The realm of the Flesh-Unchained belongs to the First Blood, for we are the Flesh-Unchained, we are biology enduring, we are life unceasing, we are bodies unbreaking. And for us, cancer is not so much a final end as it is an expression of the body's desire to endure, to constantly remain pristine.

  Mortal bodies do not understand what it means to be pristine, to be pure, to endure. They do not have the High Blood to guide them. They are not touched by and instilled with the Great Ones' glorious ichor.

  And so the fragile, complex, but ultimately fatal ecosystem of a normal mortal body will simply cease to function at one point or another. It will collapse. Collapse inward on its own urge to be immortal.

  We, on the other hand, have the chance to delve, develop, and become something else, to become wondrous, to use that immortality that has been with us since the beginning, since before we were embraced into the First Blood and wield it. We can give it as gifts and use it as weapons upon those who possess imperfect biology, failed biology, flawed biology.

  And we can use it to christen them, to make them greater than they ever were, or to reduce them to the mongrel beasts they were damned to be.

  And more importantly, we can bind ourselves to them. We can give intellect and awareness to these cells. For every bit of our biology is an intellect, for cancer is a nexus of growth and enduring cells. If every bit of blood, if every minute lifeform that comprises us can hold a network of intelligence, then imagine: Where might the bridge between mind and blood take us? Who might we become if every single bit of us was as wise and wondrous, as immortal and enduring as our greater whole of flesh? Then the question turns to: What will become of a marriage between mind and biology?

  And what other lores can be bridged beyond that?

  -Ekkihurst the Sculptor, Second Generation Elder of the First Blood

  239 (I)

  Cancer [II]

  Shiv slammed his Aegis of Assimilation down upon the oncological portal within the cancer-ridden patient. He pressed his mana hydra, using his Bifurcated Processing to wield each and every head of his twelve-headed Biomancy Field and compress the gap.

  His might proved overwhelming. He supplemented his already awesome Physicality with his Aegis of Assimilation, and immediately, the gap before him began to succumb. The cancers burst and popped. His Leviathan of the Shapeless Tides allowed him to savage the tumors. He tore through them in flesh and mana both. Slowly, he was crushing the cancers to a pulp, stemming the tide. Slowly, but surely, he was winning.

  Or so it seemed.

  The vampire's counter-attack was subtle and quick. Shiv didn't even notice it at first. Glints of red splashed against him, spearing into his torso through the slit that remained of the cancerous man. Shiv felt something drill against his Shapeless Tides, trying to pierce into his flesh and compromise his biology, but he resisted the magic.

  His vectors swept by, dispersing the stealthy attack like a tidal wave crashing through faint mist. But then something slammed into his upper left scapula. Shiv grunted as he was nearly launched off his feet. He looked over his shoulder, and to his surprise, he saw more of those glinting red spores accelerating toward him like projectiles.

  What the hells kind of magic is this? Shiv thought to himself. He didn't have time to ruminate on that thought. Suddenly, his Shapeless Tides were being expended in two directions: to crush the portal containing the enemy Legend closed, and to keep him protected from the barrage of spores that now sought to drown him.

  For every spore his tides dispersed, another fell. Another hail of red slammed against him. And not only him: they began to strike Javelina's Chronomancy shield as well, and Shiv could see them spreading around, cocooning the shield in a layer of spore-ridden Biomancy.

  Yet, instead of feeling overwhelmed, the Deathless simply growled underneath his twin masks. He was tired, he was frustrated. His cooking had been ruined by a Curse, but he was also stronger than he was mere hours ago. Far more capable. For he had a skill that allowed him to focus his might and his magic to the fullest extent. He used his Bifurcated Processing again and began cultivating his overflow tides automatically. He no longer needed to focus on that using his conscious mind, and so he could devote his mental resources to something else: tactical planning.

  Striped vectors accelerated across Shiv’s body, multiplying at an incomparable rate. With every heartbeat, he gathered more overflow tides—and kept them stable. None of his vectors went off randomly. He kept perfect track of them using his Bifurcated Processing, and though he could feel a building swell of heat in the base of his skull, a sign that his mind was being taxed to its limits, he was more Pathbearer than he'd ever been before. A truer Legend than he ever was.

  Bifurcated Processing 54 > 57

  Glinting spores crashed against Shiv and shattered like glass. As the vitality and Biomancy shrouding the exterior of the spores broke, he caught a glimpse of a grain-sized core of gold and translucence.

  Biomancy, Chronomancy, and Psychomancy, Shiv noted. This isn't separate skills, this is a three-way Skill Fusion of mana lores and who knows what else he might have fused into this monster of a skill beforehand.

  The Deathless drew upon his Last Morsel with a flick of his wrist. The bladed frying pan appeared in his right hand, and he slashed the cancerous chasm—split it across the middle. Flesh, Biomancy, Psychomancy, and Chronomancy all bled from the insides of the temporal portal. But it didn't collapse. Instead, it began regenerating quickly. Strands of cancerous tissue erupted out like branches, and the portal stitched itself back into shape.

  Shiv countered that by burying a fist in the flesh and drinking deep. He drew upon the vitality, connected himself to the world membrane, and as existence around him shuddered from the sheer amount of life force he was channeling, the vampire let out a hiss and discarded this channel in an instant.

  Vitality Drain 122 > 124

  The cancerous chasm simply ceased its functions. The mana sustaining it went dormant, and the body collapsed, bursting apart like it was no longer capable of sustaining life. The tumorous biomass collapsed into chunks of decay. But where it came apart, the spores in the air remained as concentrated as ever, still pinning the Chronomantic shield protecting Javelina and the other students.

  And Shiv fell upon it next. He learned from his mistake. Instead of trying to break it apart using force, he prepared to drain it once more. But the layer of spores quickly peeled away from the shield, and they flipped into the air. At this moment, Shiv's temporal shell began to crack, but he also met his adversary’s piercing gaze once more, his crimson pupils floating in speckled lakes of gold and rimmed by shifting circles of translucence.

  The vampire revealed the vague contours of his form in the air high above, his form interposed between Daughter’s and Maiden's depictions on the ceiling.

  A telepathic hum came from the vampire, and it washed over Shiv like a chilling whisper in the dead of night. His voice was soft and smooth like silk—the kind that unnerved Shiv and made his skin crawl. "Who might you be? A Legend I do not know, here, at this moment? You must have escaped from the Well as well. Or perhaps you are one of the Inquisition's hunters, come to return me to my place of torment. If so, I fear I must disappoint you."

  With the vampire's words, something twisted inside Shiv's stomach. His spit became sour in his mouth. This was the missing piece. That thing that made Shiv's instincts scream and howl. The others thought that two of their own faculty had caused this, that the Morbomancers created a massive incident within the hospital, spreading diseases and cancers throughout the Sanatorium in a fit of rage.

  Yet here was an escaped Legend, one who'd managed to breach the Rubix Well thanks to Shiv's actions. That gave Shiv more than a few new guesses as to why the Hero-Biomancers suddenly turned on each other, how their son got that mysterious disease that killed him. The vampire was a Legendary Pathbearer, one that wielded Biomancy, Chronomancy, and Psychomancy in tandem. A nightmarish combination that allowed him to spread using cancers that defied the flow of time, that denied both mind and body any respite.

  The Challenger would like to remind you that all deeds have consequences.

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: Wait, don't keep fighting. You're going to run out of time for your temporal shell soon. But before that's over, use your social skills.

  Shiv blinked, and his mind accelerated. "Fellow escapee," he said quickly, keeping eye contact with his enemy, "I'm a little bit like you. Let's just say we're both hiding in plain sight. Think we can help each other out?"

  The vampire regarded him for a moment longer. "I think not. Unless you are here for him too."

  The Deathless had no idea who the vampire was talking about, but he rolled along with the punches as best he could. "I might be. You can't expect me to give my cards away if you're not willing to. But I got another question for you. You have a way out of this place? Because I do. Ascendants have the city locked down. I might be able to slip past that. You want to talk more, you come to me. And you don't touch any of the Biomancers. You understand? Don't touch them. They're my cover."

  Deception 39 > 43

  More of Shiv's temporal shell broke apart. He only had two seconds of time left before he was returned to the present. Yet the vampire didn't respond. At the very last moment, the bloodsucker let out a breath. "Fine. I'll play this game with you, stranger. I will pay you this courtesy, oh, my fellow hidden Legend. Just because you have captured my curiosity…”

  And then he dissipated, his spores spreading across the room, darting down the halls, slipping into the air vents, all of him vanishing in an instant. Shiv's temporal shell shattered, but he pumped out a splash of Creeping Void at the last moment.

  Chaos and disarray followed. Shiv launched himself up into the air and landed right next to Maxime once more, without her being any the wiser to his sudden absence.

  Strider of the Unbending Path 165 > 168

  Inertial Overdrive 186 > 188

  Shiv cut his Creeping Void off. Around him, students began casting Biomancy spells, unleashing their mana blindly and wildly, trying to protect themselves. A few created additional protections, while others pulled their mana together, preparing to channel an even grander spell. Yet, Javelina's voice cut through the chaos: "Stop! Stop!"

  Everyone followed her command without hesitation, and that told Shiv much about the authority the Hero-Biomancer held. The authority and the esteem. Javelina looked ahead at the staircase and saw the mangled remains of the cancer patient.

  Shiv watched her carefully, and slowly her head turned. She scanned the students behind her, and the look on her face was not one of worry, but apprehension, even suspicion.

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: She's no fool. She's been a Pathbearer long enough to know that miracles like that don't just occur. Move very carefully.

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  "Shiv! Shiv, what just happened?" Adam called telepathically from inside his cape.

  The Deathless didn't reply with words. Instead, he fed the Gate Lord a few memories, and he felt the frustration and tension on Adam's end nearly boil over. "A vampire! A felling vampire! How many Heroes and Legends did we unleash on the capital?"

  The blame Adam held for himself was shared by Shiv. They had done this. Even if it was justified, even if there had been no other way, they shared part of this blame. The fact that the vampire was here was their doing. Only the System knew how many of the prisoners who had made it to the surface after Shiv collapsed the mana core had managed to slip through the subsequent Prismatic Guard encirclement.

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart: Self-blame is useless. You did what you had to. But the Challenger is right, even if he meant his words as a taunt. All actions have consequences. This is your consequence to bear. Fix it. Make it right. That is all you can do. Alternatively, you submit the fates of your fellow students to the First Blood.

  Sage of the Enkindled Heart 106 > 108

  "Adam, focus," Shiv declared telepathically. "Get me Helix. Get me Helix right now. And get me Gone and Kura too. We're not just dealing with a Biomancer. We're dealing with a triple threat, at least."

  "A triple threat? What do you mean?"

  "Biomancy, Psychomancy, Chronomancy— all in the same skill," Shiv said. "I don't think we're dealing with two Morbomancers; at least, not just two Morbomancers. I tried closing that cancerous chasm earlier. A guy detonated himself, and a bunch of tumors came out. Well, turned out a vampire was hiding in them. He's controlling the spores in the air. Actually, I think the spores are all part of his body somehow. We're dealing with a Legendary-Tier Mage. A fucking Legendary-Tier Cancer Mage vampire."

  The noise Adam made upon receiving that information made Shiv think of someone falling cock-first on a rotating blade. "Every godsdamn time. Then—”

  “We’re going to be okay for now," Shiv said. "I managed to talk him down for now. I implied I have a way out of the city and that I was just another rogue Rubix Well escapee who's trying to blend in. I think I'll be able to lull him into a false sense of security or something. Hopefully, we got a stay of execution for the other Biomancers."

  "Why in the Broken Moon would a Legendary First Blood member that just escaped from prison be causing a massive incident in the academy hospital anyway?" Adam asked. “Why wouldn't he try to lay low until Harlock’s lockdown is over?”

  Shiv thought back to his conversation. "I think he's hunting someone here, or at least looking for someone. He asked me if I was here for ‘him’ too. Don't know who this 'him' is, but I guess he has a grudge to settle."

  "A grudge? Wait." Adam fell silent as he started connecting thoughts. “I… Give me a moment. I might… I’ll get Helix first. Then, I need to… I’m trying to recall something.”

  As Adam's thoughts cut off, Shiv heard Javelina call out, "Alright, new arrangements! We're going to treat this building like it's hostile territory! That wasn't the doing of a Morbomancer. I've seen that skill during the Abyss War. There is a vampire in the building. Heroic-Tier, at least.”

  Immediately, ripples of fear spread through the students, ripples of fear so strong that Shiv's Shape of Monstrosity skill began to tremble inside of him. Yet the chains weren't going to him. He couldn't see the fear chains, but he could sense they were heading upward. Upward towards someone unseen.

  "Vice 8," Javelina called out, and to Shiv's surprise, her hulking boar companion responded.

  "Yeah, lady?"

  "Zephyr of the Nine Winds. Scour the halls and place your clones. Do it now.”

  The hog grunted, and suddenly a few Aeromantic gusts exploded out from it. Yet it wasn't just uncontrolled wind. It was wind shaped to the boar's body. Clones of the boar stepped forth, gliding up the stairs to the hallways on the side, and a few gathered around the students as well.

  "You will all be accompanied by Vice 8," she declared. "You will stay near a version of him, and you are not to leave his supervision at any moment."

  Fearful susurrations exploded amongst the Biomancers and medical volunteers. Javelina held her staff high, and behind her, the shrouded form of a looming boar holding an even grander staff towered over her. Shiv suddenly felt the potency of her Biomancy magnify. It didn't quite make her a Legend, but it made her a particularly High Hero. She was practically shrouded in a dense veil of Biomancy, yet it didn't extend far beyond her. Her field was compacted. It was like Shiv's Chronomancy: a layer of armor around her flesh.

  "Our new approach is as follows: Senior residents and section heads, you are going to move and hold your sections! We are going to claim and establish control over every room, every wing, every ward of Last Chance Hospital as soon as we can. However, if you encounter opposition, you will turn, and you will run! You will preserve your own lives, and you will leave the fighting to me, a senior resident, a section head, or Vice 8!"

  The massive Aeromantic boar cracked his hooves and chuckled.

  "Additionally, you are to consider yourselves contaminated and infected," Javelina said, and Shiv detected a hint of remorse in her voice. "I'm sorry, but you are not to leave the hospital—not until we eliminate this threat."

  Maxime was clenching her jaw so tight that Shiv could see the tendons of her neck tense up and begin to spasm. Malcolm had fallen silent, but the fan-headed automaton was shaking. Its legs constantly tapped the floor in an anxious, repetitive motion. Other students were shifting, eyes darted about, and Biomancy Fields swelled outwards as they tried to expand their coverage. Whispers and worried exchanges followed, and Shiv saw just how unnerved most of the volunteer medics were.

  Welcome to 301, he thought to himself.

  A slight ache built in the back of his head, and Shiv realized he was still creating more overflow tides. He'd never stopped doing that, not even after establishing a temporary truce with the Legendary vampire. On top of that, his Awareness was constantly active as well, and he was basically pushing his mental capacity constantly, never giving his subconsciousness a moment to rest.

  That's going to tax me pretty quick, Shiv thought to himself. But still, that's damn good. I can probably sustain my durability now in combat. The next time I have to fight someone in the open, or if I'm facing another Legend in a brawl, I probably can constantly increase my Pillar of Orichalcum to match my speed and strength.

  Funny how it took a mental skill to make his physical aspects feel more complete.

  Just then, his awareness jolted again, and he subconsciously noted how Javelina was constantly looking between her students. Her paranoia was palpable, and her features were tense. Prior to this point, she still took the situation seriously, but it was mostly business as usual. Grim business, but still business. This wasn't business. This was something else.

  She was actively scanning the Biomancers that had entered the hospital with her. At the same time, she also knew what a vampire was and what kind of skill it had. The latter meant she knew a bit more about this adversary than Shiv did. The Deathless didn't know how much the Republic brainwashed its people, or how deep and effective the propaganda was. But he did know this: Javelina had military history in the Abyss War that hadn't been wiped from her mind.

  That provoked him to do something daring. Slowly, he raised a hand. "Hero-Biomancer Javelina?" Shiv called out, trying to sound every bit as nervous as a newly arrived apprentice medic would be. "Just a... Marcus Unblood here. You said this was a vampire's doing, from the Abyss? Do you know what that is? You know what we're facing? What kind of skill they have?"

  Acting 17 > 20

  Well over a dozen heads turned his way. Maxine regarded him with brief surprise, but Javelina was staring at him now with her narrowed gaze.

  Shit, shit, Shiv thought internally. Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Does she suspect something? Is she going to say anything?

  A long moment passed. Javelina licked her lips and then shook her head. "I think I have faced something like this before, but I cannot be certain. That's why you all need to stick together and not break from your groups. Do not leave Vice 8’s supervision; the adversary, I think, is treacherous. Worse, they can hide within blood, so do not ingest anything nor come into contact with any substance without your wards active or without a layer of insulating material. You are to be confined here until we find and eliminate the threat. You are not to carry it outside. Repeat, you are to consider yourselves contaminated."

  Javelina looked down at the ground as if she were ashamed. "I'm sorry, but it has to be this way," she said. "The vampires... We don't want them to be carried out into the greater republic. We don't want their like to spread. We don't need a nest in the capital."

  And that made the fear even worse.

  "What is this drivel?" Helix suddenly called out. Shiv heard the orc's thoughts and tasted the disdain they were laced with. "Carried out in the blood? That's not a common vampire skill. That's a Heroic-Tier vampire skill. And that's not the skill we're facing at all, either way. Challenger, does she not know that one who has bound themselves to the skill of… Wait, no, I know her. Hero-Biomancer Javelina."

  And suddenly Helix's tone changed. There was a dangerous edge as he seethed, "It's been a while. I have kept you in the basement of my mind, oh Hero.”

  "Helix?" Shiv said. "Do you know her?"

  "Know her? Yes."

  "Don't... please don't tell me she's your Nemesis," the Deathless replied. He really didn't need this shit right now.

  "Not in this lifetime," the orc declared. "Though I wouldn't be reluctant to have another round with her. That staff... It should have been mine, pupil. That was the staff of Many Vices, a Boar God from a long-dead world. One that has spread his teachings about biology and life itself through his Divine Gates."

  "Alright, Helix, let's just get one thing very clear here: if you do anything to fuck this up or start a fight with her right now, I swear to the Challenger, I'm going to cripple you for all eternity. I'm going to cripple your Biomancy for good."

  "Yes, yes, violent threats, of course. Insul, I'm no fool. I don't need to expose you right now. I can keep my itch under control. Besides, a duel between Biomancers should be settled properly, not in front of this rabble."

  Shiv could taste the scorn Helix had for the students and volunteer medics here. "The hell’s wrong with them?”

  “They are unworthy. They are shaking and quivering and worried, they are afraid that some vermin bloodsucker might touch them, might rip their blood from their veins and feast upon it. It's pathetic.”

  "I don't know, it seems like a pretty normal fear for someone to have," Shiv replied. And then he remembered he was speaking to an orc.

  "Normal fears are not for proper Pathbearers," Helix chided. "And that skill you faced earlier, you said it is a combination of Biomancy, Psychomancy, and Chronomancy? Then it was wise of you to call upon me, for you face a truly dangerous foe. Metastasis of the Still Mind. That is the name of the skill. I only faced one other Pathbearer who wielded that power, and it was a fellow orc."

  "Did you win?" Shiv said, both curious and also partially jabbing at Helix.

  "I learned," Helix declared haughtily. "I learned from that experience."

  "Oh, so he kicked your ass," Shiv concluded.

  "No. He did not brutalize me. We faced each other in a high battle of great wits and magical majesty. And I was simply his lesser that day, but someday, someday I will prove myself his better. Of course, I cannot prove myself his better directly, but I will gain his skill and I will surpass him. In fact, I think that day will come soon."

  "What happened to him?" Shiv asked.

  "He decided to challenge the Challenger."

  "He what?" Shiv was surprised. "You can do that?"

  "Of course. The Challenger is more than willing to accommodate any adversary, with the reward being true godhood. And he did. He faced my former rival.”

  "What happened?" Shiv asked.

  For a moment, Helix hesitated. “He didn't learn. He will never learn again."

  And for the first time, Shiv felt something from the orc. It was genuine fear. It wasn't even the twisted fear they felt when he ripped into them, when he mutilated them. This was pure. This was as human as an orc could get.

  The Challenger would like to remind you that all your choices will turn bitter as you lie broken before him.

  Yeah, you got a nice imagination, Shiv shot back. I’m not one of your orcs. When I come for you, I’ll make sure I break you for good.

  A notification appeared before Shiv's vision as his pin flashed.

  Junior Resident Adept Maxime Stormhalt.

  Senior Resident Master Hal Habendale

  Designated Area: Pediatric Ward.

  And once more, Helix spoke, placing a cap upon everything Shiv had just learned. "I think I know who our mystery bloodsucker might be. It takes a substantial effort on the part of a vampire to develop such a rare Skill Fusion, and there are only so many Legends one can encounter on Integrated Earth. I believe that we are hunting Tulveg the Irreverent, disciple of Ekkihurst the Sculptor."

  And to that, Shiv had only one response: "Ah, just felling great."

  Book 5 of Path of the Deathless is fully written and available on ! Book 6 is ongoing. (Over 400,000 Words Advanced). Current release schedule is 1-2 full chapters/5,000-10,000 words daily.

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