Mask of Humanity

He opted to do the looting himself, sparing Jo and Beth from the grisly task as he picked over the messy corpses. He found several weapons, all the types you could get from the F Tier human tech Market; presumably this group were either Chosen deserters or had looted all this from the Chosen at some point. There were also Oma crystals and some points tags. All in all a decent haul, though there were no Imbued. He also found dead Seeds, some quite advanced, though none of these people had been Cultivators. The Seeds were very good to have, now. Someone had worked out a method to bring a dead Seed back to life, and make it your own, so long as the Seed hadn’t been dead too long.

It took quite a few Oma crystals to resurrect and seize control over a Seed like this, but it was possible in principle and the method was spreading. He’d learned about it from some of their recent trades, buying the information (at a steep cost) of how to do the method from another group, a bunch of Chosen defectors who claimed it was some scientist in the Chosen had first discovered it.

Now, he intended to sell the method on, alongside selling the dead Seeds they collected. He didn’t want the others to make use of this method when instead he could use completion of their Seed as a way to motivate them to go into the prison and gather crystals for him. Plus, the Seeds had become highly valuable since the method’s discovery. Any who had lost their Seed would be willing to pay a hefty price for a new one.

He kept the points-tags, crystals and Seeds in his pockets, and dumped the weapons and ammo into a synthetic sack. As he returned he saw the girls questioning Maric.

‘So… what’s it like, being a skeleton?’ asked Beth.

Maric let out a rattling sigh. ‘Bad at first. I used to greatly miss food, and drink, and… other pleasures. But its been so long, now, I barely think on such matters.’ The skeleton turned to Nicolai as he approached. ‘May I see the keys?’ Maric asked, extending its bony hand.

‘Here,’ said Nicolai, handing them over.

The skeleton looked them over and its eyes flared. ‘Yes,’ it murmured. ‘Perfect. These will get us all the way to the top.’

‘What about the keys these others had?’

‘They were only enough to reach this floor. They were trying to work out a way through that, with no keys they thought they might be able to destroy it.’ Maric gestured to a heavy, closed door then, started towards it.

Nicolai quickly caught up, blocking Maric and extending a meaningful hand, eyes on the keys.

‘Ah.’ The skeleton looked between him and the keys, clearly wishing to keep them, but after a moment it handed them back.

This current level of the library didn’t seem to have any guard-poles, but regardless Nicolai had Maric hand over more of the library access tokens to Jo and Beth before unlocking the door and preceding upwards.

As they went the library shifted, becoming increasingly grand and opulent. There were no guardians all the way up, surprising Nicolai. Maric said they’d probably been sent elsewhere over the years. The rooms grew smaller and the numbers of shelves dwindled until, reaching the top floor, they found no more shelves, only podiums with singular books resting.

This was not the end of the library, Maric told them, gesturing to a grand door set into the wall on one side of the room, and it said the keys wouldn’t help them get inside.

But the skeleton moved straight to this door, and there it tugged out a different library permit, one it hadn’t shown Nicolai, and raised it high. This one was formed of golden metal, and it shimmered as the skeleton lifted it.

The door let out a clunk, and began to swing open.

The room which was revealed was a large circular area, with expansive cubbies carved into the walls around it, each one containing a podium and a book, guarded by shimmering shields of lights that blocked off the cubbies.

In the very centre there stood a tall undead wearing dark, ragged robes, a large book held in one hand, looking away from them.

The undead turned, revealing a rotted face with blue glowing eye-holes that peered down contemptuously. Those eyes settled onto Maric.

‘You,’ it hissed, and mist began to flow from under its robes. Nicolai felt ripples in the Aura around him as it activated Imbued or Symbiotes or something.

‘Kill it!’ screamed Maric, turning and running.

Nicolai was already charging his Blue Hornet as he levelled his shotgun and fired, a rapid drumming. Buckshot smashed into the undead but some kind of shield flickered over its body, deflecting the pellets, but Nicolai saw how already the shield was cracking. It let out a hiss then an amulet around its neck flashed with eerie light and it transformed into a mass of mist that collapsed towards the floor. While the mist poured over the stone the book floated into the air, opening up, an orange energy shimmering over its pages.

The mist grew, and the mass of it came towards him. The thrill roared within and he laughed because this was right, this was the fight he’d been looking for.

The book spun and with a snap a piece of paper detached and shot towards him. He activated his shield, raising it before him, and the paper slapped by and left a great scar in it. The missile had almost gone through, which told him that if the paper hit his body he wouldn’t fare well. Jo and Beth fired at the mist but accomplished nothing.

He could feel the undead’s Soul Sense, coming into range. It was powerful. Stronger than him.

More paper came with it, and the thrill rushed through Nicolai as he danced between them, bobbing like a snake, shield-arm snapping side to side. His Node’s Oma was rapidly depleting, fuel to restore the damage his shield sustained. Then the undead’s Souls Sense was on him, crushing.

Nicolai’s spiritual defence was a perfect Loose Guard, but perfect was not enough. The undead’s Soul Sense was a level above, and it swamped his own which creaked. The mist was all around him now and the undead reformed, grabbing for him while he was distracted by the Soul Sense attack.

But Nicolai was not caught unprepared, he was ready, expecting it. The shotgun met its lunge in a full-auto snarl that knocked it tumbling backwards and sent cracks through its shield. He advanced, implacable, the shotgun a beast of fire and metal he harnessed, but the undead’s amulet flashed and it faded into mist once more.

A piece of paper caught him, slicing through the reinforcement over his shin and carving a burning line of pain through the flesh of his calf then out the other side. A deep cut that would’ve bled badly, but he still had the Blood Bite ring and it activated with little effort from him, slowing the pouring of his blood.

He tumbled away like leaves in the wind as the paper missiles carved a line behind him. He took aim at the book and the undead seized on the chance, reforming and rushing at his back. Nicolai kept moving even as the wound in his leg burned, outpacing it and firing at the book which began spinning left and right, evasive, and for a moment not firing paper at him. The undead’s Soul Sense descended on him from behind like a hammer.

He tried to absorb its crushing blow with the Loose Guard again but his Soul Sense was already strained and when the hit landed it broke, sending a spike of pain through his skull. He spun around to see the undead disappear into mist. He felt Aura ripples, but with his Soul Sense broken was unable to determine where they came from.

There was no sounds or other warning, but on some level Nicolai felt it anyway, a sense of danger from behind. He spun in place to see it already there and lunging, hand lancing out at him. He twisted but couldn’t twist fast enough and it grabbed him around the upper arm, and its touch infected him with a terrible cold, pressing and burning through his flesh, the pain seeking to overwhelm him. There was something spiritual in that pain, something that dug into his Soul. But Nicolai was long accustomed to pain and he broke the undead’s grip, raising the shotgun and blasting it.

The undead’s amulet flashed and it faded away, leaving him with his left arm limp, barely able to move it. The pain had faded to a complete numbness. He had to drop his shotgun to hang on its strap as he used his right arm to lift his left and get his shield between him and the book which was aiming at him again. His movements were slowed by it all and his shield turned into a chewed up mess as the paper missiles sliced at it.

The world slowed, his focus intensifying as he bent his body out the way of the ones that made it through the gaps, sharp missiles that’d go right through him, missing him by inches. His Soul Sense was struggling to recover. The touch of the undead had done something to his Soul, there was a dark stain on his spiritual arm, disrupting his Oma and slowing the recovery of his Soul Sense.

He noted Jo and Beth were uncertain about what to do, aiming in his direction but unable to fire due to how close the undead was appearing to him. They didn’t appear to realise the book was his main issue, as it was out of their sight.

‘Shoot the book!’ he told them, indicating its location via Link, and was gladdened to see them snap into action as they moved to bring it into their view and started firing. One shot landed and a spray of torn paper burst out from it while it was set spinning, then it veered madly through the air at great speed, making itself extremely hard to hit. That was fine in his book; it was no longer throwing razor sharp paper at him.

The moment Nicolai’s Soul Sense was recovered enough to re-emerge he found himself under attack by constant weak, probing attacks from the undead, attacks that worked to disrupt him while he tried to form his Soul Sense into a protective sphere. It was difficult for him to properly sense what was around him with his Soul Sense as a result. But, he had noticed something the last time it reformed from the mist. A tiny ripple in the Aura. He grit his teeth as he worked to firm his defence, forming the sphere, and immediately set it somewhere between Loose and Long. It could be quickly switched into either for defence, and also allowed him to better feel what was around him with the looser, mobile dispersion.

He was just in time. Behind him, he felt it, the ripple. Through his drones he saw Jo and Beth shooting at the book which was unable to fire at him as a result.

Nicolai was already pivoting, shotgun raised, as it appeared. The AA-12 vibrated in his grasp as he sprayed rounds at the rushing undead, the bullets smashing into it, the shield over its body cracking and snapping, then with a crash it all burst apart and it was left unprotected. At the same moment, the AA-12 clicked dry, its thirty-two round magazine spent.

He dropped it and immediately pulled the sawn-off shotgun, snapping it up. As he raised the gun the undead darted to the side, but it wasn’t fast enough. It couldn’t be, because he wasn’t reacting to its movement. He’d predicted it. The first blast caught the side of its head, the next its neck, then it collapsed forwards and transformed into mist before he could drop the sawn-off and bring the pistol to bear, limited by his one usable arm.

Nicolai could feel the undead as it swam through the mist, tracking it by the ripples it left behind, which he was growing better at spotting. It was heading towards Jo and Beth, who were still taking shots at the book. He could just about feel at its thoughts through his Soul Sense. He’d injured it, but it still felt it could turn this around.

Electricity surged over his body. The Blue Hornet was ready.

He loped forwards and threw himself, clutched for the centre of the mist the undead was contained in, and released the Blue Hornet’s pent up energies. Lightning exploded through the mist, and for a moment the shape of the undead was revealed as it spasmed in response. At the same time he hit it a heavy, slicing blow with his Soul Sense, and Jo and Beth quickly joined in with their own.

The mist rippled and the undead was forced back into physical form, appearing cringing, an arm extended towards Beth, too far to reach. Nicolai drew his pistol and fired at it while Beth and Jo did the same, but a ring flared with golden light on one of its skeletal fingers and a golden shield snapped into life around it, deflecting the shots.

For a moment Nicolai thought the undead would fight, but then the book zipped over their heads while the undead turned and ran towards the exit. Jo shot at the book but it spun side to side like a fish in a river. Beth darted after the undead, trying to catch at its shield with the Crawling Fire that leapt from her hand toward it, but it slipped away into the doorway, down the stairwell. Retreating into the library. The mist poured out of the room after it.

Nicolai, lacking any easy methods to stop the undead, simply let it go. He was here for a purpose and now the undead was out of the way, he could get to work. If the undead returned and sought to ambush them, he’d kill it or send it packing again. In fact, he was hoping it would return.

The undead had numerous powerful Imbued items on its person and he wanted them. If it didn’t come back, then once they were done here he’d see about hunting it down. At the very least, he felt it likely they’d forced it to use a limited, one-time use item when it had formed that powerful golden shield. Otherwise, it would have utilised it from the start. With that out the way it would be easier to bring down.

‘That thing’ll be back,’ muttered Beth.

‘And we’ll be ready for its return,’ Nicolai said. ‘Jo, keep an eye on the door, watch for it. Beth, with me. Maric… come over here.’ Nicolai turned his head with the last words, glancing at the undead which was emerging from between the shelves. It gave a guilty start, perhaps wondering if he’d lambaste it for running. He didn’t care about that, but he was annoyed it had opened the door without waiting for him. However, he saw little value to be gained from saying so or attempting to punish it. At least, not while they still had things to do.

They headed into the final room.