Ignoring the stone-tendril bad-thing’s corpse as it continued to leak its fluids, I focused, pulling on my reservoirs just as I had in my last life - for now, at least.

I had let everything play out just as it had previously - warning the Coreless about Will’s potential death to the Flame Formicans, guiding them past through the large-tunnel, and alerting them to the stone-tendril bad-thing that laid in wait.

Now came the hard part.

The image of two flame-gaze bad-things appeared beside me.

“Well, fuck. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy,” one of the Coreless muttered under their breath.

This time, however, I didn’t stop there. I pulled furiously at the light emitted by the Coreless’ mana-lit ore-flesh and reduced the flame-gaze bad-things to shadows of their former selves, detail sacrificed in order to maintain and improve the results.

Slowly, I formed four more creatures - not bad-things this time, but the Coreless themselves.

Juggling so many different illusions, I was only able to provide the most minimal detail. Each of the tiny shadowy forms that represented the Coreless were the same: dark figures about half the height of the flame-gaze bad-things. Yet, the objects that each of them held made the figures distinct: a wall of ore-flesh for Will, a dual set of fangs for the-female-who-was-not-Needle, a needle-spitter for Needle, and a large claw of ore-flesh for the Unrepentant One.

Slowly, with more fits and starts than I would have preferred as my reservoirs intermittently found themselves depleted, I replayed the events of our previous lives as well as I was able. The Coreless watched as the tiny figures waged war against the larger bad-things, bleeding the first with a series of damaging wounds.

Until the twin gazes of flame came, ripping any hope of victory away.

As the image of stone-spikes shattering themselves against the gathered Coreless disappeared, I finally allowed myself to look up and meet the Coreless’ eyes.

They were hard, rigid like the flesh of the earth.

Unyielding.

Determined.

As the great flame licked at our sides, held at bay by Will’s wall of ore-flesh and the pink-red fluid that coated our forms, it happened again.

A second glow lit the cavern, heralding a raging inferno that scoured the ceiling above us.

I hissed, watching as the great stone-spikes began to descend.

Will dashed forward with a shout, the other Coreless close on his heels; the stone-spikes shattered against the stone behind us, the sound louder than nearly any I had ever heard - beating out even the sound of my heartbeat drumming ceaselessly in my ears.

Finally, the blazes died down, leaving only shimmers in the air as signs of their passing.

I hissed as the air abruptly pressed against my scales again; the-female-who-was-not-Needle dashed out from behind the protection that Will provided, racing towards the bad-thing before it could recover from the failure of its attack. Will and the Unrepentant One moved towards the other, challenging the bad-thing that had proven their deaths in a forgotten life.

The bad-thing swiftly grew within my vision; its eye still glowed a slight orange as the aftereffects of its flame gaze died down, blinding it to the coming danger.

The female Coreless' fangs sunk into the bad-thing's flesh in a flurry of motion, cleaving deep lines of crimson as she passed by. Enraged, it swung an arm blindly, turning with the motion. She ducked underneath the blow, diving aside a second later as a leg lashed out towards her midsection. We rolled across the ground to the tune of clattering ore-flesh, toppling and turning unsteadily; I felt my scale-flesh squish uncomfortably as the Coreless' weight pressed down upon me for a dangerous moment before I lost my grip on her shoulder entirely.

My scale-flesh scraped against the stone as I tumbled; panicking, I focused on [Illusion Spark], desperately seeking to hide myself away.

I hit something hard.

Something hard hit me harder - and I pulled free of my scale-flesh again.

The Coreless ducked underneath the sweeping blow, already knowing that it would come. A moment later, she lunged forward at an angle, and the wind whistled past me. As the bad-thing's leg tore through the air behind us, she found her feet again - this time, leaving me mercifully uncrushed and alive.

She could learn, at least. That was good.

As her fangs of ore-flesh sunk into vulnerable flesh again, I uncoiled myself from my perch, sinking my own fangs into the bad-thing's side. It resisted in a way that I hadn't expected, after seeing how easily the Coreless managed to cut through its defenses. I only barely managed to pierce through, leaving me hanging weakly in my surprise. I swayed back and forth, furiously swinging my tail around as I searched for a better hold.

Even so, I held.

And when the Coreless dodged the next blow, I found myself winding my way up the bad-thing's stone-covered skin. The scraggy rocks that covered its flesh gave easy purchase, and only the way that the battle caused it to jerk and shake slowed my journey.

Here and there, Needle made her presence known - sending needles deep into the bad-thing's flesh and providing me even greater purchase. Other needles found themselves lodged into the beast's arm as it desperately defended what was both its greatest weapon and its greatest vulnerability - its single eye. The Coreless were angry, after the things that I had shown them.

The bad-thing was, too.

Finally recovered from its previous attack, it roared. A slight orange glow began to build, growing steadily with each moment.

I knew that soon enough, its gaze of flame would appear again - and separated as they were, at least one of the Coreless would be reduced to a husk.

The glow increased, lighting the cavern.

I moved faster.

My fangs sunk into the soft-flesh of the bad-thing's eye. Disgusting, horrible liquid gushed into my open mouth, boiling with the heat of the bad-thing's mana. My mouth-flesh bubbled, filled with fire-pain that made my troubles with [Molten Bite] seem like nothing more than a brief annoyance. I pulled at it frantically, funneling the excess heat into my scale-flesh reservoirs and away from myself. The glow around me grew even further, the orange-red of my desperately released flames mixing with the orange of the bad-thing itself.

It helped some, but not nearly enough to save my tongue from burning to a crisp. The bad-thing thrashed in pain, nearly causing me to lose my grip entirely as the motion forced my fangs to rip through the soft-flesh even further. I felt myself pushing ever inward as the eye was torn to shreds in my wake, as that horrible, terrifying fluid filled my mouth and devoured my insides.

Finally, my mouth closed around something more solid.

The bad-thing jerked again as I began to swallow it, throwing me clear.

It was too late.

I was already done.

The thought-light flickered.

Gained Minor Title.

Minor Title: [Touched By Fire]

Description: By consuming the mana core of a greater being that possesses the aspect of flame, your minor mana core has transformed. Gained the Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Fire I].

Name: Paradox

Species: Snake, Ouroboros

Major Title: [The Snake That Eats Its Own Tail]

Minor Titles: [Minor Mana Core] [Venomous Retribution] [Touched By Fire]

Innate Traits: [Venomous II]

Blooded Traits: [Paralyzing Venom IV] [Poisonous Blood III] [Illusion Spark IV]

Resistances: [Piercing Resistance - Basic IV] [Venom Resistance - Intermediate II]

Level: 10

Trait Points: 0

Core Skills: [The Endless Cycle]

Lesser Core Skills: [Mana Manipulation V] [Mana Venom VI] [Mana Fire I]

Description: A growing Ouroboros, symbol of the eternal.

A great wave of fire-pain assaulted me as the mana that the bad-thing had held became my own. It filled me to the brim and past it; it raged within my mana core, pushing at the bounds of my being with a ferocity that threatened to burst through my flesh.

It was worse than the mana-water ever was; then, I had been able to drink over and over again, adding a little more mana to my overtaxed core each time.

This was the opposite - an enormous influx of mana that came all at once, far beyond what I knew I was actually capable of safely holding.

Yet, at the same time, it was easier. I didn’t have to force myself to keep absorbing mana when I already felt as if I was breaking - it was already there. There was no choice to make. It was simple, in that way.

As my vision blackened, I shoved it all into my waiting venom sacs. There was no time to move delicately, to make sure that the mana went exactly where it was supposed to go, exactly how it was supposed to go.

Instead, it coursed through my flesh in a direct path. It didn’t matter where the proper channels for my mana existed - if one wasn’t in that direct line, it made one exist.

Soon enough, my vision went dark, leaving only the flickering of the thought-light to provide me company.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Manipulation V] Increased.

[Mana Manipulation VI] Acquired.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Manipulation VI] Increased.

[Mana Manipulation VII] Acquired.

Lesser Core Skill: [Mana Manipulation VII] Increased.

[Mana Manipulation VIII] Acquired.