As the vision ended, Jack saw Elsick standing before him again.

“I have had my opportunity to defy the odds,” Elsick said. “To stand defiant on the eleventh hour. Today, that opportunity rests with you three.”

Jack barely managed to nod, his head bursting with pain. He felt a warm trickle running down his nose until he could taste the metallic heat of his blood in his mouth. He swayed, his consciousness dimming for a second. He heard a loud thump and muffled voices arguing. He tried to focus on them.

“I can't believe you showed them an akashic vision of all things before our mission,”Syraviel said. “They're level one! The girl has a soul injury, damn it! What were you thinking?”

“This will help them,” Elsick said. “See the boy is already better. How was it, Jack? Did you learn something?”

Jack stared at the stone man a moment before realizing Elsick was talking to him.

“It was pretty cool,” he said, absentmindedly. “That was all you, right?”

“Not just me, the Wellspring and the valiant men and women of the Legion supported me as I supported them.”

Jack swayed in place, noticing Lisaseron kneeling next to a passed out Alicia. Syraviel glared daggers at Elsick. The rock elemental chuckled nervously.

“Anyways, do you feel stronger?” Elsick asked. “Did you learn any skills from this?”

“I do feel different,” he said.

Jack looked down to find a new blue panel in his vision, he shared it with the Divinities. Elsick let out a low whistle.

“You're not half bad with Resistance. You may have potential on the path of defense.”

New skill gained! The Will to Resist Lvl 1!

When the world around you crumbles, you outlast and push back.

When activated, All resistances, defenses and regeneration slightly increased per level.

The boy clutched his head in pain.

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Thanks Elsick.”

“Totally,” Diana said. “Great story.”

The girl displayed the skill she'd learned, her face contorted in discomfort.

New skill gained! Dauntless Mind Lvl 1!

Fear will not silence your thoughts.

Slightly increased mental resistance against pressuring presences per level.

Minimally increased mental acuity when faced with presences vastly superior to your own level.

“Wonderful, Diana. It was my pleasure- ah I think we should get going. Be well, young Diana, young Jack.”

The stone God withered under Syraviel's glare and sunk back into the ground. Jack looked at the woman and frowned. Her shadow was too big, nearly covering the whole clearing. She turned to look at the Brawler who raised his hands up in innocence.

“That was his idea, not mine,” Durkham said. “Even if its soul healing I can help-”

“And get your aura and divine power all over her before we cross into a foreign akashic field? Brawler, if I open up your skull, will I find anything resembling a brain?”

Brawler rubbed his head warily.

“Haha... no it's just muscles up here. Nice seeing you Shadow. Void, you too.”

The Brawler leapt out of the clearing in a single bound.

“You scared them away,” Jack said.

Syraviel blinked, her shadow shrinking back to normal size.

“Who scared them?” she asked. “Little old me? Couldn't be. Those two are very busy with preparations for the Incursion. They had to leave. Nevermind them, Jack, Diana, have a seat. You must be hurting.”

The boy nodded numbly, while Diana held her head in her hands like a hungover wretch. Jack tried sitting down slowly but his legs fell out from under him and he landed on his butt. He sniffed the air for a moment, scrunching his nose when he caught a whiff of the all too familiar smell of bittersweet rime that haunted him before. He turned his head to look but his vision was blurred.

“How come I smell that frost licorice?” he asked. “Was this whole thing another form of resistance training?”

“Frostmint licorice is pretty good for waking up unconscious people,” Syraviel said. “As you can imagine, with the way her soul is, Alicia didn't handle the akashic vision too well.”

Jack rolled her eyes.

“I swear this girl,” he said.

Jack struggled to his feet and sniffed again, then stumbled towards the direction where he smelled the frostmint licorice. Syraviel lent her shoulder to Jack, keeping him steady as he walked forward. He couldn't tell too much about her state, listening in through their soul bond but he knew she wasn't too bad. He kept walking forward.

“How is she?”he asked.

Jack crumpled down beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“The akashic visions overdrafted her already damaged soul.”Lisaseron said. “She is fine but she will require as much support as you can give her. She will need to be in her best shape for the crossing. I'm trying to offer what I can but soul recovery magic has extremely high requirements on the soul. If I could use my true body to heal her I could do more but my soul is quite limited in this form.”

“Soul recovery is notorious for being the most difficult branch of healing,” Syraviel said. “And neither of us are any good at recovery or healing. We're counting on you, Jack. Listen close, okay?”

Jack nodded.

“With the strength of your type of soul bond, even just the thought of supporting her will help. But we need more than that, I need you to focus on the aura of your Innate and push as much of it as you can through your soul bond.”

Jack frowned. He closed his eyes, focusing on the faint feelings accompanying his abnormally quick regeneration earlier. He pushed with his mind, willing his increased regeneration to reach Alicia. He felt their soul bond tingle, almost humming with approval.

Soul Bond Mastery Lvl 1 → Soul Bond Mastery Lvl 2

“If you've pushed all you think you can with your Innate, use that new skill you learned to support her.”Syraviel said. “Push it through like you did your Innate.”

Activating The Will to Resist drained his stamina and limited mental energy but he liked the skill. Even though he knew the level one skill didn't make him much more resilient, there was a depth to it, a kind of solidness that felt right when he used it.

Lisaseron nodded approvingly when his skill pushed through the bond. The Goddess activated a circle of six spell formations around the girl and lowered the frostmint licorice over Alicia's nose.

As Jack focused on his Innate, he remembered the way his Innate appeared, the dark figure within wrapped in chains, not merely bound but using them to work out. He wondered how that was related to his increased regeneration. Was it because the dark figure never stopped working out? What about the chains? There had to be something special about them. The more he pushed his Innate's aura, the more he thought about it.

The girl stirred. Her head turned over onto his hand, nuzzling it between her shoulder and her cheeks. She winced, opening her eyes.

“I'm surprised you fainted,” Jack said. “Very ladylike of you.”

She suddenly realized what her position was and but didn't move her head. His support for her soul was like a cool glass of water on a hot day, and her position was improving the effect.

“You're better at it now,” she said. “I'll be honest, if you'd told me you were going to end up being a healer earlier, I would've thought you were trying to scam people”

“Rude,” Jack said. “As an apology, you may call me Dr. Cassidy.”

The girl rolled her eyes.

“Now that you're with us, would you like to show us what skill you received, Alicia?”Lisaseron asked.

Alicia's gaze refocused for a second before a blue panel popped up.

New Skill learned! Unyielding Soul Lvl 1!

Some are stubborn to the bone. You are unyielding to your very core.

Slightly increase soul defense per level.

Slightly increase soul strength per level.

“That's a very good skill,” Syraviel said. “It's difficult for a mortals to increase their soul defenses let alone increase their soul's strength. I know having a wounded soul sucks, but hardship isn't without benefits.”

Alicia nodded, enjoying Jack's soothing aura flowing into her. She scolded herself for enjoying something that was so intimate with him. She pushed against the comfortable feeling, trying not to get swept up in the mood. The boy clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Stop that,” he said. “Whatever you're doing, you're making it harder to heal you.”

“Sorry,” she said.

Jack gave her a questioning look before continuing to heal the girl. Alicia let out a sigh. Her soul was the top priority, as long as Jack didn't cross her bottom line she could be more tolerant. Especially when it felt so nice.

The last hours passed quickly, with Jack cycling between flaring his Innate and The Will To Resist and sitting quietly with Alicia. While they were stationary, Syraviel modified their system for the mission.

Detecting Divine Intervention. Disconnecting from Main Licirmon System.

Initializing Forward Strike Group Protocol. Reinitializing Quest Pipeline. Level Cap set to 1. Reinitializing Faith Transfer Distribution.

Faith Distribution Changed.

Selected: Lisaseron, The Subjugator of the Void(Fragment) for 50%

Selected: Syraviel, The Shadow of Desolation(Fragment) for 50%

“The System connects to the entire Pantheon, allowing both mortals and Divinities to share their knowledge of the akasha,” Syraviel explained. “Like a symphony, it's a masterpiece that eloquently balances many unique elements. Unfortunately, like a symphony, it's also extremely 'loud' to foreign akashic fields. Now you will just be connected to me and Void. The system will be pretty barebones. That's one of the reasons we learned your language, so we don't have to upkeep of the translation function.”

“If we're only connected to both of you, won't it be harder for me to train resistances and healing?”Jack asked.

“Your growth will slow down in areas we don't specialize in. But don't worry, learning directly from two Goddesses has great benefits. Even though you won't be getting levels, I promise none of you will be unhappy with your overall growth.”

Alicia checked for the quest again, unable to find it after the Quest Pipeline changed.

“We have approximately ten minutes left until the incursion arrives,” Lisaseron said.

“Oh, thanks,” Alicia said. “Wait... did you just read my mind?”

“Not your mind but faith,” Lisaseron said. “Faith is the energy of beliefs, will and desire. Now that I am only receiving faith from three people, it is not difficult to discern simple things you want. Does this bother you?”

“Not really,” Alicia said. “I already have this lowlife in my head, you two are alright.”

“I'm bothered,”Jack said. “When you say desire you don't mean...”

He thought about Lisaseron wearing a few risque outfits.

“Yes, Jack,” she said. “That is included as well.”

“Um, sorry.”

“Not to worry,” Lisaseron said. “You are a young man, such thoughts will occur from time to time. Do try and focus on the mission ahead.”

“Right, but what are we even going to be doing?”

“For the first part, we'll be doing some training,” Syraviel said. “When it gets really dangerous, you three will just be sitting along for the ride.”

“Indeed,” Lisaseron said. “You will be in safe hands, whether it's the inevitable void worm swarms or a rare cosmic abnormality.”

“What's this about 'inevitable' void worm swarms?” Jack asked. “Those sound... interesting.”

Lisaseron stood up, stopping the recovery spell formation around Alicia. She walked over to the massive spell formation she'd set up earlier.

“You wish to know about void worms?” Lisaseron asked. “Step inside and you may see the little pests in the flesh.”

Jack's face froze in a pained smile. He turned to Diana.

“You knew all this and still agreed to it, Diana?”

“For a chance to learn from one of the best?” Diana said. “Absolutely. Nothing in life is free, Jack. I thought you of all people would know that.”

Diana stood up and joined Syraviel and Lisaseron in the formation.

Jack got up and turned to Alicia.

“Ladies first?” he asked.

“It has manners,” she said dryly.

Alicia held her hand out. Jack lifted her onto her feet. They stared at the spell formation the other three were standing in.

“Getting cold feet?” Jack asked.

Alicia snorted, walking ahead of the boy. Jack followed her out, stepping into the circle together.

“Excellent,” Lisaseron said. “Now the sacrifice to the blood gods can commence.”

Jack and Alicia looked horrified while Syraviel and Diana could barely hold in her laughter.

“Just a joke, young ones,” Lisaseron said. “You are much too tense. I could not resist having a little fun at your expense.”

Jack let out a nervous chuckle while Alicia rolled her eyes.

“Relax, you two,” Syraviel said. “If it's the Void worms that have you worried, don't be. They've got a good bit of size on you two, but you'll be fine.”

“Indeed,” Lisaseron said. “Also, once the void worms get close to my Void Disk they won't be able to leverage their spatial abilities. They will simply be dumb, large beasts.”

“Why do these 'dumb and large beasts' sound like they could crush us in one hit?” Alicia asked.

“If you took one head on, yes,” Syraviel said. “But you won't.”

Alicia looked uncomfortably at the Goddesses but didn't say anymore.

“I am glad we've settled this matter,” Lisaseron said. “The time has come.”

Jack felt the space around them tense up. Shivers ran down his spine. Alicia sent him a questioning look.

“This is a bad place to be,” Jack said. “I don't know how exactly how strong level seventy is, but these things would wipe the floor with us in a heartbeat. No question.”

“Congratulations on making the right choice,” Syraviel said. “You could be out there facing the Unceasing on your own. But you chose to be with us.”

He nodded, still looking unsettled, watching the air around them. He could feel the air itself rebelling against the growing foreign auras seeping into the atmosphere. Portals opened up all around them, containing heavy and menacing presences. His eyes bulged. The formation beneath them hummed to life.

“No turning back now,” Syraviel said. "Just us five against a world."

TheAscendentQuill

Slower chapter today but it's finally time for some action! The first arc starts soon! Speaking of, I still need to think of a cool title for it. As always if you see any errors or inconsistencies, please let me know. Thanks for your support!