The small one-person vessel Vari had used to reach Ye’sin orbited around the noxious yellow-green planet. It was not a place that hid its foulness behind a smokescreen. The very obscuring gasses were also the main toxins the planet had. Vari looked at the Purifying Moonflower in her hand. Now that she thought of it, she didn’t know how she was supposed to use it. Crush it up and eat it? Was there some process required to refine it into something usable?

It hardly mattered, because she really shouldn’t be landing anyway. This whole thing had been stupid. Working with Everheart? Really? Just because he claimed to be family? Sure, they had a mutual enemy- but Vari wanted to survive after them.

“Hey, niece!” the aforementioned individual appeared suddenly inside her ship. “Good, you haven’t taken that yet. I forgot to say that you shouldn’t ingest the moonflower.”

“So it’s just a fake, then?” Vari asked.

“Oh no, it will expel most of the toxins this planet has. Rather quickly, even,” Everheart nodded. “Opens your pores right up and practically explodes the toxins out. And then…”

“And then?” Vari raised an eyebrow.

“And then it does nothing,” Everheart finished.

“... so?” she tilted her head. If it worked, she just had to save it for when she needed it. So maybe that was why it was best she hadn’t ingested it.

“It specifically doesn’t close the pores,” Everheart pointed out. “And once the initial push happens, it doesn’t do anything further to remove toxic gasses. So they can seep into the body. And yes, they can seep through energy defenses as well. Otherwise this would hardly deserve its title of the most toxic planet in the Scarlet Midfields.”

“You sure know a lot about it,” Vari frowned. “Did you… make this place?”

“Oh, please,” Everhear laughed, waving his hand. “As if. That’s far too much work. No, I merely found it mostly like this. And then I might have augmented it a teensy bit.” He took a deep breath. “Ah, it’s nice to have real air for a few moments.” He clapped his hands. “Well, we’d better get down there. The trap has been set.”

“What if I don’t want to?” Vari asked.

“Want to… what? Kill the spear saint? Of course you do.”

“Not like this.”

“Is it the poison?” Everheart asked. “It’s mostly natural. Nothing wrong with using your environment against your enemies!”

Vari shook her head, focusing straight on the man. “I don’t want to be used as bait. Or fight alone. Or… with that spear.”

Everheart’s brow furrowed. “What’s wrong with the spear? Should make you stronger.”

“It controlled my body!” Vari exclaimed. “You can’t convince me it wouldn’t try to take over eventually.”

“... Huh,” Everheart looked stumped. “That’s… unexpected?” He walked over to pick up the spear- Luminous Heartpiercer. “Looks fine to me. Hasn’t changed.” He paced around the minimal room available. “You’re certain it controlled your body?”

Vari nodded. “Absolutely.”

“It’s not the formations,” Everheart declared. “None of the enchantments can do that.”

“It still did. Also…” Vari knew she probably shouldn’t push things- Everheart was much stronger than her, so she couldn’t really make demands. But she also couldn’t ignore some things. “Is this really Luminous Heartpiercer? While on planet I heard it was destroyed. A rumor that had spread recently in a very suspicious manner.”

“So?”

“I know that had to be you. Otherwise it wouldn't stick. So which was it, was it destroyed or is this it?” she pointed.

“This is it, of course,” Everheart said.

“And I’m supposed to believe you because…?” Vari shook her head. “You’re a notorious liar. How do I know you didn’t just make up the part where you’re my sort-of-uncle? You could have been lying to Anton, too.”

“Could’ve,” Everheart admitted. “Anyway, you don’t trust me. Good. You can just leave. But things will go more smoothly here if I have a bit of backup. I can’t exactly use Luminous Heartpiercer.”

“Why not?” Vari asked. “Do you have a better weapon?”

“Nope,” Everheart said. “But if this thing is possessing people, no way am I wielding it.” He tossed it towards Vari, who ducked out of the way.

“I don’t want it either then!” Vari retorted.

“Don’t worry,” Everheart said. “It could only be one of two people possessing that spear. They’d both have your best interests at heart.”

“And those would be…?”

“Your mother and your aunt, of course. I could probably figure it out with some effort, but enemy ships have just entered the system. So we’re going to have to hurry this along. Go ahead, pick it up. You’ll need it.”

“How would I know it’s as you say?” Vari frowned.

“It’s simple. Pick it up right now. And let your body act as it will for a moment.”

“... If dead people can possess weapons, I’ll figure out how to possess the thing most annoying to you if this goes wrong.”

“It’s just lingering will, so it’s not quite the same, but the terminology was fami- whoa there.” Vari had picked up the spear, and immediately tried to stab through Everheart’s midsection. “Yep, it’s definitely one of those sisters.”

“Wouldn’t this be my mother, if you were my aunt’s lover?” Vari asked, the spear moving her on its own, in practiced maneuvers her body could not keep up with.

“Hah, if only that meant she wouldn’t want to stab me…” Everheart laughed. “Can you please resist now?”

Vari resisted, and her body stopped. She just felt an itch. “Maybe I should let them.”

“Can that wait?” Everheart said with annoyance. “This whole attack thing is happening. We need to get down to the surface.”

“I’d just die,” Vari pointed out.

“Oh yeah.” Everheart pulled out a small, spiny fruit. “Chomp on that. It’ll protect your internals for a day, approximately. Speaking of which, I should refresh.” Everheart did as instructed with one of his own. “Now it is a bit-”

“Bleergh,” Vari nearly lost the previous day’s lunch because of the taste.

“Bitter and sour,” Everheart continued. “But once you get it down your stomach will settle.”

“Wait why did I eat that?” Vari asked. “I don’t even want to help you.”

“So about the formations I set up,” Everheart said, completely ignoring her comments. “Sometimes the spear will be good. Use it then. And when it’s bad, use your normal techniques. Pretty simple.”

Vari had to make sure she was controlling her own body, but it seemed she was in control. Just stupid, for actually going along with the flow. Maybe it was a genetic flaw. Either way, she wasn’t willing to abandon this crazy old asshole just yet.

“Oh right,” Everheart said. “Make sure to slather your pores with the mud when we land. That will complete your protection.”

-----

She could feel him, well before the incoming forces landed. The spear saint, Damjan Atanasov. The name was not known publicly, but Vari wanted to distinguish him from her aunt as much as possible.

It was crazy that she was going to fight him. Well, presumably Everheart was going to be the one fighting him. Wherever he was. He was the Augmentation cultivator, after all. Vari was just… actually, she was past the mid stage of Integration. Not necessarily a match, but beyond where she thought she’d end up. That was the fault of the Holy Harmony Technique.

“False saint!” A voice rang from above, tearing through the toxic atmosphere. “You will surrender your demonic weapon, then you will be judged fairly so that harmony might reign! Your filthy appearance merely cements your inner foulness!”

Vari almost threw up- again. Not from the stupid thorny death fruit- though it didn’t help- but from the thought that she would have once gone along with this guy. This was the time that Everheart should show up and provide a response. But he didn’t. The filthy appearance thing was just dumb, but she was covered in dried mud now. It felt awful, but she also didn’t have toxins seeping into her pores, so that was something.

“... I’m a false saint?” Vari retorted. “You’re not even the original spear saint. I’m sure there are plenty of people alive who recall the spear saint being a woman mere centuries ago, before you slew her in an ambush.” Apparently, there were lot of thoughts inside Vari that wanted to come out. “And another thing… all of your saints, and this separation of techniques to suppress those judged inferior… no forced to be inferior… it’s garbage!”

Her spear stabbed towards the sky, and though a shockwave pierced a hole in the atmosphere, it did not clear the all-pervasive fog. After all, it was the atmosphere. It wasn’t possible to get rid of it by pushing it around.

Vari thought there was going to be more shouting. Instead, she felt herself being pierced through with a spear. A figure was in front of her, covering the distance between them in a fraction of an instant. She couldn’t stand up. Except, Luminous Heartpiercer parried his blow. She only felt the killing intent, not an actual wound. More importantly… had not her advancement to Integration been for this very purpose? To go against the saints?

And to… draw power from them. “You swore protection, but you intended only to drain people dry.” Luminous Heartpiercer moved with Vari’s intent, but not her understanding. Instead, the spear fought on its own, making use of her power. That meant Vari could focus on pulling on that thread as much as possible- because no matter how good her weapon she simply could not stand up to an Augmentation cultivator. The first blow had been casual, she could tell that now. The following dozen moves were testing her power.

“You.” Damjan narrowed his eyes. “You dare steal the devotion that is rightfully mine? And your face… hmph, a mere trick.”

A dozen insubstantial spears appeared around Vari, locking in her movements. In what seemed like slow motion, the spear saint stabbed forward- and Vari’s body didn’t move. Closer and closer, until finally… Vari kicked aside the incoming spear. The phantom spears attempted to pierce her, but they were likewise slow and awful.

Spears were… bad now? She really wished Everheart had been clear about what that meant.

Regardless of the mechanics, it only provided her a moment of safety, as dozens of others swarmed down around them. Most wielding spears, but a few others gathered from different parts of the Harmonious Citadel. And now she was going to die, because she was stupid and trusted Everheart to help her, or fight her own battle.

Damjan took a deep- and painful- breath. “Looks like it’s time. I don’t know who you truly are, girl, but you’re not the only one who can get their hands on Purifying Moonflower.”

Vari watched him take out the white flower, chew on it, swallow. She could both see and feel the toxins pushing out of them. Was that why he was suddenly weaker? But why had Luminous Heartbreaker stopped fighting?

She didn’t have time to ponder that, as she was rapidly being pinned in. She should have already turned to run, but the whole situation was weird. The spear saint raised his weapon.

“Hey! Pinprick!” A voice echoed from nowhere. “Still like impaling the young ones? Well too bad, it’s axe time!”

None of what the voice said made any sense. Well, Vari had some idea. Clearly, Everheart was trying to make the spear saint mad. Wouldn’t really change if he killed Vari though, he’d just do it while angry.

Then the world was cloven in two, starting just in front of Vari until past the spear saint. For an instant, she could clearly see, including the small but very real line on the spear saint’s shoulder. Then there was a sonic boom as the momentary vacuum collapsed. Everheart landed in front of Vari, holding an axe with a blade nearly his size. She hadn’t seen that one in their sparring.

Vari still wasn’t sure how to react, but as the enemies collapsed inward most of them focused on Everheart, rightly judging him as the true threat. Vari couldn’t do much except protect herself, batting away spear and sword and a pair of daggers. There was also an axe, which she found disturbingly difficult to block. It almost tore right through her bracer as she blocked. Then, it suddenly lost momentum.

Behind her, she could feel Everheart suddenly swap to a pair of daggers himself. And then Everheart and the daggers turned into a half dozen more of each. The extra projections moved to block the extra incoming enemies, so Vari was left with only four opponents, but one of them was strangely augmented. Did that mean it was dagger time now? And why would Everheart augment any of these people to be stronger?