-=[Arianna Manning]=-

Arianna emerged from the castle and looked over the back garden. It was on fire. She sighed. A destroyed garden was a small price to pay for stopping the Inquisition. She was here to make sure that they were indeed stopped for good. She stepped onto the melted cobblestones, reinforcing her Dantian with the anti-fire stability-ward. Three of her new legionnaires emerged after her, spreading out in defense formation.

“Ash really trimmed the garden today,” she mulled as she walked towards a lake of magma, approaching a ghostly, indeterminate figure that hovered over the burned husk of a man that was missing arms. She reached out towards the ghost and reestablished the connection between them.

[Who’s that?] She mentally asked the ghost.

[That’s the ex-High-Inquisitor Pikoss Rhondarius,] Alex answered her.

The new Baroness of the Gold city looked down at the scorched body. “Pikoss! He’s dead… right?”

[Afraid not,] the ghost replied.

“What?! Are you freaking kidding me? How is he still alive? He looks like a corpse!” She smelled the body to confirm the ghost’s words. “Gods damn it!”

One of her men - Lazarus Jun bent down towards the blackened husk, touching the downed Immortal’s chest with his hand. “I feel a deep pulse of Qi in his chest. He is an Immortal. He will inevitably regenerate with time. I don’t know how you’ve managed to bring down the High-Inquisitor, Baroness. Truly impressive.”

“Qi-ssing Immortals!” The redhead growled. “What if I stab him in the eye?” She pulled a celesteel blade from her scabbard, pointing it at the blackened skull.

“It will certainly delay the recovery - perhaps for an extra day or two.” Surgeon Barber Jun nodded. “But he will awaken sooner or later. It is but an inevitability for someone so powerful and blessed by Lord Boundless.”

[Hey, um… How did you get him anyway?] Arianna asked the ghost.

[He got distracted by Celes and I pulled an archangel through him. It stopped his heart, completely disrupted, shredded his Dantian to nothing… but it seems that it wasn’t enough. Even if his body is dead, the core in his body is alive. About as alive as I am, I suppose.]

[Hmmm… where is the archangel anyway?] Arianna looked around, expecting to spot the seraphim.

[It flew back to the city. Alas, I couldn't hold its attention for that long,] Alex replied. [Believe me, I tried.]

[How is this bastard still alive?] Arianna complained, keeping her black sword pointed at the Inquisitor. [This is bullshit! I thought that archangels can perma-kill cultivators!]

[Can you not smell it? Pikoss has a level 535 beast core in his chest cavity.] The ghost looked at the body of the Inquisitor. [As far as I can tell, it seems to be slowly restoring… rewinding the body back to life from within.]

Arianna’s eyes flashed with greed. She lowered herself closer to the body, sniffing it. “Oh. I can smell it! What if I cut it out of him?”

“Cut what out?” The Barber raised his eyes at his Baroness.

“The Inquisitor has a powerful core in him,” Arianna explained. “I want it.”

“I have worked with injured Immortals after a great battle before.” Lazarus shook his head. “The flesh and bones closer to the chest are extremely tough. I doubt that you can just…”

Arianna stabbed the High-Inquisitor in the chest with her sword. Her blade sank in about half a finger deep and didn’t go any further. She hissed trying to push it in further, but the sword refused to budge.

“Like I was saying,” the Barber continued. “The chest cavity containing the heart of the Immortal is impossible to penetrate, even with celesteel. Only a stronger Immortal or a truly powerful divine beast can tear through the reinforced bone and flesh.”

“Come out, damn you! Why won’t you die?!” Arianna gritted her teeth while stabbing the blackened husk.

“He will wake and seek vengeance against us…” Lazarus muttered solemnly. “Alas, this is the way of the world. No deed goes unpunished.”

“What if we keep stabbing him in the brain with the sword?” Arianna barked, starting to get nervous. “Keep him in the catacombs forever, perpetually injuring him so that he shall never wake?”

The field Surgeon Barber shook his head. “The healing process will eventually accelerate. If a powerful Immortal is kept bound long enough, they will form a mind woven of Qi within the chest cavity itself. I’ve read of such… incidents. He will find a way to break free. He doesn’t even have to do that. This Immortal likely has many other allies in the compound. They will want to know how his mission went and come to his aid. Do not think you can imprison or hide an Immortal forever, Baroness. The cult compound can easily find him by his Dantian with the use of hunters.”

Arianna exhaled sharply, shuddering in fear. She turned to the ancient ghost for aid. [Alex, what do we do? I’m really itching to stab him in the eye, but the Barber says it won’t keep him down forever. Do you have an idea of how we can kill an Immortal?"

The ghost looked at the unkillable body on the ground and then back at her. [We do not need to imprison or hurt him further. Stay your hand, princess. We already have the perfect resource on hand that can help us permanently deal with an Immortal…]

[What? How?!] The Baroness raised her ginger eyebrows at the ghost. She tried to think sideways, outside of the box as Alex taught her. [Wait, don't tell me… We can dump his body down into the cursed city! The feelers of Lord Boundless can suck out his soul and he won’t be our problem anymore! …Right?]

[An interesting idea, but no. Just tell our men to bring all of the Inquisitor bodies into the armory cavern.] The ghost smiled. [We’ll deal with him there.]

-=[Pikoss Rhondarius, Adventurer]=-

Pikoss stood in front of his family’s home. He opened his clenched hands and ashes flew from his fingers, taking up into the sky. A black, smoldering gash carved its way across the city, many homes in its wake turned into scorched, decrepit ruins. Qi-ssing sky-cultivators from Deathstorm Convergence!

He had entirely missed the day of the reaping while he and his Adventurer friends were exploring the catacombs beneath the city! Missed it and survived. His family however was... gone, turned into ashes.

Pikoss wiped the streaks of tears from his eyes. He would never hear his father’s voice again, never enjoy the dumplings cooked by his mom, never hug his sisters, never see them grow old.

He took off the leather Adventurer’s backpack off his shoulders and placed it into the ruin of his family’s home. The rare crystal mushrooms he had acquired this week with his friends were completely worthless to him now. Even if he sold them at the market and got some silver for it, money no longer held any meaning to him. He had nobody to support, nobody to buy nice things for. HIs family was gone, vanquished by the accursed sky spiders. He sniffed, gripped his aching chest, turned around and started walking away.

In about five thousand heartbeats he stood beneath the archangel of Lord Boundless in the center of the market. The brilliant being made from impossibly warped loops and hexagonal eyes hovered high above the street, observing all.

“Why, my Lord?!” He screamed up at the seraphim. “Why do you let these things happen? Why did my family have to die?! Why did I survive?!”

The archangel didn’t answer him. A single eye looked down at him and then turned away after a minute of silence.

Pikoss dropped to his knees, weeping. The pain in his chest intensified a thousandfold. God didn’t even acknowledge him. He wasn’t worthy. A hand touched his shoulder. The teenager turned. An old, yellow-robed monk serenely smiled back at him.

“Many have lost their families this week,” the monk spoke. “Do you wish to avenge your family?”

Pikoss nodded.

“Then come with me to the compound of our Lord,” the monk continued, offering Pikoss a hand. “You are young and talented. Join us. Grow strong, train, cultivate, attain power and secret knowledge and someday you will become strong. Only the cult can grant you the ability to avenge the deaths of your kin. Only the Immortals are able to resist the vile sky spiders!”

The blonde teen took the hand of the old monk and stood up. He had a purpose now. Vengeance would be his. He followed the yellow-robed monk towards the open, enormous gold-plated gates of the cult compound. With every step he took his resolve grew. He would become an Immortal. He would make the sky spiders pay for what they did. He would make them suffer!

He stepped under the gate and the world around him suddenly started to shimmer, dissolving away into colorful waves that intersected each other. It was as if what he was seeing was a tapestry that was being pulled apart at the seams, reality collapsing out of his reach. The path of yellow cobblestones beneath his feet dissolved into darkness. Even his hands dissolved away as if they were made from ripples of colorful water.

What the Qi-ss?!

For a few moments that felt like they lasted a lifetime Pikoss floated in absolute darkness and then he felt that he was alive once again.

Pikoss opened his eyes. A very tired looking, silver-haired, approximately sixty-year old man stepped away from him. The teenager felt that his body was in immense pain and also wrong, askew, different. He looked down at his hands and yelled in fright. His hands were missing entirely! They chafed terribly and looked like burned husks, cut off at the wrists.

“What?! What happened to me?!” He yelled, flailing.

“Ah! You’re finally awake, excellent!” A feminine voice twinkled from his left.

Pikos turned his head and saw a dashing, redhead girl who was about his age. She curiously stared down at him.

“Where am I? How did I get here?” He coughed, looking around in bewilderment. He was inside a tent filled with blood-stained mattresses. Celesteel armoured men stood over several badly burned bodies. His lips felt parched, terribly burned.

The girl put a steel flask to his lips. Pikoss wrapped his badly burned lips around the flask and gulped greedily. The inside of his mouth felt like it was badly burned too, but at least he could drink. As hurt as he was, he felt more alive than he ever did for some inexplicable reason.

“You’re inside the Magisterium Citadel, Rhondarius,” the noble girl dressed in celesteel armour answered. “I’m Baroness Arianna Manning.”

“Baroness?” Pikoss looked at the teenager. For some reason he felt completely certain that she was telling the truth. How… strange.

The redhead nodded.

“I guess the Manning family finally got the Barony back together?” Pikoss inquired.

“Not entirely,” the noble redhead replied. “I am in the process of restoring the Barony. We have taken the Citadel and most of the Guilds are now under our control… but, there is still much to do.”

“Baron Magnezia was pretty cool,” Pikoss commented. “That was what… a century and a half ago? Too bad his children took his legacy apart. I’m glad you’re restoring the throne. The Gold city needs a strong, capable ruler.”

“What’s the last thing you can remember?” Arianna asked.

“My family died in the Deathstorm Convergence,” Pikoss choked out, nearly tearing up again. “I survived because I was exploring the catacombs at the time. I wanted to avenge the deaths of my family. Just five thousand heartbeats ago, I gave up on being an Adventurer and went to join the cult. I stepped into the gate and then… I woke up here. What happened?”

“An archangel of our Lord struck you down,” The highborn lady’s arm reached out and touched his chest.

“Why?” Pikos gulped.

Arianna didn’t reply. She simply stared at him with her emerald eyes.

“I have committed a grave sin against our Lord?” He asked shakily.

“Indeed,” the highborn stated. “However - your past sins are no longer relevant, Rhondarius. When the archangel touched you… you died. Now - you are reborn! Rejoice!”

“R-reborn? How?! Why?” Pikoss blinked.

“To aid the new Barony, of course,” the highborn girl smiled. “We need warriors like you! Have you not read the divine book of the Chorus? This is but the will of our god - Lord Boundless wishes to see his people prosper, thrive and multiply!”

“What do you intend to do?” Pikoss inquired tentatively.

“The new Barony intends to put a stop to the Stormweavers once and for all!” Arianna proclaimed. “I’m bringing back the Warring Era Legions to do it!” She waved at the cadre of men covered in celesteel that silently stood behind her.

Pikoss inhaled deeply. All of his senses whispered to him that she was telling the truth! This… new Baroness could be trusted. She wanted the same thing he did!

“Will you become my knight, Pikoss Rhondarius? Do you want to stand with me to face the Stormweavers?” She looked straight at him, shimmering, emerald eyes filled with determination cutting into his very soul.

“I do,” he answered. “I wish to avenge my family, my noble lady. This is my life’s only goal.”

“Excellent. I hereby ennoble you and declare you as my knight!” The Baroness put a celesteel sword on his burned shoulder.

“Forgive me, Baroness. I am badly injured and won’t be able to fight for you…” Pikoss muttered, looking at the sword in reverence. Never in his life did the young Adventurer consider that he would be suddenly ennobled by a young, jade beauty of a Baroness! This was like a dream come true. If only he still had his hands! If only he wasn’t so badly burned.

“Oh, it won’t be a problem, my knight. Your body will heal very quickly. You’re a lot stronger than you might recall. What’s important is that your mind remained intact even though it was very damaged. You can undoubtedly smell the truth in my words - this is one of your talents. In due time you will regain what you have lost, I’m certain of it.”

Pikoss nodded. He wondered how much he had forgotten.

“H-how many years have I lost?” he asked, his lips trembling.

“Irrelevant.” The Baroness smiled softly. “Your past is gone, erased. The touch of the archangel and your death cleared all of the debts and sins that you carried in your soul. Your new life’s purpose is to aid me in restoration of the Barony and destruction of the Stormweavers. From this point onwards, you will wear celesteel armour and stand by my side forevermore.”

“I can do that,” he said, barely believing his luck. He had expected to serve and to study for decades under some old, crotchety high-cultivators and here he was suddenly offered everything he had ever wanted! His burned lips stretched into a wide smile, ignoring the chafing ache of the burns.

The baroness leaned even closer to him. He could smell her scent. He wanted to serve this young, honest, beautiful girl.

“You’re my ennobled… personal knight now,” Arianna whispered with a purr, tracing the gold shimmers on her celesteel blade in front of him with her finger. “You will answer to me alone. Nobody else is allowed to demand things from you. There’s just one little thing left to do. You have to declare your oath of allegiance with your Qi to fully complete the ennobling ritual so that you will be allowed to bear this celesteel sword. Can you do that? Will you give me your entire heart, your Dantian in exchange for my sword? Will you help me end the Stormweavers with all of your being, all of your strength?”

“I will, my lady!” Pikoss swallowed. He would blush were his face not so badly burned. “I will serve you! I will say any oath you demand of me to bear your sword!” He affirmed.

He didn’t expect this incredible twist of fate, but he accepted the amazing path offered to him. He had no idea how old or how strong he really was and it didn’t matter to him one bit at this point. This was his best chance for revenge and he was far too smitten with the young Baroness to even bother to consider any other options.