A fireball exploded in Daniel’s chest as he appeared before me. Tatters were all that remained of his shirt, revealing chiseled muscles underneath.

  “Not enough.” He growled. His burned chest bulged as he expanded. A set of horns grew from the sides of his head, and lightning currents poured out of his skin.

  Daniel accelerated, a set of war axes resting in his hands. He cross-slashed fast enough to take most of the Blessed by surprise, but I predicted his attack. Predator caught his every movement, and I reacted in kind. I stepped to the side, a fiery explosion from the flank giving me the momentum needed to escape the attack. Lightning currents surged outward, trying to reach and burn me, but they failed.

  Paralyze triggered, but Daniel was prepared. He only froze for a fraction of a split second, his body bulging once more, expanding again. A second set of horns jutted from his head, joining the first.

  “Soulfusion with both?” I laughed. I stored my sword with a thought before my arms transformed into scythes.

  Soulfusion with the Ferronox Mantis was interesting. The Unblemished beast’s physical empowerment increased drastically as we fused. That was still normal. What wasn’t normal was the faint sheen of Nullblade coating Nox’s scythes as I conjured them. I should have had to trigger the trait manually, draining ether from my core to copy the Ferronox Mantis’ natural state. That was not necessary any longer, not when we were fused, at least.

  I accelerated, ether pumping through my veins, my arms swinging through the air with deadly precision. Bullets made of compressed lightning came at me, only to be cleaved apart.

  Daniel thundered toward me. His axes flashed dangerously when a dazzling light erupted from my forehead.

  A pained groan escaped Daniel’s lips, his charge continuing even as the sudden release of compressed light blinded him. Mirage was still a little hard to use at times, but I had gotten a lot better. My timing had been good enough, taking away Daniel’s sight right before we engaged in melee. The scythes raked across his chest, digging deep enough to draw fountains of blood. A low-hanging wall of compressed soil jutted from the ground right after, tripping Daniel.

  My friend tumbled, tried to regain his balance, but failed in the end and fell.

  He rolled over the ground and leaped back to his feet, his body shrinking as one set of horns retracted. The spirit of battle burned in his eyes, which I could only reciprocate. It was our fourth day on the flying ship, and the only truly interesting thing left to do was to spar. Scott was nowhere to be seen these days, and the other cadets–or ex-cadets–were too busy pondering their future and the events following Ruler Saphira’s death.

  “You lost,” I stated the obvious, but Daniel didn’t see it that way.

  “I am not done y–” An azure blade of condensed fire burned against his neck, silencing him.

  The blade fizzled out, and the drum-like thumping in my head receded. Volix’s Major Fire Aspect was powerful, but the Elemental Phoenix had too high expectations of me. He didn’t allow me to use his traits for lackluster displays of power; he demanded that I realize his traits’ full potential.

  As great as his teachings were, Volix was a pain in the ass at times.

  “I don’t know if I should love or detest your growth. It’s getting harder to fight you head-on with each passing day.” Daniel shook his head, the final Soulfusion dissolving as well. “How am I supposed to deal with you in a month or two?”

  “Your World is no longer as restricted as it was before. That’ll help you. So will working your ass off.” I snickered in response.

  “Having a few more species to bind doesn’t mean I’ll catch up with the wide fucking variety of beasts you can bind. Your bonds are also way too strong.” Daniel grumbled, though he did not look as discouraged as his words suggested. His eyes burned fiercely, the rivalry between us keeping him fueled.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re already at the 3rd Stage with Nox or Aureus. In the first place, where is Aureus? Is he still processing the serums?” A flash of worry crossed his features at the last bit, but he relaxed when I waved dismissively.

  “The 3rd Stage?” I laughed at his ridiculousness. “That will take a while. I mean, I can tell that we’re getting closer, but it will take years before the first bond crystallizes.”

  Officially, it was nearly impossible to form a crystallized bond. However, in reality, it was just incredibly difficult. A crystallized bond indicated a fusion of Blessed and Soulkin on a much deeper level than the Soulfusion. It could be attained, shaped into existence, once the soulshare reached a share of power crossing the 50% threshold.

  By that point, half of the Soulkin’s power would circulate through the Blessed, and vice versa. At that level, a Soulkin’s potential was said to be irrelevant as long as the Blessed’s World continued to grow.

  It was a level everyone wanted to reach, but there had only been a few unofficial forum threads mentioning crystallized bonds. They were more myth than fact as far as I could tell. Still, I wanted to help my Soulkins. Even more so now that Nox had already surpassed his racial potential.

  He had no more potential left to grow, leaving him with minuscule power-ups now and then. Even those gains were mostly sourced back to the serums, high-quality dishes, and my World’s growth. A 2nd Stage soulshare is already useful for most Soulkins. It stimulates their growth and sometimes even unlocks evolution strains for Soulkins that everyone thought couldn’t evolve anymore.

  The larger a World and the stronger the bond, the greater the stimuli.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  If Beaster Bert’s research and my theories aren’t wrong, part of why Aureus evolved into an Earthheart was owed to our soulshare–to the compatibility of my World and the young, mutant Soilback back then.

  Getting back to Daniel’s question, I shrugged. “Aureus is still busy. His body is still changing after he successfully etched the Earthen Aspect into his heart. The Terraflux Essence has been accepted as well, but it might take a few more weeks for both to settle. But there’s no need to worry; Aureus is stronger than ever. He didn’t evolve, but his potential’s increasing. I can feel it.”

  He had become a true Earthheart, a sacred beast, and I was excited for it.

  I was also impatient to see him again, mostly because he’d help me fend off the Elemental Phoenix the next time Volix bothered me.

  “That’s cool,” Daniel said, looking at me thoughtfully.

  His expression shifted, and he tensed up. My gaze followed his as he looked to the side.

  My ears perked up as the roars of beasts resounded. As common as the occasional roar from a bored or impatient Soulkin was, what we heard now was a cacophony. Pained screeches echoed, angry roars thundered throughout the flying ship, and as I focused more on the ambient ether, I felt it freeze in place.

  “That’s odd,” Daniel muttered, retrieving a vial.

  He swallowed the viscous liquid, the gashes on his chest healing even as the floating ship shook.

  The spars all around us came to a halt, tensed faces looking around for answers.

  An alarm sounded, ringing painfully in my ears, and just as a voice filled the arena, all other sounds were swallowed by a noise that promised to haunt my dreams.

  An explosion rocked the flying ship, tearing a hole into the side of the training hall. The ship was yanked aside, shrapnel of ship parts hurled through the air at blinding speed, impaling one unfortunate guy in the chest while a wooden stake pierced another’s eye.

  Three unfortunate souls were caught by the aftermath of the explosion. They’d been too close to the hole and were sucked out of the hall, their screams ringing in my ears.

  More explosions followed, the cracking noises reverberating through the ship indicating nothing good, but the worst had yet to happen.

  From one moment to the next, a massive eagle resembling the Guardian Mistral I’d seen attacking my home Bastion burst through the wide-open gap and crash-landed. Two Blessed were fortunate enough to leap to the side in time, but a young woman was squashed by the eagle, her bones snapping and crunching.

  I winced, terror blooming in my heart, when several grotesque beings unraveled from the eagle’s body, carrying blades and spears that they drove into the beast, killing it. More beings–gaunt, with bodies of more bone than flesh–flew into the training hall through the holes, their eye sockets filled with darkness. Bony wings stretched far and wide, their appearance stunning a few Blessed long enough for the creatures to slice their throats and ram their blades into their chests.

  Screams of terror and disbelief filled the training hall, but more than one former cadet spun to the strange enemies, weapons brandished, ether pumping through their veins.

  Predator activated at full power, showing me all that most Blessed wouldn’t be able to see, and I could only curse. There was a mass of highly condensed ether in their chests. Not only did it appear to be liquefied ether, it was also a lot more than a normal Expert could control. Daniel was their equivalent in terms of quantity, but how many young adults had Worlds large enough to contain Guardian beasts? Not many, and that promised to be a problem.

  “Be careful!” I shouted, retrieving my sword and one of the shields from Ruler Kazriel’s armory.

  Like most of his weaponry, the shield was adorned with several ether circuits. I hadn’t analyzed each armament in the armory just yet, but the dark aegis shield was something I’d studied… for ten minutes. Better than nothing, though I told myself to be more prepared next time.

  “Bakurean,” someone gasped.

  Really? I narrowed my eyes at the bony, winged creatures and agreed in silence. Those hunched backs, spikes growing from their easily visible spines, and those bottomless pits for eyes–they were definitely Bakurean.

  “What the fuck are Bakurean doing here? We are not even close to their territory,” Daniel cursed.

  “Doesn’t matter. They’re here now, and it doesn’t look like they came for a snack and some chatter,” I growled, Soulfusion at the ready.

  Volix tried to communicate with me, but his words were unclear.

  The flying ship rocked again, and the Bakurean flapped their wings. Ether surged into their appendages as they accelerated, accumulating momentum in an instant.

  I caught a glimpse of something behind the Bakurean; the hole in the flying ship was no more. Something covered the gap, blocking the Bakurean’s reinforcements. Two dozen Bakurean, their power close to Masters, with a good hundred cadets. The numbers were on our side, but we had never fought together, some were exhausted from sparring, and others were frankly not in the right headspace to deal with sudden confrontations with death.

  Death loomed over them, and they froze. Alas, we were cadets, trained for the worst of the worst. No matter how afraid most of us were, how exhausted we were, we pushed through.

  Ether projectiles whistled through the air in the dozens. Only a fraction impacted, but those that did hit hard enough to inflict damage. Hexes were applied to the Bakurean, traits to support and strengthen the Blessed activated, and those with the means necessary triggered their Soulfusions.

  Yet despite all they did, the Blessed failed to take down the Bakurean before they arrived at the nearest target. The Bakurean spread out, their movement speed far surpassing even Daniel’s and my own, their blades flashing dangerously.

  Semi-translucent shields were conjured between a Bakurean and a young woman, but the Bakurean did not seem to care. Its spear burst through the shield, slowing only marginally as it drove the blade into the woman. Several Blessed appeared beside her, one healing her even as the spearblade was still stuck inside her, while the others worked together to strike down the Bakurean. The creature ripped the spear out of its target and backed off, its wings swishing forward to block several lethal strikes. A moment later, it struck out again–only to freeze.

  Its momentum evaporated instantaneously as it stopped moving, and several blades and projectiles tore into its flesh, scraping across its bony structure, until it regained control of its body again.

  Blood poured from my eyes, golden light emanating from them as the last traces of ether faded.

  My core was empty, but so was my stomach. Soulfusion active, I retrieved a piece of Monarch jerky and ate it whole.

  Ether flooded every corner of my body, so intense it pressed firmly against my skin, bursting it. Be that as it may, I needed the power–as much as possible, even if it would cause problems.

  You endanger your life for no reason.

  Volix’s voice reached me, almost cold.

  I’m trying to save as many people as possible. That’s enough reason for me, I thought, grunting through the pain as ether ravaged my body.

  If you don’t want me to endanger my life, help me save them all. Please.