Blue coolant soaked Angel’s fingers, tingling when it came in contact with his flesh. He held his Scribe in a tight grip, keeping it moving without stop. More and more of the magic powering Lilian failed as he worked.

For every rune he repaired, another one warped or failed as the magical power coursing through Lilian failed to reach its proper location and instead sought escape in alternative ways. Sweat beaded on Angel’s forehead.

If it wasn’t for the energy he was pumping into Lilian from Alison, she would have been dead already. Even with it, he could feel time slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. Alison was doing her best to hide her labored breathing, but she was clearly starting to run low as well.

Sparks traced across the top of his arm, breaking him from his reverie. He yanked his hand back, fearing that the Star Fragment sought Lilian’s energy, but the purple lightning remained near his shoulder instead of reaching for her.

A tendril traced up his neck, giving him a small shock as it shot into his eyepiece. It fell down, bringing up a screen on its own volition.

Name: Angel

Level: 65 [9%]

Status: Mostly Healthy

Information accuracy: 100%

Strength: 12

Intelligence: 25 [+2]

Nimbleness: 26

Toughness: 65

Comparative Rating [Adjusted]: Threat

Weak point(s): Heart, Neck, Arteries… (100/100)

Element(s): Steel, Star Fragment

Magicore: None (100% Attunement)

Features: [2/3]

Features

Liquid Metal [Repair]: Primary function – host modification and repair. Enables shifting of hardware and improves defensive capabilities of vessel.

Magicore Command: Primary function – mental influence over non-sentient Magitech. Usage drains magic at a rate directly related to the size and strength of the object this feature is used on.

“I don’t have time for this!” Angel snapped, moving it away. “I need to control he damage before Lilian’s body gives out. Liquid Metal only works accurately enough to fix runes when something is part of my arm.”

The eyepiece snapped back down, stronger this time. A spark shot into Angel’s cheek, singeing him and drawing a curse from his lips. He made to move it again, then paused as his eyes landed on the second feature.

Angel didn’t have time to consider it further. He sent a mental command, praying that his powers would respond.

Lilian’s body shuddered. Components rattled in her chest, shifting with worrying screeches. Angel’s hand tingled as the draw on Alison’s powers grew stronger. His own magic, which had largely been unused, started to siphon away at an alarming rate.

Purple lightning stormed at Angel’s shoulder. The energy twisted together into a handlike appendage and reached into his bag, severely burning it as it pulled the flap open. Angel tried to stop it, but he felt Lilian start deteriorating the moment his attention went off her.

He gritted his teeth, returning his gaze to her body and desperately trying to convey his desires so that Magicore Command would function properly. Out of the corner of his eye, Angel watched helplessly as the hand removed Blue from the bag.

Blue popped open and the energy sank into the artifact with such force that a crack shot down one of its sides. Light flashed from Blue’s projectors and garbled chattering emerged from it.

The System artifact lit up the same color as Angel’s Star fragment and it started to vibrate in the air. Lilian’s back arched and she drew a wheezing gasp. Metal moved within her as runes traced themselves of their own volition.

Broken components pieced themselves together and, while the lost coolant didn’t return itself to its proper resting place, almost every component started to repair. The box that housed Lilian’s Star Fragment melted away and the little orb started to roll inside her.

A tendril of metal scooped it up, raising the orb up to a piece of exposed flesh at the top of her chest. The second the orb touched it, it sank in and vanished without a trace. Angel’s viewing window into Lilian’s chest pulled itself shut as well, knitted shut by metal. The flesh covering it slowly started to seal itself as well.

Alison slumped against Angel, spent. The pull on his reserves finally stopped as he too ran out of energy and a powerful wave of dizziness slammed into him. Blue fell from the sky, but Tilly caught it before the artifact hit the ground.

Darkness encroached on the edges of Angel’s vision, but he forced it away. Through a supreme force of will, he sat up and squinted at Lilian. Her chest rose and fell in shallow breaths.

The cut that Reave had left on her neck had yet to heal. It was worryingly deep and still dribbled blood as if to spite her empowered healing.

“What happened?” Tilly asked, breaking the silence. “Did it work? What did you do to Alison?”

“She’s just out of energy,” Angel said, letting his head fall back. It thudded against the metal wall of the chopper with a bang, instantly causing him to regret the action. “And I think it worked. Only time will tell.”

He tried to glance out the window, but the mere thought of movement made his body rebel against him.

“What’s the Buried God doing?” Angel asked. He was too tired to even wonder what his Star Fragment had done.

“Glowing like the sun,” Silver replied grimly. “That Reawakening bastard is shooting beams of plasma through it like nothing. He’s insane.”

“Good,” Tilly said, clenching her fists tightly at her sides. “He’s crazy. I hope he blows himself up along with the Buried God.”

She paused as her words finally caught up to her. Tilly leapt up, her eyes going wide as she pressed her face to the back window.

“Buried Gods, that’s a Buried God! I was in a Buried God,” she whispered, horror and awe mixing in her voice as realization finally washed over her. “And he’s one of the Reawakening, the people that have Old World Magic. What are you wrapped up in, Angel?”

“More than I’d ever care to be,” Angel replied with a grimace. “How long ago did the Buried God attack Molten Ridges?”

“About a day,” Tilly said, sounding as if she didn’t believe her own words. “I didn’t even realize what it was at first. Don’t think I did at all until now. I thought someone had put out the sun when it rose over the city. Then all those people came in and a woman’s voice yelled for us all to sleep. I resisted, as did a lot of other people, but then the plasma guy showed up and started killing everyone that tried to stop him. I–”

“It’s fine, Tilly,” Angel interrupted. “You should get some rest. Your mind still hasn’t caught up with your body. Adrenaline has a way of doing that. Once you wake up tomorrow, you’ll be able to process things more logically. I’m afraid you’ve gotten pulled into something that I had no right to bring you into.”

“What? But what about–” Tilly trailed off as she spotted the look on Angel’s face. She forced her hands to open and close a few times, then took a shaky breath. “What about Molten Ridges?”

“Nothing we can do for them,” Silver said bluntly. “Either reinforcements show up or they die. We can’t stop a Buried God and, judging by how its eyes were starting to light back up, Angel only temporarily inconvenienced it.”

“We’re lucky it went down as long as it did,” Angel confirmed. “But we’ve dealt the Reawakening a heavy blow.”

“Have we?” Silver asked. “We saved the girls, but Molten Ridges is a smoking wreckage and, if I’m not mistaken, you left the Key in the Buried God. I just hope you’ve memorized how to make another one, because it doesn’t look like your guide will be helping with another.”

Angel glanced at Blue, nestled in Tilly’s lap, out of the corner of his eye. The sphere was cracked and burnt. Many of the plates that made it up had warped, making it more like a lumpy blob than an orb.

“I killed Body,” Angel said. “And I got her Star Fragment. If Reave doesn’t stop soon, he’ll rip one of their Buried Gods apart. He may have the Key, but they didn’t get it without paying a heavy price.”