Six weeks. That was how long he’d been entombed within the miasma.
Three days. That was how long he remained asleep after his rescue.
Restoration patched up as much of the damage to his domain aperture as she could while he was unconscious. There were tears she could nd. There were also more esoteric injuries that she could not touch. He’d strained his domain in ways that couldn’t be fixed. Fortunately, he was more or less functional when he woke. He’d lost a bit of dexterity and his domain tired much faster than before, but it worked well enough for him to resu his duties.
He took so ti to reintroduce his body to food, then cultivated to get his reserves into decent shape. Finally, he could do what he’d been intending for so ti and go find the rest of Miracle Squad. They had been released to Union Central on leave following the successful defense of Stronghold Epsilon. Only Restoration had remained behind as part of the dical team, unwilling to take a break from her service.
Walking through the portal to Union Central invited complicated emotions. On the one hand, escaping back to the civilian world was welco after a traumatic experience. On the other hand, he needed to share the last monts of Nestor with Ajax.
Welco back, Hector. I am pleased reports of your death were inaccurate.
“Good to be back, System. How is my team doing?”
They are grieving.
“Yeah. I’m back from the grave, but Nestor is gone for real.”
In better news, you seem to have grown stronger during your absence.
Survey Results
Type: Xian
Level: 7
Body: 7.0
Mind: 7.0
Aura: 6.8
Domain: 6.9
Energy Reserves: 15%
He read his stats without feeling any sense of accomplishnt even though the jump in his aura was significant. Across the board, he was almost at the peak of a level seven soul. One taxi ride later, he found his friends waiting for him in the lobby of Tian Tower.
Esther seized him in a tight hug while Isabel gently laid a hand on his head as if testing that he was real. “I’m so glad Riley still isn’t back from her dungeon tour. If she was here before we knew you were still alive and I had to deliver the bad news…. Damn it, Hector, what are we doing on Aes?”
“Fighting for humanity,” he answered.
“That’s just a slogan used by recruiters. I don’t even know what it really ans.”
He fought down a tinge of irritation at Esther. “Of course you know what it ans. It’s not a complicated concept. We enter combat because we expect our actions to result in a better outco for people everywhere.”
Esther hesitated a mont and then pecked a kiss on his temple. “Don’t you dare put yourself in another situation like that. Miracle Squad strictly does cleaning jobs going forward.”
Rather than make a promise he wouldn’t keep, Hector changed the topic. “Are Riley and Darius in Peninsula City or Mountain City?”
They are at South City.
“South City now?”
Esther pulled away from him. “The System answers your questions that easy?”
“We’re friends,” Hector said, inspiring raised brows. “Anyway, I think I might take a few weeks to break into level eight before we rejoin the Reconquest.”
That caused Isabel to groan. “People outside the sects are so ignorant. You must reach the peak in all apertures first, Hector.”
“I’ve already accepted I won’t reach level ten. For now I need more strength.”
Isabel briefly hesitated, considering Esther before continuing on with what she wanted to say to Hector. “When you advance at the peak of a level, more of the blessing transmits to the anchor points of your apertures than otherwise. It is a significant difference. If you get strong without the blessings, you beco at risk of aperture detachnt. This isn’t just for surviving a Tribulation. Your aura could be strong enough to block a strike from an enemy’s domain but rip free because your anchors were insufficient. Every mber of the Azure Spear Maidens Sect is taught these things during orientation. Have you ever advanced with your domain and aura at their peak?”
He had not. Hector sighed. “I’ll keep working on my apertures, then.”
“I will teach you a final technique. You must swear to never show another person, though. It is a core secret of the Azure Spear Maidens.”
“I thought you already taught your best technique?”
Isabel rolled her eyes. “You speak of the Bursting Dam Technique? That is known to half of Zing. It is good, but it costs much energy and loses effectiveness faster than most techniques. You should take this to heart, Hector: all forms of aperture training lose effectiveness over ti. That is why it is best to train multiple techniques, to continue to stimulate growth.”
He squeezed Isabel’s shoulder. “Thank you. I will gladly learn from you. But first I have to see Ajax. I was with Nestor at the end.”
Before making that trip, Hector showered and changed into his own clothes. Then Esther and Isabel joined him for a snack from the cafe. Wayne was serving brownies made with level eight rendered tallow and sugar from Tian alongside cups of wine fernted using a bio-engineered yeast strain within a cosmic chamber. The alcohol percent was less than many wines he’d consud over the years, yet the level of cosmic energy he gained from a single cup exceeded what he would expect from a whole bottle.
“Score one for science,” Hector mumbled.
“Do not say such a thing before Wayne or he will explain all his thods to you,” Isabel cautioned him.
Esther sighed. “That woman is going to take him away from here eventually. I just know it. I built my perfect community. Why couldn’t it stay the sa forever?”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but humans will be lucky to get another year or two.” Hector finished his brownie and then tipped the last of the wine back. “Once any of the true worlds ceases to exist, every unempowered world goes up in smoke. Then all the miasma gets to focus on the few surviving true worlds. Nothing can last long like that.”
Isabel’s eyes had gone wide. “How do you know these things?”
Hector had tried to persuade Isabel with this sa information once in the past, but apparently it had not made an impression back then. To be fair, she had not thought much of him at the ti, other than considering him to be utterly lacking in codic talent.
“I know so things from the System. Humans are on the edge. We have been for a while.”
Isabel looked frantically around the lobby of Tian Tower. “We must let people know so they can join the war! They don’t know they are in danger!”
Hector clenched a fist. “I wish it was that easy, Isabel. People would rather remain willfully ignorant than accept that they need to take action. Svarga and rcom are withdrawing from the war. Amarat never bothered joining in the first place, other than a couple of Lords who stayed only so long as they felt entertained by the battles. Humans are proving that they are too stupid and too selfish to survive.”
“This… I can’t believe the System knows the future.” Esther snatched their used plates and cups and marched away to return them.
Isabel stared at him. “You must tell Lord Zara. She can rally her people. I can send a missive to my old sect so they can rouse Zing.”
For a mont, he felt only pity for the hopeful woman. Then he shook free of the fatalistic mood. Though he didn’t believe the selfish Xian would erge to assist the wider multiverse, there wouldn’t be any harm to reaching out. “We can certainly try those things. Maybe they will listen.”
Esther returned then and it was ti for them to depart. The three of them took a taxi to Orisha Town, using an address provided by the System to locate their grieving friend.
When the door to an apartnt in a plus-sized building opened, Ajax erged to embrace Hector in a hug that would have pulped a normal human. No one spoke until the Titan released him and gestured for them to enter. They sat around a table on chairs too large for three of their number. Their distracted host didn’t think to offer any refreshnt. Ajax simply sat there, watching his hands.
“He wasn’t alone when he died,” Hector said. “Shrapnel contaminated with miasma poked a hole in his chest and poisoned his soul. He wanted to tell you not to stop. You’re supposed to avenge Aes. All of us are.”
Ajax nodded in thought. “It is good he faced his end with fire in his heart.”
When the silence hung heavy once more, Hector revealed more of the encounter. “He admitted that I broke his fist the day we t.”
A smile flitted across the Titan’s face. “All of us heard the snap that day. Leroy was on Aes as well. He carried a bomb to the tank monster. I did not expect such heroics from him.”
“He was smarter than we thought.”
“I’m not so sure of that. He spent an entire night looking for gasoline to feed a Jinn rover. Though I will credit him with much honor and bravery. So many martyrs to the cause.”
“We’re not going to stop fighting, Ajax,” Hector promised.
“I know that, my friends. Vast my sadness may be, but it cannot compare to our resolve. We will battle together until the end. May the monsters choke on our corpses.”
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