Chapter 291: The most desperate measure (Patreon)

My Imaginary stomach sinks as Yog expertly uses a mix of regular and Inverse Gravitational Energy to smoothly float himself and Dave up to the top of the cavern, while Alec only just resurfaces in the lake below.

Damnit, he’s getting away!

I quickly spin up some Inverse Spatial Energy, but find it impossible to warp to a spot near Dave, as the area is full of Gravitational Energy.

My panic rises as Yog approaches the spout and the powerful flow of Hydrum easily parts before him

“Emma,” Kaitlynn’s voice hurriedly calls out to me. “Working on a payload here, take care of the delivery?”

My attention falls on the growing ball of Astreum hanging in front of her, right before it starts to rapidly compress, growing hotter and denser until it starts to give off a white light.

While Rowan’s signature technique has been one of Kaitlynn’s main focuses the past two weeks, Loudmouth still views it with suspicion, going cross-eyed and appearing to hold his breath as the ball of energy right above his forehead starts to hum with increasing intensity.

Having witnessed her practice sessions, I can’t say I blame him. Kaitlynn manages to avoid a catastrophic failure, however, and the sphere quickly starts to stabilise.

I rack my mind about where to send it, weighing Dave’s safety against the very real possibility of Yog taking him away, and quickly reach a conclusion.

Sorry, Dave.

A swirling, dark-blue portal opens in front of Kaitlynn, to serve as a visual target. Due to Yog’s interference, I’m forced to open the other end of the warp tunnel a little lower than I like, but I’ve little choice.

“Now!” I call out to her.

She launches the dense projectile with a flash of yellow Kinetic Energy. It pops out the other side nigh-instantly, lighting up the cavern with its glare as it shoots up... nowhere near Yog.

Dave glances over, face impassive as it flies up under the massive Hoig head and smashes into the stone.

“You missed!” Yog calls out teasingly as he shores up his gravity field in preparation for the blast. However, he comes to a halt when there’s an unexpected delay, as the ball of dense Astreum bores into the rock.

A flash of white lights up the cavern as the blast finally erupts, and the entire stone façade bursts apart, sending rocks and Hydrum flying everywhere.

Yog pulls Dave back from the epicentre, for once left without a clever retort as a significant portion of the wall in front of him comes crashing down, the rocks tumbling towards the lake, falling in unexpected directions due to the various fields of gravity in play.

Jacob launches himself out of the Hydrum with a flash of yellow, and starts running up the pillar, while Kaitlynn pulls Loudmouth out with gravity and envelops him once more in a sphere of Astreum, from which jets blast down onto the surface of the lake, sending them hurtling up.

I, however, keep Alec in the Hydrum for a little longer, as I observe what’s happening.

<Ehm, Emma...> Alec sends after a moment, sounding a little uncomfortable.

<Hang in there, Alec. I’m waiting for the right moment.>

<Well, that’s nice, but the rocks—>

<You’ll be fine,> I reply, dismissing the massive boulders that are tumbling down towards us with increasing speed.

<What’s that supposed to mean?!>

With the aftershocks of the violent explosion dying out, Yog sends Dave flying toward the now unadorned hole in the wall of rock from which Hydrum still spouts, but that’s when Suri makes her move.

Longlegs appears above the flow of Hydrum, together with a barrage of discs of razor-sharp Boreum, filled to the brim with what appears to be Toxic Energy of the Dreamcloud Purpose. While it would be nice if she could knock Dave out with the Dreamcloud Energy, its main purpose is actually just to make the discs more resilient.

The discs shoot forward, and right before they reach Yog, they expand, betraying how they’re clad in Spatial Energy.

Dave unexpectedly fires beams of Heat from his eyes to fend some of them off, while Yog moves his host around in erratic fashion to avoid the sharp discs that he seems incapable of diverting.

Seems Dave has had some host training...

That’s not outside our expectations, however, and despite their combined efforts, Yog is forced to slowly retreat towards the pillar.

<Dive!> I send to Alec, combining the word with a mental projection of where I’m planning to take us, moments before the first boulder impacts the Hydrum.

He follows the command immediately, diving down before retracting his legs. A split second later, I unleash my prepared Inverse Spatial Energy and warp us both to the ceiling, planting his feet practically against it.

Dave is now right below us, fighting off a swarm of Boreum discs at the stone pillar, with Jacob coming up from below, and Kaitlynn from the front.

Alec forms a field of Negative Inertial Energy, and kicks off, aiming at where I indicate. He lands on the stone pillar with nary a stumble, and in several quick leaps, approaches Dave.

As he’s about to make contact, I quickly cover him in Spatial Energy. Then, when we’re close enough, I stretch out my tendrils, clad in Devouring Flames and whip them at Yog.

At the same time, Alec swipes out at Dave with a hand shaped into a claw, Electric Energy arcing between his thumb and fingers.

Some of my tendrils find purchase, eliciting an angry roar from Yog, however, Dave ducks the Electric swipe with surprising alacrity, and strikes out with a powerful kick to Alec’s stomach.

Boost Physical, I note internally as Alec spins and flips back before managing to land on the pillar and regain his footing. Raised stats, as well, I bet.

<Try to stay close!> I send to Alec, as I focus on maintaining the tenuous grip I have on Yog.

<Easier said than done!> Alec returns as he once again springs forward.

Suri’s spinning discs of doom back off, guarding the exit as Jacob enters melee range. Sudo uses her own Gravity Manipulation to contest Yog’s while Jacob strikes out with a flurry of kicks and punches that Dave once again avoids with surprisingly smooth movements.

At this point, Kaitlynn brings Loudmouth into position, hovering in front of them, and Loudmouth pulls a complete Darksteel net out of his gullet, then flings it at Dave.

“You people are persistent, I’ll give you that,” Yog chimes mockingly. “Too bad you lack the skill to back it up!”

A quick burst of Kinetic Energy sends Dave back a few feet, while a wave of gravity has Jacob stumbling forward, right into the path of the Darksteel net.

But that’s not all.

Before Alec even gets another chance to make a grab for Dave, an absolutely massive boulder, that looks suspiciously like a Hoig’s forehead, swings up towards the other side of the pillar, and crashes into it at high speed.

With a thunderous crack, the section of the pillar we’re fighting on is turned into a spray of jagged shards of rock. I’m forced to abandon my tendrils to warp Alec back to the ceiling, while Jacob is sent flying straight into the Darksteel net. Thankfully, Loudmouth manages to grab hold of him so Kaitlynn can pull them both away.

Meanwhile, Yog uses the impact to launch Dave forward towards Suri’s spinning discs, and starts attacking them with strange, pink beams that appear to be a mix of Heat and Radiation with a Detoxifying Purpose.

He’s too good. We can’t take him out like this; our preparations aren’t enough.

It’s a sobering realisation, and it leaves me with only one path forward. Resolve builds inside of me like a tidal wave.

<Alec, we have to mind-meld,> I finally send, resolute.

<What, now?> he returns disbelievingly, mentally drawing attention to how we’re currently hanging upside down just below the ceiling, floating in a bubble of Spatial Energy. <Here? Are you insane?>

His concern is understandable. At Suri’s insistence, we’ve actually practised this quite a bit over the past two weeks, and while I feel like we’ve gotten close, we’ve never actually succeeded.

To be honest, we’re not sure how well this’ll work even if we do. Normally speaking, it’s only Peilor who do this with their hosts, and they have little to no experience with moving a body, focusing entirely on energy manipulation. If Alec and I succeed, there’ll be two human minds connected to a single body. I feel like it’ll either work out really well, or fail spectacularly, all depending on whether we manage to cooperate.

<It’s our only shot,> I send back regardless. <Close your eyes and Meditate.>

<You... fine.>

Alec closes his eyes, and his Lavi Flows begin to change their rhythm. I feel the beat of his heart, pulsing through his flows, start to slow down.

Being a crystal, my own Lavi Flows are far more static, but I start bringing them into motion. Despite the urgency of the situation, I force myself to calm down and focus on trying to match his rhythm.

We’re going to succeed this time, because we have to.

Soon, we achieve a balance, and a kind of resonance appears between our Lavi.

This is the part Suri used to do on her own when she would mind-meld with me, though even for her it was easier if I was calm and Meditating.

And now for the hard part.

As Suri tells it, mind-melding is not a Skill, but a manipulation of the Laws of Being itself. It’s taking two beings, who are each One, and superimposing them, making them something that’s not quite One, but not quite Two either.

Try to push it too far, and the Realm will reject the merger, and forcibly separate the two minds, lest they truly become a single being.

However, I believe our problem so far hasn’t been pushing too far... it’s holding back too much.

Well, no more.

<Let’s do this,> I send to Alec, the message strangely echoey through the resonance of our Lavi Flows, <for Dave.>

<For Dave,> Alec echoes, though I’m not entirely sure it’s not just my own words coming back to me.

And then, I push, stretching my concept of self to cover not just my crystal, but Alec’s body as well. The idea of inhabiting his body brings up an instinctual resistance in me, an urge to shudder and retreat. This is the part where it usually all collapses, but this time, I steel my heart and suppress the unhelpful feeling, continuing with singular focus.

Alec’s heart speeds up, but I force my pulsing flows to match the accelerating rhythm and maintain the connection.

Finally, after mere seconds stretched to what feels like ages, something—perhaps Alec—gives in, and I become aware of a rush of sensations that I haven’t felt in a long time.

Author's note:

Thanks for reading! ^^