~~~~~~

Bradley

~~~~~~

"They're grinding us down…" Bradley thought wearily.

He was trying to meditate and thought he was doing it right, at least he hoped so, but he still hadn't gotten the actual Skill for it yet. It did make him feel better, if only marginally. Nevertheless, it was his only option. The monsters outside always seemed to know when he dozed off and wouldn't let him get even a few minutes in a row.

"Incoming from the east," the voice jarred Bradley from his attempted rest, and he glared at the lookout. Not with his eyes, though. That would have been unprofessional and probably not good for troop morale.

Ever since Ranking up to C and picking his Evolution, Bradley could see everything around him… sort of. He could see the stone tower that he'd built atop Lee's building, the other buildings spread around inside the Fort, and lastly, the wall. Basically, Bradley could see the stones or anything that might be considered stone or rock… It also came with the more beneficial effect of letting him see everything that touched said stone. Though see was probably the wrong word, feeling everything would be a more apt description.

He could feel the lookouts in the tower top with him, could feel Alejandro in the room as well, the Commander standing out from the others by his distinctive lack of the usual human traits, such as being alive… He knew Alejandro was looking through a telescope toward the east; how he knew that detail was confusing. It felt like he had been blind before, and now he could see. It was exhilarating and sometimes a bit frightening as well. He was becoming something other than human, and he didn't know what the end of the journey would look like…

Mar put her hand on his arm and squeezed softly. She was invisible, as usual, but not going all out with her abilities so he could 'see' her sitting on the stone next to him. If she did go all out, Bradley would be unable to detect her even if she stomped around, though Mar told him that it drained her Mana almost instantly to hide from him, especially if he started trying to find her. He didn't know how it worked, but magic…

There was also something else that he could feel after the rank-up. "The Boss isn't moving," Bradley told the anxious room's inhabitants.

Out there, somewhere in the distance, was a seething concentration of power. Similar to Bradley's own power level but different in feel and flavor. Unfortunately, he knew it very well by now. It was the C Rank leader of the lizard army. A bipedal reptilian bastard that could take a beating and would switch easily to fighting with claws and teeth if it lost its weapons. It was strong enough to give Bradley a solid workout and could handle a ridiculous amount of damage, but it still wasn't strong enough to defeat him. The only reason he hadn't already killed it and wiped out the army was the other concentration of power he could feel, only this one to the west.

Another army lurked there, and this one was made up of a more familiar foe. The blueheads. Shitty slavers that Bradley and the others had spent a lot of time killing whenever and wherever they found them and then freeing their slaves. Apparently, the Blueheads didn't like that… shame.

Bradley felt the lizards touch the wall and quickly move up the vertical surface. No matter how smooth he tried to make the stone, they had no trouble scaling it. Probably some magic bullshit… He counted fifteen of them, and since they always fought in groups of five, that meant only three teams on this assault.

It would be effortless for him to pop them off the wall and send them back to the ground, and he did so occasionally when the defenders above were not quite prepared to meet the charge. But doing that did not hurt the lizards and only delayed them. Even falling from the top of the colossal wall wouldn't do more than bruise them, and each pop cost Bradley a bit of energy and Mana. Mana wasn't the issue, he'd built his tower on top of Three to gain access to the Mana Well in Lee's apartment, and it fed him more than enough through the stone running from the Well.

The real issue was that he hadn't been able to sleep for days now, and his attempts at meditation were all he had to rest with. It felt like every time he dozed off, the enemy leaders outside would know somehow and choose that time to attack. And Bradley was the only C Rank in the Fort…

Others were close but not close enough, and being under siege meant nobody could go out to farm Cores. Everyone who had been out hunting when the blockade began had either used the collars to teleport back or been forced back in a dying state. Luckily, it seemed that the stasis they arrived in lasted plenty long enough for them to be found and healed. But they were still trapped in here with no way to Rank anyone else up. The few lizards that died attacking the walls were not nearly enough of a supply, unfortunately.

The other minor issue with the Lizards was that while Bradley could bounce them off the walls all day and wear himself out doing it, he couldn't actually kill them. Well, he could kill them very easily, in fact, but if he did, their leader would attack, seemingly in retaliation. It was a strange kind of honorable combat-type deal or something. The D Ranks were like ants to them, Bradley and the Lizard could slaughter them all day, but the enemy Commander wouldn't attack any of the Humans that didn't attack it first. It always came straight for Bradley. Even if its allies were getting killed in the battle, it wouldn't interfere unless Bradley was the one killing them.

So, an uneasy truce of sorts was in place, Bradley didn't attack the weaker lizards, and their leader didn't attack any of the weak humans. It did still come for him at random intervals, though, usually accompanied by a significant push from the minions against the walls.

This wasn't one of those attacks. Only a minor skirmish from the looks of it…

"It sent the big one again," Alejandro said, "still wearing the collar."

Mar squeezed his arm and stood up. "I'll handle it," she told the room, "let Maria rest." Then she jumped and vanished from Bradley's senses.

The first lizard crested the lip of the wall and took a shield to the face for its efforts, sending it back to the ground below, courtesy of Miller. Unfortunately, its fellows were right behind it and were not thrown off. Two latched onto the shield, forcing it down, while the next jumped right over and attacked the man behind Miller. The last launched a fireball, not at Miller, but directly behind him. The blast threw him forward and opened the people behind him to attack. James tried to fill the gap and protect the casters, still reeling from the explosion, and ran headfirst into a scaly fist. He went down hard.

The lizards pounced on the downed man, not to finish him off but to grab him and throw him outside the wall. Even unconscious, they couldn't physically restrain anyone with a collar. But they could lift him up without technically grabbing him…

Another human, whom Bradley recognized as Don, came to the unconscious man's rescue.

Probably everyone in the Fort knew who Don was by now, and not in a good way. He was the one blamed for the whole fiasco that they were in. Don had been on guard duty when the first five-man team of Lizards showed up atop the wall and started slaughtering the Humans there. Luckily for the humans, they had all been wearing the Freedom collars, and none of them could actually die. Unluckily for Don, the Lizards got curious about what was happening to all the vanishing people and took him prisoner.

He was just a newbie to battle and had been quickly defeated by the powerful creatures. They managed to get him over the wall and started torturing him. No one had seen just what happened, but when reinforcements reached the man, he had no collar. A week later, the army of Lizards was outside the wall, and one of them was wearing Don's collar. No one could be certain that their obtaining the collar was what brought the rest here, but it looked terrible on the face of it. Why the lizards had let Don live, Bradley didn't know, but the man had made them regret that choice in every battle since.

Don crashed into the duo lifting the unconscious man, dual-wielding short blades that he lashed out with in wild abandon and not much skill. They dropped their target under the inept but ferocious onslaught, and Don managed to kick the downed man over the lip of the wall and inside the Fort. He continued his charge almost uninterrupted and crashed into one of the Lizards, unheeding of the sword held out before it.

The blade sank into Don's guts and then burst from his back in a spray of blood as he pushed forward, driving the lizard along the top of the wall before suddenly dropping his blades and latching onto the arm still holding the impaled sword. Don twisted in a very well-executed throw that sent the creature over the wall and into the jungle-like mass of plant life within the Fort.

The throw, while flawlessly done, was not meant to be used while impaled with a sword. The blade ripped him wide open, and Don only managed to stagger a few feet toward the next target as blood and guts spilled from his gaping wound. Then he stumbled, keeled over, and vanished, leaving behind only a large red pool on the wall.

The jungle had swallowed the lizard, though, so it wasn't for nothing. The riot of plant life filling every portion of open space between the buildings and the walls was the only area Bradley had no view into. He could have forced the issue, but he'd left the ground to Saira, both to defend and to grow the large amounts of food that they needed. A resource that was in short supply with the current inability to go hunting for meat… Nevertheless, no enemy that fell in there ever came back out—fertilizer for the crops.

Except, of course, for the C Rank lizard. That one had gone through it like a wrecking ball the first time Bradley 'assisted' some lizards from atop the wall to fall in. It had pulled them all out and done a lot of damage to Saira's food production. Bradley had done even more damage when he drove the creature back outside the walls…

Saira was the next closest to C Rank, and every Core from dead lizards or blueheads went to her. Bradley was actually scared of what she would become after Ranking up, but the fear was overshadowed by his desire to kill these damn monsters.

"Don got another one," Alejandro said softly in the tower top, and a few mutters came from the gathered people.

"Lay off him, guys," Bradley said in a louder voice as he gave up his attempts to meditate and stood up, "we all started from the bottom, and I was worse than him when I started." He wasn't going to make any more progress now, especially when Mar was on the battlefield. Bradley knew she could handle herself, but he still worried.

It seemed like so long ago when Bradley first stepped outside and attacked the giant snake. He'd very nearly died for his act of stupid bravery, and yet here he was now, commanding men and women older than him into battle. And they called him General... Of course, the most significant change was that now he had a girlfriend! All it took was the end of the world to make it happen… and so he worried for Mar. More So because he knew just how strong that lizard was… if it ever got tired of her killing its minions…

Bradley looked over the fighting with his eyes now. On the wall in the distance, the other two lizard teams had already scaled the summit, and the fight was fierce. Among them was the reason that Mar had gone to assist. One of the teams was led by a slightly larger lizard, a lizard wearing one of their collars… and the only thing worse than a strong enemy was one that also couldn't be killed. It was still only D Rank, but definitely close to C.

The big lizard killed, or instead vanished, one human with its own claws before suddenly tripping. A moment later, its helmet flew off its head. Bradley could see bloody lines appearing like magic across the creature's body. It lost the chest and backplate of its armor next. Both pieces rapidly following the helmet into the jungle below.

Fighting Mar could be a horrifying nightmare. At least, that was what people said after sparring with her. An enemy that you couldn't see, hear, and for some people or creatures, smell. Though the most terrifying part was when she really burned Mana, and you couldn't even feel it when she touched you. Stumbling over nothing when she tripped you, the world tilting abruptly if she pushed you, and blades cutting into your flesh that you only felt after they had left.

There was a brief flash of light in the distance, and the lizard went down with one leg ending at the knee. Mar was using up Rune blades… likely trying to send a message. The amputated limb went into the jungle, quickly followed by the other leg and one of its arms.

And that was it. Mar left the creature there on the wall, alive but crippled. She no longer bothered to try and kill it anymore or throw it to Saira, instead stealing whatever armor and weapons it brought in and then leaving it to trigger the collar itself. A shameful retreat, or at least they hoped it felt that way.

The rest of the lizards retreated before Mar could kill more than a few others. They knew her well by now, and none ever stuck around once they knew she was on the field. At least not in these more minor skirmishes.

It was the same reaction if Maria showed up as well. Her method of taking them down with a single touch was just as terrifying, and the lizards knew her on sight. On the other hand, they loved to fight Jackson. Something that didn't happen after the first time, when the enraged man had somehow decided to solo the entire enemy camp and had to be dragged back.

However, even in retreat, the lizards took their wounded with them when they left, even trying to grab the one with the collar… until Mar killed one of the attempted rescuers, and they finally fled.

She didn't pursue them once they left. Mar was tired too, and she burned a lot of Mana when hiding from the lizards. Most likely, she guessed, because they had strong senses, including smell. It got worse the more there were around her, especially if she was near the C Rank.

Bradley waited tensely until he felt Mar touch down in the tower-top room nearby. She stepped next to him, her hand on his arm as she pushed him gently back toward the wall. "You should be meditating," she said very softly, knowing that his hearing was better than anyone else's.

Bradley stood a moment longer until the crippled lizard vanished, then let her lead him back to his spot and sat down beside her. He wouldn't be able to keep an eye on the enemy armies while trying to meditate, but that was why he had the lookouts up here. People with D Rank Perception that either couldn't or wouldn't fight but who still wanted to help in the defense.

Bradley couldn't sense far beyond the walls, not enough to monitor the enemy camps that way, but he could always feel the C Ranks and would know if they started to move. Defending against them was his only job for now.

Mar kept her hand on his, and Bradley again appreciated that his new evolution hadn't freaked her out. He had changed after waking up from it, his skin now noticeably harder, almost rock-like. But Mar didn't seem to mind that he was less human than before. He was also only Semi-Adaptable now, for whatever that was worth, and his race was technically [Child of Stone], though it was still tagged as human… Mar did get a kick out of him getting labeled as a child like her. Only Bradley's was his Race, while hers was a Class.

He managed to get back in the zone for a few minutes. "Blueheads incoming," someone said, and Bradley sighed right before the Magic started blasting holes in his wall.

The human casters returned fire where they could, but the C Rank on that side didn't care about killing D Ranks, which meant that any attack could potentially draw its attention and send the attacker into Stasis… The difference from the lizard was that the bluehead never came to him. It would stay at range and bombard the walls or just lob spells into the Fort to try and destroy buildings or Saira's crop. Bradley was forced to watch outside when it attacked and intercept any magic that went too close to Saira. As for the buildings and walls, those only required Mana and some small concentration to rebuff attacks or repair after the fact.

If Bradley went after the cowardly bluehead, it would retreat with teleports or into the sky with some flying spell. Those tactics wouldn't work forever, not against Bradley, not when they had a whole army for him to target…

Unfortunately, if he ever got the flying fucker on the ropes, then the lizard C Rank would attack the Fort in a significant push… aiming directly at Saira and Maria. It was infuriating. The bastards knew who their healers were, likely knew by now that the vanishing people needed healing, and so could always force Bradley to retreat. He couldn't risk both of them going into Stasis simultaneously, especially Saira.

The two groups were not allied, fortunately. Neither side wanted the other to get defeated, but at the same time, neither wanted the other to conquer the Fort either. So they were in a standoff… and Bradley had a bad feeling that both sides were just biding time to wait for reinforcements.

If it came to that before Saira ranked up, then the humans were doomed. Bradley knew that he could escape, could vanish into the earth, and the monsters couldn't stop him. But he couldn't leave Mar behind… and she would never leave without her mother… who also wouldn't abandon everyone else. But Bradley had a backup plan. He would just take everyone into the earth.

They would just have to abandon the Fort and find another place to start over…

Gabriel was the loudest opposition to that plan. He claimed that Lee was still here and they needed to hold the Fort until he came back. It wasn't earning him any popularity among the others, seeing as how he was the only one who could sense the Runes he claimed existed.

Alejandro backed his son in that regard but was also pragmatic about not sacrificing everyone for a maybe. Bradley also didn't dismiss the boy's claims. There was that one small patch of floor in Lee's apartment that he could not see or claim with his power… Something was there, and none of their attempts to dig or chip into the concrete ever made the slightest dent. Nevertheless, it had been a long time since Lee had vanished…

Gabriel was down there now, recharging collars for people that had either drained the charge by resisting grapples or had used the recall function to escape before being badly wounded. Bradley walked the line between getting people to actually do that on purpose and then being able to return to the fight and getting people to not teleport out at the first hint of danger.

They had other people who helped with the collar recharging, but Gabriel had an edge with his different Mana that let him handle much more before getting Mana Burn. Bradley suspected that most people in the Fort had at least one level of Mana Burn by now… at least the ones that weren't useless.

He'd been forced to threaten people to either step up and help or he would kick them out. Bradley was glad that no one had tested his threat… because he would have had to demand they remove the collar before leaving, and if they didn't, he would have had to kill them. Since that was the only way to remove the collar by force, just hit them with one good tap, let the Stasis drain the collar's charge, and take it from their corpse. Easy and simple…

"Bradley," Alejandro said, "we might have a problem…"

Bradley felt both enemy leaders start to move simultaneously, and his heart sank before he even stood up. He immediately grabbed the disc and thumbed the symbol to communicate with every other disc as soon as he glanced outside. "All hands go to ground! I repeat, all hands go to ground, Now!" This was it, time to test his backup plan.

The Lizard's reinforcements had arrived.

An effort of will moved the earth and opened the pits he'd tried to keep hidden from their enemies. Openings scattered all around the Fort. They all led into an underground room that would hold everyone, or at least he hoped so…

Outside he watched the new, even larger lizard army charging alongside the first, and both C Ranks were coming for him. He could feel it. Bradley didn't fear them. He could fight both, if necessary, but his people… even if he won, it would be nothing but a graveyard of his friends in the end.

Bradley pulled heavily from the Well, Mana running up through the stones to reach him. It arrived with an earthy flavor to it, but that didn't bother him. One perk of his Rank up was a much higher tolerance before it started turning him to stone. Outside, the lizard leader landed atop the wall ahead of his army and roared up at Bradley, ignoring the weaker humans around it. It was wearing the collar this time… "Damn it."

Everywhere in the Fort, people were running downstairs toward the pits, Saira's vines were yanking people from the walls, and a large swath of her jungle withered and died instantly. Emergency healing of the people in Stasis, Bradley guessed, but it wasn't going to be enough. People would get left behind… unless he could hold off two armies.

"Run, you idiots!" Bradley shouted at the people still in the tower as stone shrouded his form, and he tried to keep the terror from his voice. He could do this… it had to be done! "I'll…"

A vibration ran through everything… as if a great bell was tolling, yet with no sound… Then a smothering avalanche of power rolled over Bradley and left the world feeling strangely muffled. "Not another one," Bradley cursed at the power he could suddenly feel, somehow coming from inside the building below…

Except… it felt familiar… he knew this feeling from somewhere…

"Son of a bitch," Mar whispered, "he's back!"

~~~~

Lee

~~~~

Soul-Bonded Beast(Caffeine) Sacrificed -20 All Base Attributes.

+10 All Base Attributes

The message pinged… like a drop of water on the still surface of his Mind, casting out ripples that slowly faded… until stillness reigned again.

Soul-Bonded Beast(Caffeine) Sacrificed -40 All Base Attributes.

+20 All Base Attributes

Soul-Bonded Beast(Caffeine) Sacrificed -100 All Base Attributes.

+50 All Base Attributes

Soul-Bonded Beast(Caffeine) Sacrificed -200 All Base Attributes.

+100 All Base Attributes

Over and over, the silent timelessness was disturbed, and every time the ripples faded back into stillness.

Until…

You have Reached D Rank Threshold. Evolution Available. Begin? Y/N

It created a bigger splash in his mind and then began to fade as all the rest had… Only this time, the calm never fully returned. But he couldn't… understand.

Soul-Bonded Beast(Caffeine) Sacrificed -200 All Base Attributes.

+100 All Base Attributes Fortification

You have Reached D Rank Threshold. Evolution Available. Begin? Y/N

The second splash brought heat with it that wouldn't go away. Lee couldn't remember where he was or what was happening, but something about the message resonated within him. A voice whispering at the back of his mind, telling him that this was something he needed to react to. "Yes…"

Lee awoke, or rather, the frozen time he was wrapped in seemed to speed up, and his reality shifted to a new kind of darkness. A less smothering and oppressive dark, lit by two orbs of light that hovered before him.

His mind still felt extremely sluggish in this place, but now he knew what was happening. "Caff… you really are the best dog ever…" He didn't know how long it had taken or how many Attributes Caffeine had to collect for this, but based on the few messages that he could vaguely recall, it had to be a lot… Of course, all of that would have been for nothing if not for Three, who had done… something to save them. "Thank you, Three. I hope you didn't die because of this…" and he really hoped that one of the orbs before him would offer up a viable solution to this situation they were in.

[Runic Source of Power]

Burn Bright with Runic Magic. Obliterate All who Stand in your way. Burn All to Nothing. Create Runes of Everlasting Power.

You have Embraced your Class and Made it a Permanent Part of your Being.

You have Bound your Twin-Soul Fully and Irrevocably to a Source.

Take up the Power Sealed inside your Twin-Soul and Become a God as you Burn. Do as you Wish. Unstoppable to the End.

Traits: [Source] [Ruthless Undying Soul]

The first option was not quite what he had been hoping for… "Are we still too weak to wield the Source?" He turned to the next one, "Please don't be useless!"

[Slumbering Runic Source of Power]

Burn Bright with Runic Magic… When Necessary. Obliterate All Who Stand in Opposition… When they Refuse to Yield. Create Runes of Everlasting Power… Always.

You have Embraced your Class and Made it a Permanent Part of your Being.

You have Bound your Twin-Soul Fully and Irrevocably to a Source.

You have Survived as a Source of Power beyond when you should have been Destroyed.

You have Hidden yourself Away and Slept rather than Face your End.

You have Grown through an entire Rank Threshold through no Effort of your own.

You have managed to Still your Soul and with it, the Source Bound Within.

Hide away the Power in your Soul and Become a Slumbering God. Let All fear to Wake you from your Slumber, Lest they Burn with you.

Traits: [Slumbering Source] [Ruthless Undying Soul]

"I… fuck it. Better than the first option." He just really hoped it didn't mean he would actually be sleeping… but there were no other choices.

He chose, and reality stuttered back into frozen stillness, but this time pressure was building in the quiet place. It only built for an instant, or an eternity, then something broke, and the world returned with a bang.

The first thing Lee saw was the Runes below him, and only below him. An extremely complex and much more potent version of what he'd used to stop the collared people outside. It looked like a Stasis RuneScape but jacked up to eleven… and that was all he could see. Nothing else there of what used to be… Three… Other than the tiny patches of Runes that he couldn't recognize… "Three, are you…"

Then all of the Runes twisted and started to change. The pattern shifted into something that looked more familiar but contained symbols and combinations of symbols that he still didn't fully grasp. The new pattern spread in an explosion of power. Across the floor, up the walls, through the next room, and then the rooms above and below, spreading further and further.

"Three isn't dead! And I'm awake!" Lee smiled, but it faded almost instantly when he noticed Gabriel in the room with him and felt what the boy was feeling. Underneath the shocked joy and relief, the boy was in pain, afraid, near panic, and exhausted…

"What is going…" His [Mana Mind] expanded at the speed of thought, and more information poured into his mind. Lee absorbed it all… "Motherfuckers!"

Anger surged through him, and Lee reacted with the closest weapon at hand. He drove his mind against the monsters attacking their home, more specifically, at the Mana within the monsters. Mana that Lee claimed as his own to control.

The anger helped him focus past the disoriented confusion. Lee felt like he had dozed off during a battle and then woken up minutes later to find that it was still going, only with even more enemies than before. And to top it all off, it felt like he had dreamed an entire lifetime during his short nap…

The alien creatures on the walls were thrown back, lifted into the air, and smashed into the ground far below with enough force to break their bones. "Die, you Bastards!"

All of them were forced back from the walls and left broken in the dirt, all but one… a brilliant concentration of Mana and power that he couldn't see inside of, and one with two very familiar symbols glowing at its throat. Symbols that effortlessly brushed aside every attempt to restrain the monster. "You attack my people with one of My Creations!"

The monster was looking his way, and Lee could feel its attention zeroing in on his location. Then it jumped toward him, the wall shattering halfway to the ground below its feet as the alien soared into the sky above the Fort, arcing through the air on a direct trajectory toward Lee.

"No," Lee thought and pulled the Runes from the enemy's collar, "You do not get to use My creation against me. Not now, not ever." The Runes vanished from the collar, and the energy flowed back to Lee while the monster slammed to a stop in midair. Then Lee drove it back over the walls to join its fellows in the dirt. "You can Fuck right off!"

It struck headfirst, intentionally, and left a crater when it landed, but Lee could tell that it was barely even scratched… "Fine, then!"

Mana gathered from the air around the monster, and Lee's mind forged it into a brilliant spike of power, then slammed it into the creature's chest. The power dug in, past the opaque cover of its skin, and revealed the Mana within before stabbing deeper, reaching for the vibrant knot of Power Lee could see in the thing's center.

Lee knew that he could force a Rune into the monster and melt it down into a puddle or do countless other unpleasant things to it. But he could also feel the Source inside himself, still slumbering yet teetering on the edge of waking. He knew that a Rune would tip it over… and he knew that there would be a price to pay for that.

But it didn't matter. Lee didn't need to worry about the potential costs and risk damaging himself or Stanley, not to deal with this trash…

The monster thrashed violently in his mental grasp, and Mana flared from its Core, flashing and pulsing outward to activate Skills or abilities in a useless attempt to save itself. All of it was for nothing, though, because Lee was not fighting alone. A towering presence loomed behind him, a building composed of a beautiful and intricate tapestry of Magic.

Three was back!

Lee didn't know how it had seemingly rewritten itself into a Stasis RuneScape and then back again. But it had, and now Three was adding its own weight and power to Lee's attack.

Like an unstoppable and inexorable tidal wave, Three was somehow assisting him… The flood of Mana from the Well that came along with it didn't hurt either.

The spike of Mana drove through all of the monster's protections and slammed into its Core. Surprisingly and disappointingly, the Core held with only a tiny stuttering disruption in the smoothly spinning orb. More satisfying, though, was the Mana flows throughout its body going haywire as the creature collapsed, mostly limp with a few spastic twitches in its limbs.

Lee pulled back, adding more Mana to his impromptu attack, and aimed for its head. "We'll see how you like…"

A brilliant concentration of Mana speared through the sky above Three, plunging in like a bolt of lightning toward Lee.

It crashed through a few walls of Lee's [Mana Mind]'s creation and then shattered against a wall of Three's Runes, leaving not even a scratch behind on the building.

Lee had been mostly ignoring the other force assaulting his home. They were all staying at a distance and only attacking the walls with ranged spells. Weak ranged spells that Lee blocked effortlessly. Now he crushed these other aliens like he had the first group, driving them into the ground and breaking them against its unyielding surface.

It was the same crude attack, but this swarm of monsters felt physically weaker than the others, using ranged spells almost exclusively rather than charging the walls. To be fair, the section of wall they were targeting was severely damaged from the earlier bombardment.

Lee still didn't know what either group looked like, and he only knew that they were different species by the shape of the Mana filling their bodies, something that was easier to pick up on when he had such large groups of different creatures to compare.

But Lee didn't focus on that, merely noting it in passing. All of them were attacking his home, making them enemies. This second group was even more so because Lee could see the collared humans at the back of the army, wearing collars that hadn't been subverted yet… So he would crush them and grind their bones into the dirt!

All of them… except for the bubble of blazing power lurking among the weaklings, a sphere that Lee couldn't see into. It was a power that Lee now understood to be another C Rank like himself, akin to the one he'd just defeated that was now lying unmoving where he'd left it. Lee turned all of his focus from the defeated foe to the new threat that seemed far too eager to have his full attention. It got what it asked for.

Spikes of Mana formed around the sphere, even as its D Rank minions broke and shattered the earth with their bodies. Then the spikes hammered in from every direction, clashing against what had to be a shield of sorts, and once again, Three was there, looming behind Lee and adding its own weight to his attacks.

Lee wasn't sure whether Three was able to see that far out or if the building was piggybacking on his [Mana Mind] somehow. Either way, he welcomed the assistance as cracks and holes opened in the bubble. More spells flew from within the opaque sphere, none quite as strong as the first. They all broke apart against Lee's anger and focus.

This Fucker thought it could just stand out there and bombard his Fort? His Home! "Eat Shit and Die!"

Lee could see the entire Fort with [Mana Mind] now and more. He could see far beyond the walls, out into the surrounding countryside for… quite a ways. He was never very good at judging distance but figured that the increase was just part of Ranking up, his evolution, or both. The most surprising part of it all, though, was that he was not overwhelmed by the tsunami of information pouring into his head…

Lee knew where every person was in the Fort. He could feel Bradley's Mana running through every building other than Three, including the walls. He saw the tower Bradley had built atop Three, thick with his Mana, and saw Three growing up through that tower, claiming it away from Bradley.

Lee saw the jungle that filled the previously open spaces between the buildings and saw the people inside the jungle, including Saira. Her Mana permeated everyone and everything down there as she worked on healing the wounded at the cost of her plants. There was a centaur in the jungle… Lee ignored it for now.

He saw the terrified people scurrying through the other apartment buildings, far too many of them frozen in stasis bubbles, while their bodies showed the deadly wounds that had put them there…

On the one hand, Lee was glad to see that his creations were working as promised. But on the other hand, there were a lot of people waiting for healing… he could also see the links running from his own collar out to every other collar within the Fort, reinforcing and recharging all of them, which meant that they had plenty of time to heal all of the dying people.

The shield around the C Rank spellcaster broke, and Lee was on the creature within the same instant. His mental Mana constructs were not slowed by this one's flesh, punching through like it wasn't there and hammering into its Core and brain simultaneously.

The bastard went down hard, but it wasn't dead…

Even though he could throw them around by their own internal Mana, especially the lower Ranks, it seemed that his own [Mana Mind] constructs couldn't actually kill the C Ranks… even when he stabbed into their flesh, it wasn't breaking the skin, only passing through. A disappointment, to be sure, but nothing that couldn't be solved with a little more violence from something or someone else. Lee's attacks did affect the Mana inside the monsters, and whatever damage that was doing seemed to at least take them out of the fight.

Bradley was the only other C Rank in the Fort… Lee didn't like that. Not that he didn't want Bradley to be stronger, but why weren't there more of them? If Caffeine could farm enough Cores for him and his twin, then surely that must have taken long enough that more people should be C Rank.

Lee could feel his brother this whole time and finally focused on him. Stanley was awake and still far away, but calm… mostly. He felt… happy but focused on something.

"Lee!" Lee opened his eyes and sat bolt upright as someone shouted his name. It was Gabriel, the young man staring at him wide-eyed and looking older than Lee remembered. "Uncle Lee?" Gabriel said again, this time with a questioning tone in his voice.

"Y… yea," Lee's throat felt a bit dry, and he tried to work up some saliva but was distracted by the information still flooding in from his [Mana Mind].

"Lee!" Gabriel tackled him and almost sent him onto his back, but Lee caught the crying boy in his arms. "I knew you were alive!"

Lee took a deep breath as the pressing urgency faded under the suddenly calmer environment and released Gabriel as the boy pulled back from the hug. He watched Lee with a strange look in his eyes.

"Did you kill them all?" Gabriel asked, and Lee was taken aback at the bloodthirsty tone in his voice.

"No," Lee said slowly, "not yet." He was also watching the enslaved humans and wondering why they hadn't been freed yet… It took a few moments before Lee could find the effects of his collar in the vast area of his [Mana Mind]. An effect that didn't quite reach far enough.

A glance at his more immediate surroundings gave Lee a solution.

Gabriel's Runes stood out in his [Mana Mind] as bright spots scattered around the Fort. Lee knew what the symbols meant, so it was easy enough to find the communication disc on the table nearby. It was surrounded by more of Lee's collars… in fact, there were too many collars in the Fort by far. Also, he was pretty sure that there were a lot more people here than he remembered…

The disc slapped into Lee's hand, courtesy of [Mana Mind], and he tapped the symbol he could see on Bradley's matching disc high above them. "Bradley!"

He saw the man flinch at his voice and pick up the disc. "Lee?"

"Yes, I'm back. There are collared humans to the west…"

"I know, the Blueheads…"

"Go get them," Lee demanded, "and bring them back. Tell Alejandro…" Lee trailed off as the man in question was already sprinting down the tower at the first sound of his voice, "...get those humans, Bradley."

Interim Commander (Alejandro Morales) has Relinquished the Rank of Fort Commander to you with No Contest.

(Lee Cascade) has Assumed the Rank of Fort Commander.

"I… Yes, Commander!" Bradley saluted and immediately launched through the side of the tower with only a ripple from the stones in his path. Mar followed Bradley an instant later, but through a window rather than going through the rock. Lee could see the Runes in her shoes pulsing intermittently as she sprinted smoothly through the air. She had gotten really good at that…

A dozen other people on the walls jumped over the side and took up running after Bradley once he passed overhead.

With that well in hand and their progress easily monitored, Lee refocused on his immediate surroundings. "Gabriel," Lee held up the disc, "nice work with these. I'm glad you were able to keep things running without me…" The young man before him was a tumultuous riot of different emotions, and Lee was unsure what to make of it or even what to say.

"I couldn't make anything like yours," Gabriel said, and Lee could pick out the self-recrimination in his Soul. In fact, he could feel a lot more from everyone's Souls… Either his [Soul Awareness] had gotten stronger, or the Evolution had made it easier to process the information.

"About that…" Lee had a bad feeling about his future Runic endeavors. "I might need you to…"

Alejandro crashed through the door and slid to a stop as Lee turned to face him. "Lee…"

"Alejandro," Lee said cautiously. He was a bit nervous and felt guilty about what he had done to the man. Alejandro was one of the weakest people in the entire Fort that Lee could see, and his body looked… weird. He might hate Lee for what had been…

"Brother!" Alejandro barely paused before continuing forward to collide with Lee and wrap him up in a hug. "You're alive! Gabe, he's alive! You were right!" Alejandro spun them around, dragging Gabriel into the embrace as he went, and Lee felt the joy from both of them as a soothing balm against his Soul.

"This is wonderful!" Alejandro finally stopped and held Lee at arm's length, "You look so young!"

"I do?" Lee glanced at one of his hands and gaped. It was smooth, unwrinkled, and very young looking. He'd almost forgotten what…

"Come see!" Alejandro dragged all of them to the bathroom mirror, and Lee stared in shock and a surprising amount of relief. His hair was still all white, but he was himself again! No longer a frail old man.

"You look so different," Gabriel said as they all stood in the reflection.

"I do…" Lee smiled, and then his reflection frowned as he saw one of the defeated C Ranks stirring in the distance.

It was the first one he'd dealt with, and it now sat up on its knees. Lee prepared to put it down again, and the creature shouted something. He couldn't hear its voice, but he saw the Mana stirring and vibrating in the air coming from its open mouth.

The army of similarly shaped creatures around it was getting to their feet and continuing toward the Fort, the ones that could at least. But on hearing whatever it said, they stopped advancing and instead began moving away.

Lee wasn't worried about the trash mobs. He was pretty sure that he could rip them apart by the Mana inside of their bodies if he wanted to or just smash them against the ground until they were gooey. Letting them run away, on the other hand, was not something he would allow. There would be no escape for any of them today.

However, before he could begin the destruction, the furthest away of the creatures sat down, quickly followed by more of them. They were retreating, but not far enough to escape him. Meanwhile, the leader remained in place… "What the hell are they doing?"

Lee didn't realize he'd spoken his thoughts aloud until Alejandro responded. "Are they attacking again? Do we need to…"

Lee held up a hand to stop him. "They aren't attacking… they are just sitting there." Some even dragged the more injured with them as they pulled back from the leader. Lee saw small flashes of magic being cast and could deduce quickly enough that it was healing magic. He didn't like that.

Lee latched onto one of the healers and, as he suspected, easily shattered its limbs…

The leader jumped to its feet, mouth wide, roaring, he suspected and took a step forward as it pounded fists against its chest.

Lee dropped the healer and smashed the leader back into the dirt. He poured every ounce of his Will against the thing's head, trying to crush its skull into paste, and failed. It must have hurt, though, because the monster spent the entire time clawing at its head and thrashing on the ground.

When Lee gave up on the skull-crushing and prepared to instead spike it in the head and Core like he had the other… The leader sat up. That was it. It sat up and then just stayed there… and its Soul felt… pleased.

"What the fuck…" Lee hesitated as it spoke again, still unheard by him, and the healers all stopped their work. Except one who roared at the sky and then patched up a heavily bleeding wound on another's head. Then it stood there, anticipation and acceptance coming from its Soul… It was waiting for him to break it like he had the other and had accepted it to save the dying one.

These were monsters, but why could he sense those feelings from their Souls? They cared for each other… Their Souls felt no different than humans. Only the Mana told him otherwise.

Yet how many humans had they killed? Technically, they shouldn't have been able to kill any… but how many had they tried to kill? He should kill them all!

Lee's anger at waking up to another nightmare of violent conflict after what felt like only hours since dealing with the last battle, was still burning hot within him as he considered what was before him.

He was distracted from his confusing moral position by Bradley arriving at the captives on the far side of the Fort. Lee watched the Runes on Bradley's collar steadily lose power, saw the energy running from them and out to seemingly hover around the slave collars, and then the drain stopped.

It was good to see that the collars wouldn't drain down completely, but this would take too long. Lee tapped the communication disc, "Bradley, just drag them all closer." Lee was sure he could send Mana to the collars, but why bother?

Mana surged from Bradley, and a wide swath of earth moved. It carried all of the captives smoothly and rapidly toward the Fort. Lee could see it when they crossed into the range of his own collar. Pulses of Soul and Mana shot from him, like lightning bolts or laser beams, to each collar the moment they entered range. Bright Runes appeared after each pulse, and emotions surged from the Souls of the former captives in a riot of… everything.

It was a lot…

Lee pulled enough of his focus away from that to concentrate and marched out of the bathroom. There would be time enough to admire his restored youth later. "Alejandro," Lee asked him, "how long was I out, and what the hell happened?"

"It's been six months!" Gabriel chimed in, and Alejandro nodded.

"About that long, as for the rest… It's a long story."

"Tell me, and why is Bradley the only C Rank?" Lee demanded angrily, then looked at his status and hesitated. "That's why… Damn, Caff, how did you pull that off?"

"It was a miscalculation, I agree," Alejandro said, "we should have focused our efforts more narrowly instead of letting everyone improve slowly, but you know how people are… Anyways, everything went rather well up until about three months ago. Then we found the first bluehead encampment…"

Lee listened to the story and went over his Notifications in the meantime, even as he watched the enemies and allies alike, inside and outside the walls.

There were a lot of messages related to Caffeine… He'd started out giving single attributes and overtime worked up to the hundreds. "I'll have a feast ready for you, Caff, and all the belly rubs you can handle."

He went past all that, back to the day they almost died, and felt a chill. It all felt more real at this distance. Death. They had come so close… so many times. Lee had been ready to accept it, caught up in the moment, his body scorched by pain so horrific that it made him flinch simply from the recalling.

Yet they had lived. They would live! "I don't want to die!" The thought sent a visceral surge of emotion through him, and his whole body shook.

"...found the second bluehead base…" Alejandro must have noticed because he trailed off and came in for another hug.

Lee accepted the embrace as tears spilled from his eyes. "I want to live…"

"I know, mi Hermano, I know." Alejandro held him and didn't say anything else.

Gabriel joined the hug, and they stayed there until Lee noticed something happening outside.

He tapped the disc, "Bradley."

The man paused, his rocky foot raised above the unconscious leader… blueheads he'd called them? His foot moved back from the bluehead's… head, and Lee saw him lift his own disc. "What… uh, yes? Commander?"

"The other leader is acting weird," Lee said into the disc and explained what he'd observed.

"The lizard is odd," Bradley said, "my best guess is that it doesn't want you to slaughter its soldiers…" He went on to detail his interactions with the monster.

"Bring it to me," Lee ordered.

"What? Bring it where? Can't we just kill it?" Bradley was looking at the bluehead on the ground in front of him and radiating murderous intent.

"I want that one alive as well," Lee told him, "bring both of them to me." And felt the expected objection from Bradley's Soul. "I need information," Lee clarified, "we've been flying blind for too long, and I won't feel bad if I have to torture these fucks to get what I want."

Bradley liked that idea, leaving Lee wondering what else he'd missed.

"I don't care if they get hurt," Lee added, "so long as they can talk when they get to me."

"Great!" Bradley liked that and immediately kicked the bluehead in the gut, sending it sailing and then tumbling across the ground toward the lizards on the other side of the Fort. "What about the rest of them?" Bradley waved a hand generally toward the fallen army of blueheads. Some were dead from Lee's earlier attack, but most were still alive, though wounded.

"Leave 'em for now," Lee said, "I'm watching them. If they start getting uppity, I'll kill them. Might need some bargaining chips…"

"Alejandro," Lee ignored the questions on the man's face, "catch me up."

He continued the story, and Lee went back to his Notifications. Scattered among the Caffeine Notifications were a lot of messages about Three, namely…

-1 Twin-Soul(Two Becomes Three)

(Not Effected by Trait: [Ruthless Undying Soul])

That led him to look up said Trait.

Trait: [Ruthless Undying Soul]

You are Willing to do Whatever it takes to Win, Including Destroying your Own Soul. You have Fought Unrelenting against everything that would End you. This Refusal to Surrender has Permeated your Twin-Soul and Become a Core Concept of your Existence.

After Inflicting a Deadly Wound on your Own Soul, you Did Not Die and instead Repaired the Damage.

You have Wielded Your Soul as a Weapon Against Death and Prevailed.

Effects:

Twin-Soul is +50% more Resistant to Any Damage

So long as a Single Spark of your Twin-Soul Survives, All Damage to Twin-Soul Will Regenerate Over-Time(Regeneration Speed Dependant on Total Damage Received)

+50% of Twin-Soul Attribute added to Effectiveness of All Mind Attributes

(Risk of damaging or destroying your Soul increases with the power used)

And that explained the messages concerning Three, as well as the other ones that also filled the gap while they'd been sleeping.

+1 Twin-Soul[Ruthless Undying Soul]

There were a lot of those… Lee didn't bother trying to follow the numbers. He didn't know if Three had been able to use the extra Soul while they were in Stasis, but he was pretty sure that it was using it now… Three had claimed the entire building now, including the tower extending high overhead. "I finally have a wizard tower!" Lee tried to cheer himself up, but he was still feeling a bit… off. He would have Bradley add some stone for Three to expand further… A new patch of stone, thick with Three's Runes, crept out from the garage.

"Hold off on that, Three?" Lee asked, not really expecting a response, but Three still stopped growing! "I want you to grow, Three," Lee thought at the building, "but not yet. Save your strength for now." He wanted Three to be at full power for the upcoming… interrogation. In the meantime…

Class Level Up. Adept Threshold Reached. Upgrade to Master Available. Evolution Available. Proceed? Y/N

Lee accepted.

Upgrade:

[Runic(Master I)](Legendary)

You have Touched upon the True Power of your Class and taken your first step onto the path of a Master Runic.

Effects:

+10% Rune Strength Per Class Level

+10% Liquid Mana Pool Per Class Level

+10% Ease in Instilling Desired Concepts into All Runes Per Class Level

Evolution:

[Creator Runic(Initiate I)](Unique)

A Unique Evolution Option.

You have Pushed your Class Beyond the Limits of What Was Known.

The Progenitor of Your Class has Heard your Name and Suggested a New Path. Tread this Path with Care.

You have the Title: [Legend]

You have the Trait: [Ruthless Undying Soul]

You have Created a True Living Artifact.

You have Created an Artifact that is Capable of Perpetual Growth and Propagation.

Effects:

Unique Trait: [Everlasting Runes]

+15% Rune Strength Per Class Level

+15% Liquid Mana Pool Per Class Level

+15% Ease in Instilling Desired Concepts into All Runes Per Class Level

Lee stopped listening to Alejandro. "What the hell? Heard my name…" It sounded good, but what did that mean? He focused on the only thing he didn't recognize, hoping for at least a clue…

Title: [Legend]

Tales of the Runic Class had faded to Myth and Legend, their existence known only to a few. But now word of your existence has spread beyond your world…

Your Creation [Absolute Freedom] has Propagated Itself off world and Draws Attention from the Multiverse, for good or ill.

Some are Pleased with what you have done. Others have sworn to destroy you…

With Great Power, Comes Great Costs. Beware!

Effects Bestowed by Interested Parties:

+10% Effectiveness of All Attributes

-5% Effectiveness of All Attributes

+10% Twin-Soul Strength

-0% Twin-Soul Strength(Refused by Soul-Bonded Beast [Caffeine])

+100% Liquid Mana Pool

-150% Liquid Mana Pool

"Fuck me…" Lee whispered his thoughts aloud and then accepted the Class Evolution. It was better… and he might need every last drop of help he could get.

Evolution Accepted. New Class: [Creator Runic(Initiate I)](Unique)

Interrogating the aliens also sounded like an even better idea than it had. Alejandro and Gabriel were worried, so Lee… hesitated. Telling them the truth wouldn't make them feel better. But he did anyway. They were in this together, both of them bound to him, one by Apprenticeship and the other because Lee had bound the man's Soul… into a golem.

"I'm sorry, Alejandro," Lee said to him as they both digested the news about his Title and, as expected, were not happy. "I forced you into what you are now. I just didn't have time to…"

"It was not forced," Alejandro interrupted and tapped his collar, "this thing made me choose, and I chose to live!" He grabbed Lee's shoulders and stared into his eyes with unwavering intensity. "I chose this life, and I would choose it a million times over to stay with my family! Thank you for giving me the chance!" Then he burst into tears and dragged Lee into another hug.

Lee was gratified to hear it and let the man squeeze him and pound him on the back until it went on too long. "Okay, okay!" Lee pushed Alejandro back off him and was shocked at how easily he did it. The tables had turned, and now he was the physically stronger one…

Alejandro noticed and chuckled as he wiped his eyes. "I am grateful, Lee, but I am hoping you know a way to make me stronger?"

Lee nodded slowly as he took a closer look at Alejandro's body. "I didn't… but after seeing what you started…?" He got a nod from Alejandro as the man flexed one arm. "I think I can help, but hold that thought."

"Bradley, I forgot to ask. The blueheads and lizards can talk, right?"

Bradley kicked the bluehead again as he strolled toward the lizard army. His punching ball had some broken bones but was clearly still alive, as evidenced by the spell it lashed out with at Bradley.

The magic chipped at the stone covering the man but did no more. Lee still punched some Mana spikes into its Core and head, mostly to shut up its screeching… "Aw…" Bradley said, "I liked when it screamed…" Mar was strolling near Bradley, and Lee could tell she was itching to stab the monster as she chuckled. "And yes, the blueheads can talk, at least. As for the lizards, probably? Just get Trak's amulet."

"Right…" Lee could see Trak. The Anubi was right outside his apartment and groveling for some reason… His Soul was a confusing mix of happy, afraid, and guilty. But that could wait a minute. "Alejandro, just give me the highlights. Anything specific that you think I should know?"

"No… you'll probably learn more from the… monsters. We should have tried interrogating before, but the blueheads were always kinda… fanatical."

"Great," Lee muttered, "fanatics." Bradley didn't seem to be in a hurry, his Soul hovering around relieved and happy, even as exhaustion failed to dampen his mood. Lee couldn't blame him. He had felt the man's fear earlier…

While he waited…

Trait: [Everlasting Runes]

Every piece of your Twin-Soul, no matter how small, contains a spark of the Undying. This will carry over into every Rune that you Create.

Any Rune that is not Forcibly and Utterly Destroyed, or Removed by you, will Endure Forever.

It may take time for Damaged or Drained Runes to regain full power, but they Always Will.

"Good." He just worried about what the 'costs' would be for this power…

Skill [Rune Creation] and [RuneScape Creation] have been combined and Evolved into [Rune Manifestation].

[Rune Manifestation(Initiate II)](Legendary)(Source)

You have Repeatedly Reached beyond your Limits to Create Wonders. Continue.

You No Longer Require a Suitable Material to Place a Rune. Your Soul is Enough.

Rune Soul Capacity Requirements Increased Greatly depending on Material or Lack Thereof.

Effects:

-5% Soul Requirements Per Skill Level

+5% Rune Strength Per Skill Level

+5% Rune Source Capacity Per Skill Level

-5% Liquid Mana Cost Per Skill Level

And there was one cost at least. His Everlasting, super duper Runes now Required the Source… but he was alive. Everything else could be solved, eventually.

Lee looked over his status as Bradley stopped before the lizard leader. It stood without fuss and walked ahead of Bradley toward the Fort… "Let's do this."

Status

Name: Lee Cascade

Race: [Slumbering Runic Source of Power(Human)](C Rank)

Titles:

[First Time?] [War is Hell] [Legend]

Traits:

[Slumbering Source] [Mana Flesh and Blood] [This Is The Way] [Minor Lord] [Ruthless Undying Soul] [We Are Three] [Everlasting Runes]

Class: [Creator Runic(Initiate I)](Unique)

Apprentice: 1/1 (Gabriel Morales)

Class Skills:

[Rune Compression(Apprentice IV)](Rare)

[Rune Manifestation(Initiate II)](Legendary)(Source)

[Rune Storage Library(Initiate V)](Epic)

[Soul Reinforcement(Apprentice II)](Epic)

Attributes:

Strength: 1000

Vitality: 1000

Dexterity 1000

Perception 1000

Intelligence 1000

Willpower 1000

Twin-Soul 632

Non-Class Skills:

[Soul Awareness(Journeyman V)](Rare)

[Create Rune Disc(Journeyman II)](Rare)

[Source Regeneration](Legendary)(Passive)

[Venom Resistance I](Common)(Passive)

[Twin-Soul Mental Fortress(Adept VI)](Unique)(Passive)

[Liquid Mana Beam(Apprentice V)](Epic)

[Mana Mind(Journeyman II)](Epic)(Passive)

[Mana Mind's Eye(Initiate V)](Epic)

Buffs:

[Soul Support Tether]

[Absolute Freedom]

Debuffs:

[Famished]

[Dehydrated]