living.
Matt?
Perse spoke up, her face covered with ashes. She looked at him like she had looked at Jack. Not that he could me her. He had designed the Shroud costume to create that kind of feeling. Matt, is that you?
He tried to reply that yes, he was, yet his voice died in his throat. Ulysses had recognized him, as did Maggie, who looked at him with relief. Yet
Matt? Perse repeated. Matt, is that you?
no.
Not Matt.
Shroud.
Shroud responded by creating a slide of ss between the broken window and the garden. He stood still like a garden angel, silently inviting them to escape the burning building.
Ulysses was the first to react, grabbing his mothers hand and pulling her with him, in a strange reversal of roles. Perse stilled looked warily at Shroud, before Maggie took her and Samantha by the shoulder. Lets go, girls.
The sorcerer let them go without a nce. His eyes kept looking at the hole he had made when sting Jack. A part of him strongly wanted to check up on his friends, to reassure them.
The part currently buried by unyielding rage.
Shroud.
Kari. When had she sneaked up on them? Or he had seen hering, yet not focused. Even Premium Thoughts couldnt mitigate emotional damage. Shroud, Gearsmen will be on their way.
He heard, but he didnt listen. Instead, his thought remained focused on Jack, and what he had done.<em> I let him go, </em>Shroud thought, remembering that fateful night.<em> I let him go. </em>I let him go.
Shroud
I let him go! he interrupted her, unable to restrain the crushing guilt and brimming hatred in his voice. I let him go once, but<em> not</em> twice. Get them out of here, to safety.
Mathias-san, youre making a terrible mistake.
Shroud ignored her, leaving them all behind as he flew towards Jacks location with murder on his mind.
He just had to follow the mes, and the corpses.
Jack had ended his flight outside of the Brown residence, and didnte back. Instead, he had made his way to the nearby street, where passersby had gathered to check up on the event; a mistake that cost many lives.
The street outside looked like it was ravaged by a zing tornado. Cars were left aze, one nearby building had caught fire, and a dozen bloodied corpses littered the ground. The husks of two half-melted Gearsman crowned the brutal disy.
Jack pursued stragglers, dragging the burning corpse of histest victim by the skull with his left hand. Magnawave! The fiery monster pointed his free hand at the escapees, unleashing a red wave of energy at them. It hit two unlucky people, a hob and a woman. Both burst into cooked masses of flesh, before exploding into blood and gore.
Whatever ember of humanity Jack may have had before today, he had snuffed it out with blood.
And microwaves, from what Shroud could infer from the attacks results.
Catching sight of Shroud before he could attack him, Jack pivoted, tightening his grasp on his victim and covering it with red energy. Crimson Requiem. He then threw his victim at the Blue Sorcerer like a baseball yer scoring a home-run.
Gathering his ss into a flying shield, Shroud intercepted the hit. Good thing he did. The corpse exploded into a blinding st of red energy upon impact, vaporizing both itself and the shield.
Jack didnt waste time, lunging for one of the burning cars. With unnatural strength, he casually lifted it over his head. Its overwhelming, isnt it? he taunted Shroud, as he put himself into position to throw the car at his foe. My limitless power.
Not worth selling your soul to a demon, Shroud replied with disgust, turning invisible.
Matt, my boy, Im death now, but Im also fire! I can sense your body heat! Jack looked at the spot where Shroud hid, throwing the car as easily as he did with the corpse. The sorcerer dodged, the carnding on the other side of the street with a loud crash. And sold? That would imply we are debtor and indebted. Or that were two. No, Matt. There is no we. Only I. Our souls are one, intertwined. <em>Infernoid</em>, the Maleking calls us.
Shroud froze at the name, which Jack picked up on. You rejected his gift. Too bad. You wont get another chance.
He didnt care. Flying towards nearby buildings, letting them enter his ss Fields range, Shroud he drew upon all shards he could get. Soon, he surrounded himself with a swirling storm of shrapnel, and rained death upon his enemy.
Lets turn up the heat! Heatriser! Jack had toned down his natural heat while inside the house, out of a sadistic desire to enjoy chasing his victims. Now, he had released his heat in its full glory, melting the shrapnel before it could even reach him along with the tar beneath his feet.
Point for Shroud, Jack didnt look like he could fly. Unlike Kresnik though, that bastard had range. Magnawave! Jack aimed at Shroud, unleashing a st at where the sorcerer was a second ago. While the master of ss kept flying around, Jack sustained his attack, trying to hit him.
Shroud couldnt outrun a microwave beam, but he moved faster than Jacks hand could follow his movements. He didnt try to shield himself; ss didnt fully absorb microwave radiation, and would let the attack go right through them.
Mathias just checked his Magik Online ount, quickly finding the spell Reinforce and purchasing it at once.<table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Reinforce</strong>
Affinity: Orange
Dot: 1
Price: 5
Activation: Active, Direct Touch Vector.
The user permanently reinforces inanimate matter upon touch, increasing its density and resistance to damage.</td></tr></tbody></table>
Reinforce! He shouted, an orange glow spreading through his shrapnel and costume. ss Field spread his spell to all ss within range.
Whats your Lock, Matt? Shrouds eyes squinted upon recognizing the name, but didnt answer Jack. Not that it mattered to the narcissistic bastard, who Shroud assumed loved to hear the sound of his voice as much as firing at his foe. When your magic awakens, you receive a unique power no one else has. A purpose, that grows stronger as you nurture it. I dont think yours is that weird ss magic. Must be something video gamey. Mine is called Crimson Echoes. Wonder what it does?
A purpose? Network had a higher purpose? Who taught you that, the Maleking? Shroud asked, trying to distract Jack. By now, the battle had released so much smoke and mes, it became almost impossible for Shroud, even with his ss Field, to see across the battlefield.
Jack, instead of answering, kept monologuing.
When I kill with my magic, it grows stronger. My fires burn brighter, my spells carry more potency. Thats the power that embodies who I am. I live to bring death, and it makes me strong.
You killed those bystanders for a<em> power-up</em>?!
Wonder how far I can go with ughtering this city? From a me, to a sun, to a <em>god</em>. So dont take it personally when I murder the hell out of you, Matt. Youre just experience points and Im leveling up.
That line disturbed Shroud on a deep, fundamental level.
<em> Looking at the fiery inferno around him, at the burning trees and the ash beneath his feet, Jack congratted himself. Nothing could get past his burning field, or so his better halfs memories told him. </em>
Thankfully, while Network may have failed against the demon that made up half of Jack, he was just human enough to get insight from.
You talk too much, Jack. Gathering arge sum of his ss storm into the shape of a dense hammer, Shroud attempted to squash his rival like a bug.
Too confident in his Heatriser defense, Jack didnt dodge the attack. His melting aura damaged the uttermostyers of the weapon, but backed by Reinforce, most of it survived contact. The blow hit the fiery monster head on, bringing him to his knees. Another blow forced him down on his chest.
While his demonic half had been immaterial and impervious to damagest time Shroud fought him, Jack remained physical enough to hit.
Jack had rushed into the fray as soon as he figured out how his powers worked, without testing their full limits first. While his raw power surpassed Shrouds, hecked skill. He never had experience fighting opponents who could strike back, and didnt prepare for fairbat.
Maybe, in his arrogance, he didnt even expect one.
Youre just a cowardly serial killer, Jack. Only attacking defenseless people. Gathering ss into a five meter long spear, Shroud aimed for the heartless mans head.
He had wondered if he could have brought himself to kill a sentient being. Had destroying monsters in video games desensitizes him to death, like critics the said? While Jack may have turned into a monster, he remained partly human the worse half of him.
Me?
At that moment, Mathias realized he had it in him to kill a person.
Im nastier.
He fired the spear at full speed.
He missed.
Jack, channeling the mes making up his body, turned his feet into crude rocketunchers, sting himself out of the attacks way andnding a dozen feet away.
Argh, Shroud cursed as he figured out the trick. <em>Firekin</em>. Jacks demonic form being made of fire, he could use the spell to alter his physiology and pull off that trick.
You would fight me to the death, Matt? The burning man seemed to relish the thought, even as an infuriated Shroud redirected the spear to finish the job. Instead of running or sting himself out of range, Jack rose back to his feet with iron-d confidence. You first then! el Heatriser!
This time, the heat turned so unbearable that even Shroud himself felt it from his previously safe distance. The spear melted like snow under strong daylight, the roads tar became a melting ck sea, and whatever hadnt caught fire around them spontaneouslybusted.
Yet, when Jack struggled a bit to get the melting tar off his feet, Shroud got an idea.
Gathering all his ss, he let his horde descend upon Jack like a rainfall. Like actual raindrops, they turned into liquid before they could even reach the target, falling on him like viscous water. Didnt think you were that stupid, Matt, Jack taunted, as his fiery body got drenched by molten ss.
He realized his error when he struggled to move.
More came, the many tons of silicate that made up the fabric of the modern world. Gallons upon gallons of liquid covered Jack, not fluid enough to wash off him, unable to evaporate even with his astonishing body temperature. Jack drowned inside a blob-like prison he couldnt escape.
Shroud watched Jacks struggle, yet kept piling him with everyponent he could find. The incredible, unsupportable heat began to diminish, the ss prison absorbing most of it.
If Jack could breathe, he would die. If he didnt, then his mes would snuff out and Shroud would bury him alive. If he tried to use his Crimson Requiem spell to blow up his prison, he would damage himself as well. He would just have to wait and
Rain Counterspell.
He was so focused on Jack, he missed the Gearsmen and their leader, stepping out of the smoke and entering his range.
Jacks heat fell to manageable levels, his el Heatriser negated. So was, unfortunately, Shrouds ss Field and various spells. Once again losing control of both his flight and mind, the sorcerer barely had the time to glimpse Gearsmen firing red beams at Jack. They pinned him to the ground before he could escape his prison.
A strong grip caught Shroud during the fall, saving his life but restraining him by the neck. Before he could react, another, wed hand grabbed his helmet, tearing off his visor, filling his lungs with smoke, and revealing his face for the world to see.
Mathias Martel, Jack Powells, Kresnik dered, raising his prize above under the watchful eye of a dozen Gearsmen, By the powers granted to me by the Empire of Concordia, Grandmaster Wyrde, and Lord Smokefang, you are both under arrest.
<strong>Party Stats</strong><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><strong>ount</strong></td><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Name</strong></td><td>Shroud</td><td><strong>Network</strong></td><td><strong>Progress</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Holder</strong></td><td>Mathias Martel</td><td>Broadcast</td><td>Unlocked</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Level</strong></td><td>1 (Novice)</td><td>Grant Spell</td><td>Unlocked</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Affinity</strong></td><td>Blue</td><td>Locked Feature</td><td>(0/3)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Lock</strong></td><td>Network</td><td>Locked Feature</td><td>(0/7)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Spellcoins</strong></td><td>4</td><td>Overlock</td><td>(0/1)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Instation...</strong></td><td><strong>Please wait...</strong></td><td><strong>Debug..</strong></td><td><strong>...</strong></td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><strong>Spell Compendium</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Name</strong></td><td><strong>Dot</strong></td><td><strong>Affinity</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Premium Thoughts</td><td>1</td><td>Blue</td></tr><tr><td>Blue World</td><td>1</td><td>Blue</td></tr><tr><td>Berserk</td><td>1</td><td>Green</td></tr><tr><td>Reinforce</td><td>1</td><td>Orange</td></tr><tr><td>Quasar</td><td>1</td><td>Red</td></tr><tr><td>ss Field</td><td>2</td><td>Orange/Blue</td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><strong>ount</strong></td><td colspan="2"></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Name</strong></td><td>Yoshikage</td><td><strong>Oversoul</strong></td><td><strong>Progress</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Holder</strong></td><td>Kari Matsumoto</td><td>Remember</td><td>Unlocked</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Level</strong></td><td>1 (Novice)</td><td>Channel Soul</td><td>Unlocked</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Affinity</strong></td><td>Yellow</td><td>Locked Feature</td><td>(0/3)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Lock</strong></td><td>Oversoul</td><td>Locked Feature</td><td>(0/7)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Spellcoins</strong></td><td>7</td><td>Overlock</td><td>(0/1)</td></tr></tbody></table><table><tbody><tr><td colspan="3"><strong>Spell Compendium</strong></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Name</strong></td><td><strong>Dot</strong></td><td><strong>Affinity</strong></td></tr><tr><td>Wallcraw</td><td>1</td><td>Green</td></tr><tr><td>Peak</td><td>1</td><td>Green</td></tr><tr><td>Needless</td><td>1</td><td>Green</td></tr><tr><td>Ward</td><td>1</td><td>Yellow</td></tr><tr><td>Spiritsight</td><td>1</td><td>Yellow</td></tr><tr><td>Doom Sense</td><td>1</td><td>Yellow</td></tr><tr><td>Timesense</td><td>1</td><td>Violet</td></tr></tbody></table>
<strong>Spell of the Day</strong><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Peak</strong>
Affinity: Green
Dot: 1
Price: 3-5
Activation: Passive, App Switch.
The casters body bes the pinnacle of their species in terms of physical fitness and abilities.</td></tr></tbody></table>