It took a while before the whispers of Wrath completely faded, and for Ares’ frayed mind to regain its composure. When he finally felt himself somewhat in control, Ares rolled onto his back and sat up, finding both his companions studying him closely.

“What?” He said, knowing they were probably wondering how sane he currently was — with good reason.

“Are you alright?” Izzy asked, closing in to take a better look at him. As far as he knew, there was nothing wrong with his exterior, only his mind.

“Fine,” he said waving her off. Her worry was useless to him.

“You are definitely not fine, Master,” said Orca, employing the pedestal of the safe zone as a speaker, “The infection was much faster this time around. You need to employ safeguards.”

“Infection?” Izzy said, raising her eyebrows. Ares realized he had only spoken to Rex about his situation, and on that in their own language.

“I am fine,” he stated, trying to put some conviction into his voice.

“Now you just sound like a child,” Izzy said, shaking her head and turning to the pedestal, “Orca, what safeguards do you have in place?”

“I could run scans and counteract the infection from here, but as soon as master Ares steps outside the current domain, I am unable to oversee his condition.”

Ares did not appreciate the two talking over his head, but Izzy began talking before he could cut in with an objection, “Can’t you run protection protocols directly on construct?”

“I am not allowed to violate his autonomy. Any protection would have to be integrated on his own initiative.”

“I see,” said the gnome, finally turning to Ares while stroking her chin. “Ares, would you allow me access to your systems? If Orca helps me out, I might be able to produce some protection protocols for you to adopt.”

“You know this infection?” Ares asked, somewhat astonished.

“Oh, aye, master Baek has been obsessed with the problem of ‘internal warfare’ as he calls it. If what you’re suffering from is similar to what the Empire employs when they’re up against other battlemages, I can at least offer something basic.”

“Wait… The Empire use this?” Ares asked, remembering conversations from his time in the study of lord Mingdale. Separated from the kingdom of Ammedina by a mountain range, the entire southern part of the continent was dominated by this singular force.

“Oh, sure! It’s one of the chief reasons why the Empire is so dominant, even after other nations began developing construct and training battlemages. Master Baek says Imperial battlemages can take control of the opponent’s constructs and make them fight in their favor. It is also said that they are sometimes able to even affect the mind of the battlemage, who then turns on their own army. It’s quite gruesome, really.”

Blinking, Ares thought through the implications of this. The infection he knew of made humans go insane; he had seen it himself. If what Izzy said was true, then the Empire was able to do something similar, and perhaps… No, he could not draw conclusions yet. He needed to see it for himself to know for sure.

“So, can you let me take a look?”

Absorbed by his thoughts, Ares had forgotten the initial point of the discussion. Moving his arms out to the sides he said, “Please do.”

Shuffling through her bag, Izzy drew out her instrument and connected it to Ares’ chest through a port master Baek had installed. Ares immediately felt the intrusion, but tried to accept it, letting her access what she wanted. He trusted the little gnome, for now.”

‘Orca, if she does anything other than what she said she’d do, shut it down.’

“Aye aye,” said Orca in his head, before continuing, “Although she really is trying to establish some kind of protocol. She’s having issues, though. I suspect she’s not used to the systems of a prime unit. I’ll help her out.”

Orca began projecting her voice through the pedestal again, and the two technicians soon hit it off magnificently. Meanwhile, Ares could only sit and listen to them as they spoke in a language he could not decipher, not even with his translation software.

Meanwhile, Rex sat off to the side, studying Ares from a distance. Ares met the gaze of the kertal, who immediately shirked away from the eye-contact. There was something so familiar about that reaction, and Ares filed it away for when he went out to look for Rex’s other half.

If he really was at the Mimir Wells Academy, Ares would inadvertently have gained a follower. He was not against this, though he knew Sam would be more reticent. Perhaps there was a way to force his will through on the other side? Perhaps he could become Sam.

The strange thought felt natural, although Ares knew it should not be. He was Sam already; why would he need to become him? Mentally shuddering, he realized there was a hushed whisper running in the back of his mind. Wrath, no doubt.

Even though his infection was declining, it was still not zero. The infernal bird seemed intent on driving him insane, and Ares was not entirely sure it was unsuccessful so far. His two encounters with it had more than satisfied him as to how the infection could drive people insane. He felt insane.

“There, that should do it,” said Izzy, stepping back, “See if you can activate it, Ares.”

Brought out of his reverie, Ares filed through the skills available to him, immediately recognizing the one that Izzy had made available.

[Malware protection]

Skill level: 2 Module dependency: infection, computation Description Running protection against any malicious attacks against internal software and systems. Integrating this skill into the unit structure allows the user to protect both the unit and themselves against internal attacks. Greater mastery allows for greater response and active counter-attacks. Lifeforce cost: 13%

He gladly paid the lifeforce cost, and immediately put it into the skill slot where [Stereo Olfactory] had been. He could not even remember when he had activated this infected skill, which only made him more enthusiastic about getting the protection of this new skill.

“Got it,” he said, nodding his thanks to Izzy. She was proving herself vital to his survival. Had he fallen down here on his own, he would surely have lost the fight against wrath. Perhaps now he had a chance.

“We should reconsider our plan,” Rex said, speaking out for the first time since they had arrived at the safe zone. “Even if you can protect yourself against the voices, we can’t be sure when we will next find a safe zone like this before you lose your mind.”

“What do you propose?”

“I’ll go scout and find the next zone, then we can go straight there for you to take over. That way we can limit exposure as much as possible.”

Ares shook his head. While Rex had been effective with the ring-shaped weapon, he did not believe he could make it past the rat patrols and back in one piece, not without help. He said as much, and Izzy agreed when he explained what they were talking about.

“I may be able to help you out there,” said Orca, cherilly of course, from the pedestal. “With two domains under your control, I believe I can accurately pin-point the location of the surrounding areas, using the circumference and overlap between the circles of influence.”

This satisfied Rex, who had to admit he would probably not have gotten very far on his own. While Orca made the calculations, Ares looked through his storage, where their rations were beginning to dwindle.

Retrieving some foodstuffs, he offered some to Izzy and Rex, who were both running low on fuel, so to speak. He himself chewed on a piece of jerky, as he caught sight of the corpses he had collected.

While he had still been somewhat sane, he had thought there might be a way to remove the infection, and as it so happened, he was in an area where the infection was being suppressed. Curious to see what would happen, he retrieved the corpses and put them on the ground.

Their stink was not inconsiderably, and Izzy, especially, objected to the action, however the results were well worth the experiment. Relying on the information which his HUD displayed, Ares could see the infection stemming from the cores of the rats dwindle to nothing within a short while.

Carefully, he tore a piece from the rat — a very hairy leg — and began chewing away at it raw. His mechanical stomach had no issue dealing with the raw meat, and he received no prompt as to his infection rising. Satisfied, he next retrieved the core of the rat and chewed it down with a similar result.

No infection.

Relieved to know the issue of their rations could be solved, he chewed down another two cores, fully replenishing the lifeforce he had lost when buying his latest skill. Next, he went through an entire rat — again, under the stark objections of Izzy — and was satisfied when his energy stores reached as high as 80%.

He then received a new message, one he had not seen before, at least not in this form.

Consumption of grade A materials have increased unit level

Unit at level 2 A skill slot has been added Energy stores have increased Lifeforce capacity has increased User can now access higher levels without penalties Legacy [Solar Lens] has improved New ability [Domain] has been added New ability slot has been added

So that’s how it’s done, he thought, glad to finally be getting somewhere with the limitation that had frustrated his advance in user levels. That it also improved his legacy was a huge bonus, since it appeared to be the only thing keeping Wrath in check. Since that was the case, he resolved to eat even more in future.

Since he had both a new ability- and skill slot, he first locked in his three skills, which were now [Blade], [Malware Protection], and [Whip Mastery]. Then he looked through his ability options to look at the description of his newest addition.

[Domain]

The unit is able to channel the legacy into an area surrounding it, providing bonuses to the prime unit as well as subordinate units for its duration. Bonuses and Area Of Effect (AOE) is dependent on the status of the legacy.

Current AOE: r = 4 meters

Current bonuses

Mana boost: all energy attacks are boosted by mana

While not as potent as [Mana Rift], this ability might have more utility, especially if ‘subordinate units’ meant that Rex might be able to gain the bonuses as well. They would have to try it out later. He equipped [Domain] as his second ability and finally felt like he was prepared for the challenges ahead.

With Orca’s estimation, their route forward became clear. They set out once they had made their preparations, still intending to circling around the area of the rats. Once they exited Ares’ area of influence, he was relieved to find his infection rate did not immediately increase. On the other hand, they were soon met with heavy resistance from the rats.

Where once a group of rats would consist of three or four rats, they were not up to six or seven. They cut through the first group with relative ease, since the narrow passages meant the rats could not use their numerical advantage, but when they encountered the second group they quickly got into trouble.

Ares was the first to notice that something was wrong, since he could only see a single rat in front of them. Experience told him these critters never roamed alone, but he was unable to locate the others.

“Be careful,” he said over his shoulder before he engaged, lunging at the rat with a blade formed from his hand. The rat bared its teeth at him, and its bad breath managed to make him wrinkle his nose.

The rat parried his blow with its own tail and stopped his sharp blade. Surprised, Ares took note of the plates which were seemingly fused with the limb. He had seen this before, in a different variation, and decided it was probably important.

He was then blown backward when the rat jumped head-first into his stomach. Ares landed on his feet, but stumbled further back and was off balance. That was when the surprise came. At first it was just a scratching noise at the edge of his awareness, but soon he heard the crumbling of earth.

The rocky walls on his side suddenly opened up, and out from it a huge shape lunged. He ducked and whirled, trying to pivot away from the attack. Behind him, he saw more lumps of rock fall to the ground, as Izzy and Rex were attacked from the rear and the side.

He did not have time to help them. The dark shape grazed him, adding force to his spin. With the added power, Ares miscalculated and turned too far, leaving his side open for the attack of his first opponent.

It jumped, teeth bared and froth foaming from its mouth. Ares, allowing himself to turn fully around, activated [Mana Rift]. Fingers like claws, he ripped through the air before the rat. Four scratch marks ripped through the surrounding space, right in the path of the rat.

Too late to halt its momentum, the rat could only helplessly squeal as it hit the immovable rifts and was torn apart. Ares immediately shut down the rifts, conserving his energy, and prepared for next attack.

The dark shape that had come through the passage wall turned on him, and Ares could just barely make out something that looked like a metallic beak on an, otherwise, ordinary rat — if one looked past its giant size.

Seeing the fate of its compatriot, it did not try to lunge at him, but instead tried flank him, aided by a comrade coming from behind. Once they were out in the open, though, Ares’ proximity map picked up them, and he had already noticed what was afoot.

Behind him, the whirring noise of Rex’ attack told him they were still fighting. He spun around just as the dot behind came closer enough and surprised the rat completely. He cut it too pieces, while it still had a dumb expression on its rodent face.

He turned back to the flanking enemy, certain it would be following up with another attack. Instead, it had completely vanished. In the dark corridor, he could just barely spot a dark hole a few feet away from his position.

Shit

From below, the rat shot up, as if fired from a gun, its metallic beak aimed straight for Ares’ chest. Taken by surprise, Ares reached for the anger. It fueled him, and consumed him.

Infection rate at 2%

Knowing he had just let Wrath in, Ares met the attack with his blade, roaring with incensed anger. It was too close, though, for the blade to gather momentum. He hit with the base, just above where his hand should be, and only just managed to avoid the tip of the metal beak.

The collision between himself and the rat sent him reeling. The anger, now invoked, surged, and he felt how he reveled in the sensation.

Infection rate at 4%

He hit the wall of the passage and used the impact to stabilize himself. Raising the blade, he prepared to unleash his fury in full, when a buzzing noise ripped through the air. The rat with the metallic beak was cut in twain, leaving another stupid expression on its rodent face as it crumbled.

The whirling ring returned to Rex, and the kertal looked at him, its face hidden beneath its mask. For a moment, Ares thought he saw something akin to scorn in those eyes. Those red eyes. He blinked. Rex’s eyes were dark again. Or were they?

Flames slowly grew in his periphery vision.

Infection at 7%