“Why Brutal Battery?” Layla had asked when Nil made his decision. “I saw you fight. You seem better suited to parrying and dodging your opponent’s attack while landing opportune strikes. The high Finesse potential is excellent for that. 

“Sonic Armament is all about quickly disabling your foes before dispatching them and using enhanced senses to avoid their attacks. Meanwhile, Serpent Tactics would let you become a hit-and-run fighter. Strike stealthily and swiftly while your venom slowly whittles away at your opponent.”

“Both are great options, but Brutal Battery ensures I can stand my ground and never have to back down,” Nil had replied. “Avoiding attacks takes a lot of focus. Some could get away from me and strike whoever I’m protecting. Serpent Tactics seem especially bad for helping someone in trouble. If I had it while that junkie was attacking the officer, would it help me pull her off him or get between them?”

“No, but with Sonic Armament, he would be off her, staggering around for balance, or perhaps unconscious.”

“True, but Brutal Battery seems more my style and, in my opinion, feels like it has greater potential. The Schema doesn’t use the exact words, but it sounds a lot like I’ll gain the power to absorb kinetic energy and then charge my movements with it. Sonic Armament perhaps has the best starting set of abilities, but its future will lean further into sound and shockwaves. Am I right?” Layla nodded. “What if the Schema lets me tap into true kinetic energy at the higher realms?”

“I suppose that’s sound reasoning.” Layla flashed a knowing smile.

“Besides. It feels like Brutal Battery’s only limit is how much energy my body can store. More Spark and ascending to higher realms should change that. All I need to empower myself is to get hit. Meanwhile, the others need time, rest, and proper food for recovery.”

“It’s not that simple,” Layla told him. “Absorb and Expend are channeled abilities, and no amount of growth will let you use either at the same time. You need to master their timely activation and how to switch between them swiftly. Absorb isn’t too challenging. However, Expend will take a lot of practice. Using all of your stored energy at once or charging your whole body with it is wasteful. Only time and practice will help you gauge how much to use at a time and only consume that quantity. Because once you’re depleted, you can do nothing but Absorb.”

Nil clamped his hand over Mila’s mouth as the creaking outside of the closet grew louder. She squirmed under his hold, but he ignored her protests. The little girl only ceased when a deep growl rattled the wooden walls surrounding them. They held their breaths, hoping the monster hadn’t heard them. Nil believed he could beat the giant outside using Brutal Battery’s abilities but doubted his ability to complete the task while protecting Mila. He refused to let the child suffer the same fate as her sister.

A distant scream and crash reached their ears. The monster outside heard it, too. It released an almost human cackle before racing away, proving far more lightfooted than its size would suggest. 

“Why aren’t you fighting?” Mila hissed, prying his hand off her face. “My father issued the quest so you’d fight for us!”

“Nope.” Nil checked the quest parameters for the hundredth time. Nothing had changed except the danger level, and he was worried to find out why.

Objective: Ensure Mila Stark survives until sunrise.
Danger Level: Iron 5
Rewards: 100 Schema Credit, 1Schema Token

The Schema had offered Nil a choice of three possible quests once he finalized his ability, distributed his bonus Schema Tokens, and finished his onboarding procedures. The first involved a reconnaissance mission in an active war zone. The second required him to assist in the extermination of an undead horde. Both felt too chaotic, with several moving parts for his first quest. Nil had combat training but only knew how to fight one opponent or focus on a solitary objective at a time. Protecting a teenager from a lone threat sounded like the easiest of the challenges, and it was one rank easier than the others. Now, after watching the last baroness die because of his negligence, Nil doubted his decision.

“The job entails keeping you alive, not fighting whatever that is.”

Mila protested when Nil attempted to silence her again. She bit his hand hard enough to draw blood. He gritted his teeth through the pain. They only moved after the footsteps had disappeared into the distance, and the visage nodded. The woman in the bloody white parka and ripped blue jeans had appeared an hour after the initial summoning. Now that he knew what he knew, it felt foolish to ignore her. Nil grabbed Mila’s forearm and dragged her out of the closet. Mila ran barefoot while he left his hard-soled boots on. Channeling Absorb as they moved nullified the sound and also slowly inflated the imaginary balloon.

Nil refused to go beyond the quest parameters unless necessary. He worried splitting his attention between fighting and protecting or safeguarding multiple targets would only result in failure. Several trained combatants and mages had already died at the creature’s hands. He didn’t have a chance. 

 

• Might: Mortal 6

• Finesse: Mortal 6

• Mind: Mortal 3

• Spark: Mortal 9

 

Brutal Battery: Mortal 1

 

• Absorb: Mortal 1

• Expend: Mortal 1

 

Feats:

 

• Haunting Visage

• Armsmaster’s Disappointment

 

Layla had shown Nil how to simplify his interface and pull up only the section he desired. None of his attributes had naturally grown over the past handful of hours. However, his power and the accompanying abilities had already gained a rank after using it against three more humanoid beasts. Mila didn’t know what they were or where they had come from. Apparently, the giant had appeared alone during its first night of terror. 

Nil felt a glimmer of hope when they reached the stairs. Two flights, and they’d be on the ground floor. Then, the exit was only a short sprint away. However, when he tried to descend, Mila stopped him. She wrapped her hands around Nil’s forearm and dug her heels into the rug underfoot.

“What the hell are you doing, Mila?” Nil whispered. He hesitated, forcing her forward. They stood far too close to the stairs, and Mila had displayed a clumsy streak during their past few hours of running and hiding. Nil would fail his quest and probably get stuck with the monsters if she stumbled and broke her neck on the way down. “We need to move before it picks up our scent.”

Mila didn’t answer. Her face appeared paler than usual as she stared down the dark corridor to their left. Nil guessed her silver-grey eyes had keener vision than his. A shape emerged from the blackness. It took him a moment to identify it.

“Ilsa?” Mila kept her voice low as she called out to the woman in the estate’s maid uniform. It was the same woman she had clung to when Nil first arrived. “I thought you were dead.” She waved Ilsa closer. Meanwhile, the visage vigorously shook her head. She looked sad and heartbroken. “Come with us.”

“We need to move!” Nil tugged on her arm, hoping she’d descend the stairs of her own free will. “C’mon!”

“No!” Mila hissed, tightening her hold on Nil’s arm. “She’s been my handmaid since I was six! We’re not leaving without her. Come, Ilsa! Nil will get us out of here. Lets—”

The words caught in Mila’s throat as Ilsa stumbled into the light. Red gouges cut across her torso from her left shoulder to her right hip. Red stained her lips and chin, and her eyes were a solid black.

“No.” Mila gasped. “Ilsa…”

The former handmaid released an ear-piercing screech as she raced toward them. Mila released Nil, but her knees failed her. The preteen noblewoman dropped onto her bottom, squeezed her eyes shut, and slapped her hands over her ears.

Nil had hoped to avoid further combat until he got the opportunity to practise switching between abilities. It was easy to constantly channel Absorb but switching to Expend took focus and a couple of seconds. Not all of his opponents had given him the opportunity or time as the first. His immovability and ability to stop their movement on contact didn't shock all of them for as long if at all. A rip across his vest, bleeding shoulder, and cut across the cheek remained as signs of his failure to time things appropriately. 

Unfortunately, Mila dashed his hopes with her sudden shutdown. Retreat wasn’t an option. He didn’t like Mila’s chances racing down the steep stone staircase either. Nil had no choice but to stand his ground and fight.

The narrow, long corridors ensured nothing had room to hide. Yet Nil refused to leave Mila and meet the charge. Fighting with her next to him had its risks, but he felt close proximity gave him better control of the situation. Meanwhile, Ilsa gnashed her new fangs like a shark as she approached. Her fingers had grown into claws not too different from that of the bat-like humanoid beasts, leaving Nil to wonder whether they were once human, too.

The former handmaiden scythed her arms inwards. Absorb ensured they stopped as soon as they touched Nil’s raised forearms. He felt glad for the two tokens he had invested in Body. Brutal Battery ensured he didn’t need the strength or durability, but he was sure exhaustion would’ve affected his fighting skills if not for the additional stamina and recovery.

It was tempting to use the energy in the inflated balloon. An empowered headbutt would probably be enough to kill the cursed or reanimated Ilsa—Nil wasn’t sure which it was. He could also turn his block into a grab. Holding both of her arms would give him enough time to switch from Absorb to Expend. Then, a kick to the torso would kill his opponent.

Instead, he used all of the natural strength that Might gave him to turn and push Ilsa into the landing’s railing. She gnashed her teeth and wriggled as Nil held her forearms to her torso. His internal balloon continued to swell as her strength fought against Absorb. Despite the monstrous strength and transformations, Ilsa still weighed the same as a woman of her dimensions. He lifted the woman—using his knees instead of his back as taught by regular safety training—and then tipped her over the side. The black eyes widened as Ilsa fell. He heard her strike banisters on the way down before stopping with an ugly crunch.

Absorb has progressed to Mortal 2!

“I’m sorry I shut down.” Mila’s words came out as a whimper. 

Nil had no answer for her. He ignored his screaming arm muscles and hauled her onto her feet. He pulled Mila up the stairs instead of leading her to the ground floor.

“Why are we going up?”

“The creature worked its way up from the ground floor, did it not?”

Mila nodded.

“Then Ilsa won’t be the only one raised by the curse. I bet the people it killed the last time it came are now those bat people. We’ll hide in the unused floors.”

A thundering roar shook the building. Human screams of varying pitches echoed it. The creature’s signature scraping footsteps sounded closer and heavier. Ilsa’s screeches and their scuffle had drawn its attention. Fortunately, it wasn’t the fastest of pursuers in its current state.

“The building materials and old furniture might just help us rig a trap,” Nil added.

The creature sounded close. When Nil and Mila reached the fourth floor, they could hear it scraping its way up the stairs. He hoped the heavy, disproportionate body, and balance issues would make its ascent slow, giving them enough time to find a decent hiding space.

A glimmer of hope stirred in Nil's chest when the pair passed an old, dirty window. The first lights of dawn bathed the stone floor. Sunrise was close. His quest would end as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon. He didn’t know whether that meant the creatures would perish in the light or retreat underground—the how didn’t matter as long as Mila survived and Nil completed his first quest.

“This will end soon, Mila. I promise.” He hoped the reassuring words would keep her from shutting down again. “You’re going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

“How?” Mila asked. Her voice was now little more than a croak. “Everyone is dead.”