A Lightbearer of Two Worlds

by FallenDispair

This is He Who Fights With Monsters world taking the background lore of destiny, altered with the multiverse theme of Will Wight's Cradle Series. A much more mature Jason, older and having severed as an Australian special forces soldier. He's dealt with killing and isn't nearly as immature and naive as cannon Jason. A reworking of my Outworlder Guardian story. Better sum inside.

2. Chapter 2

A Lightbearer of Two Worlds

I don't own squat, all rights reserved for Will Wight and Shirtaloon (largely his world/rewrite)

Chapter 2: Powers and Cellar Battle

The tablet grew extremely hot as it lit up like a bonfire, forcing Jason to drop it. But instead of falling to the ground it flowed up and back before exploding into an orb of pure white light the size of a car, nearly scrapping against the room's walls and ceiling.

Despite the blinding light, Jason's eyes couldn't look away as it didn't actually blind him, and it gave off the feeling of primordial creation. Like it was the light of all existence itself was bearing down on him, filling him up with unrepented hope and life. All his aches, pains and worry disappeared as if they'd never been there in the first place.

Around the edges of the white sun were ripples in reality, as if it'd torn through existence itself, yet it did so harmoniously. Jason wasn't afraid of it, though cautious all the same. He wondered what it was he'd just summoned and what would happen if he didn't have the spark to bond with the Ghost of the Creator.

The orb instantly condensed down to the size of his head and coalesced into a floating machine entity slightly larger than a human hand came into being. It consisted of a spherical core with a single glowing "eye", which was surrounded by a "shell" of several pieces that were slightly separated and rotating around the center sphere.

The shell consisted of eight roughly tetrahedral segments colored white with orange highlights.

The Ghost made a mechanical sound as grides of light poured out of its eye and scanned Jason from head to foot and deep down to his soul. He could feel it analyze his very being. Then the scan stopped, and the Ghost made a positive beeping noise.

"Spark of Soul-Light detected," the Ghost exclaimed, "I've found my partner."

Then the little machine of light fully separated into pieces and shot into his body in the form of light. They bonded together, forming a neural symbiosis between them. But it didn't stop there as Jason could feel the power of the Ghost's light saturating every cell of his body, and its light filled his soul with a soothing, healing power that seemed to ease the old wounds that have battered it.

You have the [Spark of Light] necessary to bond with [Ghost] and become a half-transcendent being.

[Ghost] is offering the essence combination: [Solar, [Arc, [Void] and [Genesis] for you to absorb before the transfiguration is completed.

Warning: Once you become a gestalt entity you will be unable to absorb essences.

Absorb essences Y/N?

Jason could feel a buildup of power within himself, but was held back by an invisible force, waiting on him to decide. It irked him greatly that if he refused the chosen powers he'd be unable to get others. Of course, the Court of Seven was forcing in a particular direction. He'd already allowed the ghost inside his very soul and there was no turning back now so, why not gain more powers. If it had power over him now, adding a bit more wouldn't matter. Besides, he could really use those guns right about now.

Jason gave his irritated mental accent.

You have absorbed [Solar Essence].

You have absorbed 1 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 25% (1 of 4 essences).

[Solar Essence] has bonded to your [Recovery] attribute, changing your [Recovery] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all solar essence abilities to increase your [Recovery] attribute.

[]

You have awakened the solar essence ability [Unhesitating Hunt* (solar).

You have awakened 1 of 5 solar essence abilities.

Ability: [Unhesitating Hunt] (solar)
Conjuration (weapon, projectile)

Base cost: Moderate mana to conjure.

Cooldown: None

Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)

Effect (iron): Conjures a magical sniper rifle (weapon) that fires solar rounds capable of healing allies and hurting foes that cause a burning effect to target at a cost of high mana per shot. Landing precision hits builds a super charge that can be used to activate [Golden Shot].

Effect: [Golden Shot].
[Golden Shot: Supercharged solar round that can instantly annihilate a single foe or fully restore the health of an ally of equal or lower rank.

Effect: Inflicts [Burning].
[Burning] (damage-over-time, stacking): Inflicts ongoing fire damage until healed. When healed consumes an instant of [Heal] instead of restoring health. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.

Effect: Inflicts [Radiant Support]
[Radiant Support] (healing, stacking): Firing at allies with this weapon heals them, with rapid healing increasing weapon damage and bestowing restoration to your allies.

[]

You have absorbed [Arc Essence].

You have absorbed 2 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 50% (2 of 4 essences).

[Arc Essence] has bonded to your [Speed] attribute, changing your [Speed] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all arc essence abilities to increase your [Speed] attribute.

[]

You have awakened the Arc essence ability [Divinity].

You have awakened 1 of 5 arc essence abilities.

Divinity: [Mana Trace Rifle] (Arc)

Conjuration (weapon, fusion beam)

Base cost: Moderate mana to conjure.

Cooldown: None

Current rank: Iron 0 (00%)

Effect (iron): Conjures a magical trace rifle (weapon). Fires concentrated arc beam that inflicts sustained disruptive force damage at a cost of low mana per second. Reduced damage to bronze rank and above.

Effect: Judgement
[Judgement] (stacking, holy): Sustained damage with this weapon envelops the target in a field that weakens and stuns them. Additional instances have a cumulative effect. While the field is up the target will take increased damage from all sources by a factor of 2. Prolonged exposure to [Judgement] will enact the [Penance] effect.

Effect: Penance
[Penance] (holy, transcendent damage): Targets under the effects of [Judgement] long enough are struck with a burst of moderate transcendent damage as the [Judgement] field collapses.

[]

You have absorbed [Void Essence].

You have absorbed 3 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 75% (3/4 essences).

[Void Essence] has bonded to your [Spirit] attribute, changing your [Spirit] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all void essence abilities to increase you [Spirit] attribute.

[]

You have awakened the void essence ability [Graviton Commemoration].*

You have awakened 1 of 5 void essence abilities.
Ability: [Graviton Commemoration] (void)
Conjuration (weapon, projectile)

Base cost: Moderate mana to conjure.

Cooldown: None

Iron 0 (00%)

Effect (iron): Conjured magical machine gun that fires 450 rounds per minute that rip a hole through space-time, doing moderate transcendent damage and recoil with no falloff.

Effect: Cataclysm
[Cataclysm] (transcendent, tracking): Kills with this weapon cause enemy targets to detonate and spawn Void orbs that track targets, exploding upon making contact.

[]

You have automatically absorbed the confluence essence, [Genesis Essence].

You have absorbed 4 of 4 essences.
Progress to iron rank: 100% (4/4 essences).

[Genesis Essence] has bonded to your [Power] attribute, changing your [Power] from normal to [Iron 0]. Master all genesis essence abilities to increase your [Power] attribute.

[]

You have awakened the genesis essence ability [Outbreak Perfected].

You have awakened 1 of 5 genesis essence abilities.

Ability: [Outbreak Perfected] (Genesis)

Ability Type: Conjuration (weapon).

Cost: moderate mana to conjure.

Cooldown: None.

Current Rank: Iron 0 (00%)
Effect (iron): Conjure magical pulse rifle (weapon). Fires SIVA nanite rounds that cause ongoing small amount of resonating-force damage as they break down the physical material of the target. Repeated hits has an accumulative effect.

Effect: Virulence
[Virulence] (stacking, resonating-force damage): Kills release a SIVA nanite swarm that attacks other nearby enemies, devouring physical matter.

A light started emerging from within Jason's body. It was a strange, grey light, washing out the colors of everything it touched, from the tapestries on the wall to the pool of blood around the corpse.

You have absorbed 4/4 essences.

All your attributes have reached iron rank.

You have reached iron rank.

You have gained damage reduction against normal-rank damage sources.

You have gained increased resistance to normal-rank effects.

You have gained the ability to sense auras.

You have gained the ability to sustain yourself using sources of concentrated magic.

Then the light coming from his body turned silver as it poured from his mouth and his eyes as his mouth was wide open in a silent scream, shining through his skin to make his veins and even his skeleton visible. The pain began early, not just from his body but his soul. It was a level of agony he'd never experienced before and he suddenly felt like he was back in a damp basement, being tortured. The feeling of emotional anguish as he was being forced to watch children he'd tried to save being beheaded, one after the other. His son withering away, unable to understand why he was so tired all time and hurt. Unable to fully grasp that he was dying. Lowering his small coffin into the earth.

All of it consumed him in that deep, soul searing pain that felt like his body and soul were being torn apart and then woven back together. All while the light grew brighter but beneath it was the warmth and comfort of the Ghost that quickly burst through the pain, soothing it to a more bearable level.

Jason's newly acquired clothing disintegrated around him, his skin becoming increasingly translucent. The veins and arteries in his body were absorbed, vanishing as his body moved away from the human norm. Only his bones and the scar over his right eye remained visible in his increasingly transparent flesh.

Jason's flesh completed the transition to translucency, making his scar stand out all the more. The white bones of his skeleton were transformed into silver metal. Once that process was complete, an amorphous murk appeared within his translucent form, like a stain. It moved to the surface of his body and splattered out, landing on the floor in gobbets of rancid ichor, forming sizable puddles of stench as it just keep pouring out in larger and larger gobbets.

Jason staggered and fell to his hands and knees, mind consumed in absolute pain, more and more of the impurities flowing out of him. His body once more started to take on a fleshy opacity. The light coming from his body slowly dimmed to nothing.

You have successfully bonded with [Ghost] of the Creator.

Your race has changed from [Outworlder] to [Lightbearer].

Having soul-bound with Ghost has caused several racial gift evolutions.

Racial gift [Astral Affinity] has evolved to [Nirvanic Transfiguration].

Ability: [Nirvanic Transfiguration]
Your body and soul has been combined into a gestalt entity both physical and spiritual in nature. This state will grant inherent resistance to effects that utilize the soul-body disconnect. The nature of your body makes you immune to all revival effects besides your own revival abilities and transcendent effects. Your soul has a significantly increased resistance to corruption.

The strength of your aura has significantly increased.
The strength of your attributes has significantly increased.
Your resistance to hostile dimension effects and disruptive force damage has been increased. This is an enhancement of the [Astral Affinity] ability.
The effect of your dimension effects and your transcendent damage has been increased. This is a legacy effect of the [Astral Affinity] ability.
Physical reality around you is more stable. You are be able to sense nearby astral space apertures and proto-astral spaces coterminous to your location.

You are able to traverse astral space apertures, including those that are closed or have been sealed.
You are able to directly enter proto-astral spaces coterminous with your location or directly leave a proto-astral space to a coterminous location
While within the astral, you are able to create and maintain a small zone of physical reality around you. This does not grant the ability to enter or traverse the astral.

Ghost has access to all your racial abilities.

Your Ghost will be able to restore large amounts of your health, stamina and mana. The cooldown between each restorative effect will shorten with each advancement in rank.

When suffering lethal damage, your Ghost will revive you, restoring your body to a state of full integrity. This effect cannot be triggered again until you have increased in rank from the last time it was used. This ability will change on reaching diamond rank.

You have gained a permanent transcendent shield -resistant to all damage types- that ignores rank disparity. The strength and recovery of which will be congruent with your rank.

You have gained a heal-over-time effect that recovers a small amount of health, mana and stamina. This effect's strength is congruent to your rank.

You have gained immunity to iron rank afflictions and increased resistances to higher ranked afflictions. This effect will grow in congruent with your rank.

[]

Ability [Mana Engine] (Lightbearer)
Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Quest System]

Acquire more/rarer items from looting monsters.

All mana costs: essence abilities, rituals, racial abilities and summons are greatly reduced. Mana capacity and recovery rate is significantly increased. Able to revert health into mana.

Currently active quests can still be completed but no new ones will generate.

[]

Ability [Soul Vault] (Lightbearer)
Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Inventory]

You have a dimensional storage space.

As a gestalt entity your body and soul are in a state that is both physical and spiritual. This has made your dimensional storage space a physical space that you and others can enter by calling up a gate.

Only those who implicitly trust you will be able to enter your soul vault. Anything short of complete trust will prevent them from entering. You may seal the vault against any or all individuals. It is not possible to break into the soul vault by anyone without existing access to your soul, such as through Entropic Seed, Hive Larvae or divinely granted essence ability.

Anyone in your spirit vault is under your power. They cannot use abilities or affect anything within the vault, including you and each other, with limited exceptions.

You and bonded entities such a Ghost or familiars can affect people within your vault in almost any way, except for violating their souls, although you can attack their souls. They may be protected from your influence through a connection to a foreign element in your soul, if present, such as a Hive Larvae, Entropic Seed or divinely granted essence ability.

You can expel or trap anyone within your soul vault, although individuals with a significantly greater soul sense than you may be able to force their way out. Individuals may resist expulsion through a connection to a foreign element in your soul.

[]

Ability: [Tactical Map] (Lightbearer)
Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Map].

Self-updating map. Unveils as areas are explored.

A small, semi-opaque map allows tracking of nearby allies and enemies.

This is a tracking effect.

[]

Ability: [Ghost Interface] (Lightbearer)
Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Interface].

Interpret reality through a recognizable medium.

You have access to a contact list. You can form a party by sending invitations through the contact list.

Party members can access interface features so long as they remain in the party.

Party members have access to party chat and voice chat. These functions have limited range.

Identify items, monsters and individuals directly by touch or through Ghost's scanning ability.

Able to Loot from dead enemies. Ghost is able to Loot for you from a distance.

[]

Ability: [Protection of the Vanguard] (Lightbearer)
Transfigured from [Outworlder] ability [Mysterious Gunslinger]

Language adaption. Essence, awakening stone and skill-book absorption. Immunity to identification and tracking effects.

Creates armor scaled to your current rank carrying the embodiment of the Titan's Protection at a high mana cost to conjure.

Increases power to all shield abilities; racial, ritual and essence.

Jason wasn't able to put much stock on all the changes to his abilities as he started projectile vomiting the foul sludge. Finally, he fell unconscious, dropping into a pool of his own body fluids. A terrifying stench was coming off of him that could have given the rainbow smoke a run for its money. Even in unconsciousness, pus and vomit fought their way free of his body, forming a puddle larger than Landemere's simple blood one.

---

Jason woke with a start, a god-awful stench making him gag. It was the worse scent he'd ever smelled, like a pig corpse that had rolled around a pile of crap and trash sludge. Arguably as bad as the rainbow smoke. He got on his hands and knees to crawl and get away from it, only for the stench to follow him. Looking at his bare body, the only recent addition of pants destroyed, to see it covered in grime.

Then he saw the pool of the same grime on the floor beneath him.

That was when he realized the stench was coming from it and him. He stood looking for something he could use to get rid of the filth clinging to him. He was unsteady on his feet, stumbling and almost falling as he took a step, squelching in more of the ichor all around him. He felt profoundly different, like he was connected to the universe as new senses awoke with newfound strength. He'd never felt so fit, healthy and strong before.

Unfortunately, his sense of smell was also stronger, making the smell of rotted flesh coated in sewage stuck to his skin and puddled around him all the more prominent. He ended up ripping off a tapestry from the wall and wiping off what he could from his face and hands. The sludge was a horrid mix of things that stank to high heaven and that he didn't want to know what it was composed of.

The entire tapestry was ruined before removing just enough to feel like he wasn't wearing a second skin of it on his head and hands.

"This isn't helping," he growled out angrily. "And the smell isn't going away. Ughh, what in the bloody hell is this gunk? Did it all come out of me?"

He shuddered at the thought.

The floating eye manifested out of Jason in an instant flash of white lines and answered, "Yes, that substance is the impurities of your body being expunged." Its segmented shell moved and its glowing blue mechanical eye flashed with every word it spoke.

"Impurities?" Jason replied incredulously. "I'm not that impure. I eat healthy and exercise more than most. I drink... well not a much anymore and don't do drugs so, there's no way that all came from me."

The Ghost just floated quietly for an awkwardly silent moment before speaking, "The amount had more to due with the extreme to which your body was purified, and the fact that the process of becoming an Outworlder remade your body out of low quality magic."

"Wait, remade my body? Is that why my tattoos and most of my scars are gone?"

"Yes, Guardian."

Jason waited for the Ghost to further explain, only for it to just silently float in front of him.

"Uhh... what exactly does that mean?" his brow twitched irritably, though it was hard to notice with the lack of hair.

"When you were pulled from your iteration through the astral, your body was annihilated as physical reality can't survive the pure magic of the astral. Only your soul, an object of the purest magical substance, survived the transition of the astral to this world. Acting as the blueprint of your body and mind, your soul reconstituted your body from the ambient magic of the world, like a monster."

"Wait... my body was destroyed?"

"Yes."

"So, I died."

"From a biological point of view, yes, you died."

"And I'm no longer human?"

"Yes, when individuals pass through the astral and are reborn in a new world like you were, they become outworlders. Then by allowing me to bond with your soul, the Creator's primordial energy recreated you into a gestalt entity called a Lightbearer."

Then the Ghost's eye glowed brighter than normal and his character screen popped up.

Jason Asano Race: Lightbearer

Current rank: iron Progression to bronze rank: 0%

Attributes:

[Power] (genesis essence): iron (light enhanced)

[Speed] (arc essence): iron (light enhanced)

[Spirit] (void essence): iron (light enhanced)

[Recovery] (solar essence): iron (light enhanced)

Racial Abilities (Lightbearer):

[Ghost Interface]

[Mana Engine]

[Soul Vault]

[Tactical Map]

[Nirvanic Transfiguration]

[Protection of the Vanguard]

Essences (4/4): Solar Essence [Recovery Attribute]

Arc Essence [Speed Attribute]

Void Essence [Spirit Attribute]

Genesis Essence [Power Attribute]

"Huh," Jason said curiously, "My race did change again, along with all of my racial abilities. I'd be more surprised if I actually knew more about magic, but as far as I am concerned anything is possible."

"That's a wise outlook to have Guardian," the Ghost agreed. "There are many unexplainable aspects of existence that even the Warlocks have yet to decipher."
"Warlocks?"

"They're the magic experts and researchers of the Abidan. They spend most of their time studying the underlining systems of magic and developing new arrays and rituals."

"Abidan?" Jason drew out, even more confused. "You keep saying things like I'm supposed to know what they mean."

"Oh, sorry about that Guardian," The Ghost apologized. "I forgot to download the basic information packet to your brain."

"Wait, my brain!"

Jason didn't get much further in his concerns when his mind was hit by a sudden sharp pain, like someone had just plunged a knife into his skull. It was followed up by a flaring, burning sensation as knowledge flooded his brain.

---

Jason must have blacked out as he woke on the ground, curled up in a ball and grasping his head in both hands. He groaned pitifully as he rose back up to his feet, a fresh coating of sludge on his body as he landed in the large puddle of the rancid substance. After wiping his face again, sputtering out the bit that got in his mouth, he gave the floating eye a scathing glare.

The damnable robotic eye just floated there, nonplused by Jason's glare. He kept up the glare for a solid minute before he rubbed his face in exasperation and sighed out, "You could have warned me before cracking open my skull and pouring in enough knowledge to knock me out cold."

"My apologies, Guardian. I forget how fragile iron ranked organic minds are but at least you're not confused about the Abidan, the Creator and the astral magic that brought you here."

"Fair, but I didn't appreciate falling face first into my own... impurities," he dead panned.

"Everything comes at a cost, Guardian," the Ghost defended itself. "You got cosmic secrets very few mortals ever get to know, and all it cost was some minor pain and being dunked into your own filth."

Jason wanted to argue but he knew that the Ghost was right. Every skill, item and relationship he has ever had came at a cost. Training, work, money and actions to get them. Tyler's life for all those he'd taken. A cost for everything. Hell, he even died to gain magic powers. He'd learned a lot about his situation and the broader workings of reality so, it was an easy price to pay.

Though it was also disconcerting to know all reality was created by a single, paracausal entity that was in a never ending battle with its opposite that sought to devour all existence. The Abidan being the organization made by mortal beings that grew strong enough to leave their iterations and into the astral. Then bonding themselves with the Creator, a Great Astral Being and aid it in expanding reality and fighting off the Darkness of the Void.

It made him feel extraordinarily small and insignificant but was soothed by the possibility of rising to that level himself. At least of the level of Abidan Judges, not the Creator of all physical reality.

"How long was I out?" Jason asked, moving past the annoyance and depressing thoughts.

"Seven minutes, forty-eight seconds."

"I know now that my rank-up was magically loud, so how long before we're noticed?" Jason asked the Ghost. "I know of the fact not the nuance."

"We most likely went undetected as this is a dedicated ritual room," the floating eye explained. "Shielded to prevent the ritual effects from messing with the area's ambient magic too drastically and the senses of essence users. What little was felt was most likely written off as another ritual performed by the now deceased Vroshir acolyte. Which was well done, Guardian. Vroshir are threats to reality that need to be destroyed."

"Yeah," Jason admitted. "That also means we have some time to get ready."

Jason then noticed a small circular, semi-opaque map in his periphery, revealing his current position as the center. With a thought, he pulled it up and expanded it, revealing where he has already explored. There were two red dots near the edge of the maze, most likely the two cannibals he'd over heard at the well.

"Neat upgrade," he mused. "Very useful in combat and will be helpful in dodging cannibals. Let's see what else changed."

Then he pulled up the Ghost Interface and Nirvanic Transfiguration abilities and read through their effects.

"You can use my racial abilities?" he asked the Ghost.

"Yes, as we are intrinsically linked, we are seen by reality as a single gestalt entity. I am you and you are me."

"That's... weirdly neat... I guess." Jason replied awkwardly. "Wait, if you're me, do you know everything I do?"

"Yes," the Ghost answered simply, not expanding on the notion at all.

"Alright then," Jason said to break the silence and read his Soul Vault's abilities. There was a lot to that one, like Nirvanic Transfiguration but hard to grasp. "I can enter my soul?"

"Yes."

"Like physically enter it."

"Correct."

"How? It'd be like crawling into my own stomach... an impossible feat."

"You operate on an existential level that is no longer limited to literal, physical understandings of reality. To simplify: because of magic."

Jason just sighed and decided the exact way such a thing worked wasn't important. However, there was one sticking point that had to be discussed, "I need to know if I'm suddenly some form of follower of this Creator bloke? You see, I have a few issues with kneeling to some all-powerful, immortal god... and religion in general. Do I have to pray to the Creator and be all obedient. Because, and this is a fair warning, I don't do blind obedience. Caused all sorts of issues back when I was in the military. Probably why I never made it past Lieutenant despite all my success."

"The Creator does not communicate or demand anything from its Guardians," his Ghost explained. "Several Lightbearers have actually gone rouge and became warlords that oppressed entire worlds of people, even joining the Vroshir. The only requisite the Creator has for receiving its light, its power, is having the spark of light within them, and following the tenants of the Eledari Pact. The Lightbearers chose to form the Abidan and serve in protecting reality and the Creator. You have no obligation to join the Abidan upon ascending, just never directly intervein with physical realities from then on."

"That sounds good, but I really wished you'd told me about that before I let you literally into my soul," Jason deadpanned.

"You already assumed such a possibility when you activated the token that summoned me," the Ghost reminded him. "Even knowing all that you do now, you'd have still bonded with me for the power to protect others. Losing your son-"

"Don't," Jason growled, pained fury heavy in the single word.

"Despite your loss," the Ghost continued softly, laced with deep sympathy and understanding, "you are, at your very core, a Guardian. Protecting others, removing the evils of the world gives you purpose."

Jason gritted his teeth as he knew it was true. It was his lack of purpose that made him truly feel empty, more so than his son's death. Which sickened him all the more. The Ghost knew everything about him, it was in his head after all. So, there was no point in arguing with the floating eye. He moved on by looking at his mana engine ability which was a mixed bag. On one side, it was an OP boost to his mana and abilities. The other side was that he wouldn't be getting free stuff anymore for doing what he already planned to do.

Between the two, he'd pick the mana engine over the quests. More available options in battle that could very well save his life were better than some free money and items that'd make his life easier. No point to being rich if you wind up dead.

In that same fashion, the protection of the vanguard was a boon over the mysterious gunslinger ability. He'd already gotten the weapons the ability would give and now he had armor.

"Do you have a name or is it just Ghost?" Jason asked his soul bound companion, moving along and figuring he should know the name of someone that close to him.

"No. I do not have a name. I am a Ghost formed from the Creator's light. It's not my name."

"Seeing as we're so close, do you mind if I give you a name?" Jason asked the being bound to his soul.

"That's fine Guardian. I've known several Ghosts that have been given names by their respective Lightbearers. It'd be an honor to finally have a name all my own."

"Just Jason is fine, preferred in fact. Actually, you keep calling me guardian when my race says Lightbearer. Why is that?"

"Because that's what Lightbearers have insisted on being called for well over three million years now," the Ghost informed. "Originally they were called Lightbearers but seeing as they dedicate themselves to guarding reality, they chose to adopt a more fitting name."

"But aren't they all Abidan?"

"Yes, but not all Abidan are Lightbearers. A rare few souls have the spark to bond with the Creator's Light. Even so, Diamond rankers that wish to join aren't turned away from contributing to the expansion and protection of reality. Joining whatever division their skills can best contribute to."

"Okay," Jason drew out the word awkwardly. "Moving on. Do you have any ideas as to what you want to be called? It's your name after all."

The Ghost just floated there, its shell rotating as it looked at Jason, "No. I await your decision, Guardian Jason."

Jason sighed at the ghost's inability to not call him a guardian. "Hmm. As for your name..." he rubbed his chin in one hand as he thought. "...hmmm... Gordon. Yeah. That seems good. Nice to meet you, Gordon."

The newly named Ghost's shell parted wide as it rotated and made what appeared to be a happy beeping noise. "Gordon. I like it. Thank you, Guardian Jason."

Jason had wanted to ask a million more questions -the most prominent being how to get home, but now wasn't the time seeing as he was in enemy territory and had wasted enough time already. Though he still wanted know one thing. The information dump lobbed into his brain didn't include magic theory of any kind. It was more and along the broad strokes of the multiverse system of reality and how he'd been sucked from his universe by a magical accident of some kind from this universe, most likely from this very location.

But thankfully, the skill book he absorbed had.

"Gordon, do you know how I was brought to this world?"

Gordon bobbed up and down and made a few beeping sounds before moving to scan the ritual circle.

"Based off the residual magic from the ritual circle, the summoning ritual done here failed. The summoning missed its intended target and accidently brought you here. Which was for the best as whatever a Vroshir acolyte was trying bring here would be bad for the world. It's also why lesser monster are roaming about as the fluctuations in the ambient magic caused by the ruined ritual, manifested them."

Quest: [No, Shirt, No Shoes, No Service]

Objective complete: Discover the reason lesser monsters have infested the area 1/1.

[Simple Shirt] has been added to your inventory.

Quest complete.

100 [Iron Spirit Coins] have been added to your inventory.

Jason mentally dismissed the prompt, more concerned about being sucked from his world to this one, not even caring that he was still naked and covered in filth. Or that the prompt was right in that his current quests could still be completed. His body had been destroyed as he traversed the astral, his soul being strong enough to make the trip, but something had stepped in and gave him the tokens.

On that note he realized he had items that'd awaken more of his magic powers. The awakening stones of the Builder, Spider, Titan and Hunter. With the new context from his Ghost, Jason understood they were from judges of the Court of Seven.

"Huh, so, some of the most powerful beings in all existence are gifting me things," Jason mused suspiciously. "First the token that summoned you and the one from the Phoenix that I can't fully identify... can you?"

"No, it's too high a level," Gordon answered. "I am limited to your current rank."

Jason narrowed his eyes at the floating eye, "You know what it does, don't you? Its from the Phoenix that serves your... uh... father?"

"Creator," the Ghost corrected, "and yes, I know what it does."

He waited for Gordon to elaborate, only for it just bob up and down quietly. His hairless brow twitched irritably as he ground out, "And that would be?"

"To resurrect you upon dying."

"I thought you do that."

"I do, but at your current level of magical power I'm limited to just once per rank until you hit diamond rank."

"Right... not entirely sure what diamond rank is but I can infer that's a powerful stage of power."

"Yes."

"So, the phoenix token is an additional get out of dying card," Jason stated oddly. "Between all the investments in keeping me alive and these stones that will give me powers from some of your head honchos, I'm feeling like the Abidan are trying to manipulate me into doing something. You wouldn't happen to know what they want from me, do you, Gordon?"

"No, I do not," Gordon answered so firmly that it made him suspicious.

"Are you lying to me?" Jason accused.

Gordon's eye flashed brightly and its shell rotated irritably as the little guy was affronted. "I'd never lie to you, my Guardian. We are bound to each other so completely that we're practically the same being. My loyalty, any Ghost's loyalty will always be to their bonded partner above all else. Not even the Creator that gave us life could get me to lie and betray you."

"Alright, alright," Jason raised his hands up in surrender, "you're not lying to me. I believe you, I can even feel how upset you are about just the idea of lying to me. Which is weird, but I'm sorry for making the accusation."

The glow in Gordon's eye returned to normal and its shell slowed down to its normal pace, "You are forgiven, Guardian."

Jason held in the sigh and asked, "Can you guess what they are up to?"

"With the Abidan, it has to have something to do with preserving physical reality. The pact with the Creator makes them incapable of directly interfering with physical worlds unless they are directly attacked by the Vroshir or Fiends. But the Vroshir has devised ways to work around it by using mortal proxies, gifted with powers, items, and knowledge on how to peel away pieces of reality attached to worlds. Technically leaving the world intact, though damaged, but through mortal means.

"The Abidan have been gifting essences, awakening stones and racial abilities. Though, you're the first mortal I've ever heard of being allowed to bond with one of my kind. Not counting all those racial gifts from various Judges. Usually an individual only gets the attention of one, maybe two Judges. This entire situation is new to me, but you must be important if the Creator even chose to gift you with me. It never interacts with those of physical realities."

Jason rubbed his temples at the complexity of it all, him being a cog piece in some master plan between waring multiverse factions, only to smear a drop of sludge. He then remembered the horrid state he was in. Unfortunately, there was no sink, and he wasn't exactly in the right place to be having a shower.

That was when he remembered the shower in a bottle item, he looted from Landemere. That was also when he remembered his inventory was now an entire inner world he could physically enter through a gate. He could even feel the racial ability, able to will the gate to form and let him in.

He idly thought how inconvenient it'd be to have to enter a gate into his soul just to get a single item out. Then the familiar inventory screen popped up but with the gridded slots having no limit and extra slots by the currency but for the monster cores. He immediately found what he was looking for and pulled one of the clear vials from his inventory.

"That's a relief," Jason breathed out.

Item: [Crystal Wash]

An alchemical solution that removes all foreign material from one's body by tipping the solution over your head. Does not work on clothing (cleanse, solution).

Uses remaining 1/1.

"Finally, something going my way."

Jason pulled out the stopper and tipped it over his head. A clear, viscous liquid poured out and rapidly started spreading itself over him, thinning as it worked its way down. It excised the blood, pus and vomit from his body, cleaning with an intimate thoroughness. An odd expression crossed his face as the liquid cleared out the hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. He could smell a fresh fragrance coming off his body as the liquid evaporated into nothingness, its job done. He felt cleaner than he had ever in his life.

Though, he did notice that the bile on the floor was starting to recede towards him, the crystal wash pushing it away once hitting the ground. So, he walked away from the desk and chair that was surrounded by the foul stuff, careful not to step into it or the adjacent blood pool under Landemere's corpse.

Once clear he lowered himself against the door, far away from the stench of the century which still tickled his nose in the enclosed, but thankfully large room. He checked his tactical map, not showing any red dots and turned to the awakening stones in his inventory. He wasn't leaving until he had every advantage he could get.

He held the Hunter one in his hand.

You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Hunter].

Absorb Y/N?

"Gordon, will absorbing these stones cause more expunging of impurities or knock me out?"

"No, they won't. At most they might be strenuous and slightly painful for someone of your power level."

Jason was about to give his consent when an idea popped into his head, "Can I absorb them in my soul vault?"

Gordon bobbed slightly in thought before answering, "I wouldn't recommend it. The swell of new power could be disorienting, possibly dangerous. Better to absorb them outside your soul."

"Alright, better safe than sorry." Jason refocused on the stone in his hand, "Yes, absorb the stone," Jason said aloud.

The dark stone turned icy cold and soft before melting into his hand and crawling up his arms. It wasn't exactly painful, more like dunking his limb in ice water.

You have awakened the solar essence ability [Radiant Cloak].

You have awakened 2 of 5 solar essence abilities.

Ability: [Radiant Cloak] (Solar)
Conjuration (solar, light, dimension).

Base cost: Moderate mana to conjure.

Cooldown: None.

Effect (iron): Conjures a magical cloak that can alter the wearer. Offers limited physical protection and increases the speed attribute. Can generate radiant light that can cause a small amount of damage to dark creatures and undead entities. Increases wearer's resistances to afflictions and dark abilities. Cloak can reduce the weight of the wearer for a low mana-per-second cost, allowing reduced falling speed and water walking. Cannot be given or taken away, although effects can be extended to others in very close proximity.

"Speed boost, resistances with reduce fall and water walking," Jason read. "Useful but lacking punch."

He could feel the powers inside him, as if they'd had always been there, waiting to be awoken. He knew them instinctively. They were poised and ready to be used, eager even. With just a thought he used the cloak power. It responded immediately, as easy and natural as breathing. Bright solar energy suddenly engulfed his body. It wasn't painful or even hot, but felt warm and refreshing. The energy coalesced into the form of a voluminous, hoodless cloak, enshrouding his body. The cloak seemed more like an object of living sunlight than fabric, lighting up the entire room as if it was open to the afternoon sun.

Jason could feel the cloak, not like a piece of clothing, but like one of his limbs. He could feel its power. With a thought, the cloak grew brighter until it blinded even him, making visibility impossible. Then he dimmed it down until it looked like a shimmering tan fabric. That was when he noticed that underneath the high collar was a hexagon that seemed to hold together the ropes around his neck, securing the cloak to his person.*

He instinctively understood how to use the weight reducing aspect of the ability and hopped lightly into the air. He went up much higher than he normally would and dropped back down slower. Immediately he had ideas on how it could help increase his mobility in battle or save him from a deadly fall.

"Not bad for a cloak," he admitted.

"And it's something that can help cover your nudity," Gordon added helpfully.

"That to," Jason deadpanned. "On to the next stone."

He decided to go through the more mondain sounding ones and end on the better sounding titan stone. The next being the awakening stone of the Spider that looked a silvery webbing shifting about the enter sphere. It gave off an impression of expanding senses, like it was stretching out to see, hear, smell, taste and feel everything around it, but deeper somehow.

You have awakened the arc essence ability [Electromagnetic Sight].

You have awakened 2 of 5 arc essence abilities.

Ability: [Electromagnetic Sight]

Special ability (perception)

Base cost: None.

Cooldown: None.

Effect (iron): See all electromagnetic spectrums of radiation.

Jason blinked as his eyes shifted oddly, tingling with a feel of sparks touching the edges of his vision. Then he noticed a myriad of colors and waves in the air, the full range of electromagnetic radiation. It was discombobulating, an explosion of new sights that hurt worse than the blinding light of the cloak at full blast.

He slammed his eyes shut with a pained grimace.

"Are you alright, Guardian?" Gordon asked.

"Ugg... too much. I see too much," he groaned.

"Oh, your new perception power isn't typical for organic beings," the ghost realized. "I tend to see the world in a similar capacity and I can help moderate it for you. If you want me too."

"Yes, please. Anything is better than the blinding rainbow of colors and waves."

The Ghost made a mechanical noise and then vanished inside Jason before he felt a shift in his eyes, but one that seemed to reach his brain. It was an odd sensation, as if his eyes were being finetuned to the right frequency, which, they kind of were.

{Done,} Gordon informed inside his head through thought instead of sound. {You can open your eyes now, Guardian. I've set them to the normal light spectrum humans are accustomed to.}

Tentatively, Jason opened his lids, prepared to slam them shut again in a moment's notice. Thankfully, everything looked like before, just crisper, maybe a bit sharper.

"Thanks, Gordon, that's much better. And where are you?"

{No problem guardian. I'm inside your soul which is infused with your physical body now, allowing me to boost or alter certain aspects of your senses. So, whenever you need I'll adjust your sight based on the situation and your commands. I recommend learning how to control your new vision power on your own when you have the time. I can't exit you until then, or you'll lose control of your sight again.}

"I'll get right on that when I'm not facing the possibility of being eaten, and what do you mean by adjust as needed?"

{I can, and once you learn how, you can change your sight to see ultraviolet rays, infrared or even X-rays. More importantly, it will allow you to see magic.}

He wasn't sure what seeing magic would entail, or what ultraviolet or X-ray could do... did that mean he could see through objects and people like superman? Jason shook away the thought and focused on what he knew about infrared.

"Does that mean I can see in the dark, like night-vision googles?"

{Better as infrared can also observe changes in thermal levels, like blood flow or how hot a substance is. Though it will make differentiating shapes that are at the same temperature level difficult.}

"Dully noted," Jason said. "Are you fine being inside me as I absorb the remaining awakening stones?"

{Yes, Guardian. The absorption process will not harm me.}

"Good. Next up is the Builder stone."

You have awakened the genesis essence ability [Omnificence]

You have awakened 2 of 5 genesis essence abilities.

Ability: [Omnificence] (Genesis)

Conjuration (dimension, matter)

Cost: Varies Cooldown: Varies

Effect (iron): Create any nonliving thing you can imagine within the confines of your current power. All creations are limited to iron-rank level or below. The larger and/or more complex the creation is the greater the cost and cooldown. Normal rank creations of simple design and materials are permanent while more complex creations of rarer materials will breakdown within a month. Iron rank creations have a maximum life expectancy of two weeks.

"Create things at will... that does sound like genesis," Jason mused. "Let's see," he gazed down at his naked form, partially covered by his still conjured cloak.

"Clothes seem like a good start."

He was about to create some jeans, a simple shirt and shoes when he figured that seeing as he was in hostile territory, military fatigues with built-in knee and elbow pads would be better. Ones better fit for desert settings than forests or urban. He was about to add Kevlar armor and combat helmet with 3M Combat Arms Earplugs when he remembered the protection of the vanguard racial ability would allow him to conjure magic armor. With a pull on his mana and a thought a folded set of standard issue ADF brown and black camouflage fatigues and a pair of black boots appeared in his arms.

"Finally, some real clothing," Jason breathed out in relief, though he felt it'd be about a hour before being able to use it again. Upon seeing his new ability with his interface power he saw that it had forty-five minutes until the cooldown ended.

After dismissing his cloak and as he slipped on the pants, regretting that he didn't have the foresight to also make boxers, he noticed they were made of cotton and nylon fibers. Simple, yet he'd have to wait nearly an hour before activating the genesis ability again, and it ate up a tenth of his mana. Multiple items may have been a contributing factor, but it'd still be a while before he could simply create a tank, if at all.

But those were questions for another time.

After lacing up his boots, again scolding himself for not including socks, he stood straight and rigid like a soldier. He was finally starting to feel more like he was in control. Possibly from the indoctrination process of becoming a soldier and the pride one had in their uniform, but it was still an improvement over naked and lost.
Jason was still lost, but clothed and armed with magical weapons. His odds at saving the captives and killing the blood cultists was looking up. That was all that mattered to him, strings attached to them or not.

You have equipped [Military Fatigues] outfit.

Outfit tab has been added to your inventory.

"Outfit tab?"

Jason checked his inventory, which now had a second screen he could access with a tab at the top labelled 'outfits.' He was now use to navigating the screens with a thought and opened the new section. It showed a silhouette with various slots for equipment, most of which were empty. There was also a column to the left, empty aside from two entries. The first was listed as 'starter gear,' the second as 'new outfit.'

"How does that work?" he muttered to himself.

Help: Outfits
You can designate sets of gear as outfits, allowing you to quickly switch between them. Outfits can be modified by adding or removing items from item slots. An outfit can only be equipped so long as all items in that outfit are in the inventory or already equipped.

Jason shook of the oddity and just accepted the utility of the new function.

Last but not least was the titan awakening stone and this one had a feel of solidity, unwavering resolve to hold the ground and never yield. It sung to his very being as all he ever wanted was the power to protect. To save those he could, that couldn't save themselves and where children weren't slaughtered to punish those that stepped out of line.

It was naïve to thank he could prevent such things from ever happening, and he'd learned when the ideal was misplaced or needed to be held back... the hard way. Even so, he'd strive to help all those that he could, as best as he could. Loss had smothered those desires but now that he was in the thick of it and people needed him to save them from truly evil people, it was shining through.

He'd killed, but he wasn't a killer.

He was a Guardian.

A protector.

A soldier dedicated to the safety of the civilians living under his and allied countries' banner. At least that was what a good, proper soldier was.

You are able to absorb [Awakening Stone of the Titan].

Absorb Y/N?

Jason took a deep breath and replied, "Yes."

You have awakened the void essence ability [Ward of Dawn]. You have awakened 2 of 5 void essence abilities.
Ability: [Ward of Dawn] (Void)
Special ability (shield, boon) Base Cost: High mana and stamina. Cooldown: 6 minutes.
Effect (iron): Shape void light into a mostly indestructible spherical shield to protect self and allies from harm for 25 seconds. You and your allies gain an instant of [Armor of Light] once inside the shield.
[Armor of Light] (boon): While inside Ward of Dawn you and your allies gain significant damage resistance. This effect fades within ten seconds once leaving the shield or it drops.

"That's more like it," Jason approved. "I got guns for offense, armor for protection, a cloak for greater mobility, better vision, and now a defensive option encase I get bogged down. Nicely rounded out, even with a creation power that could add some versatility."

{That's how essence powers tend to trend, Guardian,} Gordon chimed in. {Balanced out and synergized with one another. You'll see more of that as you further awaken your abilities.}

"Good to know, Gordon. Now, let's try out that racial armor."

Even though the racial ability was different from essence abilities it had the same instinctual feel to it. Thus, with a simple thought armor manifested around him, draining his mana significantly. Jason felt the confined feeling of being covered head to toe in a suit of armor, yet, it felt like a second skin instead of a clunky metal medieval suit.

With his enhanced vison he saw the full length mirror that had web cracks along its edges and saw his new magic armor. Despite being able to see everything like normal, the helmet had no visor. It was completely metallic smooth, curving back with a small fanning fin that looped around the sides and along the jawline was thicker armor.

The chest plate was thick with a marron strip going down the left diagonally towards the right. There was an unfamiliar symbol; two horizontal white bars mirroring each other with an upside down triangle in the middle and two more bars underneath spreading out to either side. Shoulder guards, forearm and armored gloves with the same silvery metal appearance and dark fabric material between plates. The legs and boots were similarly the same but thicker and a tattered marron colored cloth on his right hip that went down to his knee.*

It was a badass looking futuristic armor that screamed magic soldier and Jason loved it.

"This is... bonzer! Being manipulated or not by the Abidan seems like a fair trade for these perks. Now, I just need to decide which gun to use in what I'm assuming is a basement or underground complex on the Vane Estate. What do you think, Gordon?"

{A wise choice.}

Jason pondered on which one to use as his mana was limited and he couldn't just switch between them as needed. He had enough to summon each of them twice and his cloak, but after that he'd be so low on mana he'd be lucky to get a few shots off before running out. He could drain his health for more but that'd only be in an extreme emergency. So, he had to be certain on which one would best help him now with the possibility to switch two or three times if needed.

He was most likely going to be moving through hallways and clearing rooms. He needed to move quick and quiet while having enough firepower to drop someone fast. The machine gun had stopping power, but would be cumbersome in tighter spaces, like individual rooms. Great for open areas and mass hostiles but not so great for door-to-door clearing. Unless he had a support team, which he doesn't.

Unhesitating Hunt was a sniper best used at range. It also shot fire and this place had plenty of wood. He didn't want to accidentally cause a house fire while still trapped in said house.

That left the two rifles: Divinity and Outbreak Perfected.

The Divinity was a beam rifle that sounded amazing but did slow, ongoing damage and stunned with devastating effects. Also, Gordon had informed him that the disruptive-force damage did more damage to magical things like barriers, shields and incorporeal entities. Not so great at getting through armor or flesh.
Outbreak was a burst fire rifle that shot nanites, which would eat away at a target's physical substance. Kills releasing swarms of them to attack nearby enemies. So it was potentially the most versatile weapon in that it was capable of killing multiple targets like the Graviton Commemoration with less damage output while doing ongoing damage like the Divinity, but more hard hitting.

Jason let the pros and cons circle around his head before locking in the Outbreak Perfected pulse rifle.

Jason then conjured the Outbreak Perfected rifle, right into his hands. The process was similar to how his armor manifested. It fit perfectly in his arms, the perfect length, the trigger guards and pistol grip matched his gloved hands as if made just for him. It was mostly black with red outlining the diamond and triangle shapes that ran up the handguard, red vines running from the barrel to the stock. The butt curved down and inward, ideal for bracing the weapon against his shoulder and where the clip would have been was a solid, unattachable mass. The sight was a hexagon with the top part missing and a laser reticle in the center.
Upon lifting the rifle and panning it round the weapon whirled to life, making humming noises as red dots rose from the muzzle. With closer examination he found they where nanites, fuzzing around the barrel.

Even though he'd never held it before, let alone fired it, Jason knew everything about the rifle. Its weight, rate of fire, recoil and effects as if he'd been wielding it his entire life. Just like with the cloak, it felt like it was a part of him.

He looked like a futuristic soldier ready for action... with magic powers.

Jason reconjured the radiant cloak, more for the speed boost than protection and turned back to the double doors leading out. He was as equipped as he could be for what laid beyond them and hopefully it'd be enough to save those adventurers.

---

Jason pulled out Landemere's old fashion key ring and went through them, trying to fit them into the double door's lock. It had taken a dozen different tries before he'd gotten the right one, which hadn't been made easier as he'd refuse to let go of his rifle, having to try key after key one handed.

He then exited the room cautiously, panning his rifle down both directions in quick succession, to find himself in a mostly dark hall. A few light spots coming from sconces placed several meters apart. Upon closer inspection they turned out be lit by crystals instead of a bulb or candle. The hall stretched out in both directions with the occasional door every four or five meters.

Not sure which direction to go or where the adventurers were being held, he just moved down the hall, silently and with his senses sharp in anticipation for running into hostiles. Gordon was monitoring his tactical map and would inform him if any dots popped up. It'd save him from having to clear each room one-by-one. When he met the turn he found stairs leading up, but turned back to clear the rest of the level first before heading up.

It was back past the bend in the other direction that he came to a room of nightmares. It at first seemed to be a larder holding dried and drying meats. That was until he saw a gutted and cleaned human corpse hanging on a meat hook over a bloody drain.

It'd been a while since he last ate and his stomach had been growling. When he'd found the larder he'd been happy about having cured meat, almost salivating at them. But upon realizing what kind of meat it was his stomach pushed into dry heaving. A painful endeavor as he had nothing to upchuck from his empty stomach.

Once getting control of himself he scowled deeply, forcing out through gritted teeth "These people need to die."

{One step at a time, Guardian,} Gordon reminded him. {First we find and release the adventurers, then start killing all the blood cultists.}

"I know."

Jason was brought out of his murderous thought when a yellow dot popped up on his tactical map with Gordon's warning, {Incoming unknown normal ranked signature.}

He saw the dot moving towards his location at a casual pace and thought on what to do as he already had the Outbreak rifle shouldered and aimed at the larder's entrance. Normal rank meant no powers, so probably service staff, a non-combatant.

He glanced at the carnage around him and reassessed that notion. Everyone here that condoned this didn't have the safety of being a civilian normally got them. They were monsters that needed to be stopped.

Even so, the individual may have some information, like where the adventurers were and the enemy numbers. A good questioning would require putting the fear of death into the person and he couldn't be sure if his gun would work in a magical alternate universe. That, and guns were loud and this required stealth for the time being.

Jason saw a carving knife near the drying "meat" and picked it up with his left hand, holding up his rifle in the crux of his elbow. He didn't want to waste the mana to resummon it so, he moved to place it butt down and leaned it against the table well within arms reach.

Jason had then heard the sound of cheerful whistling. He turned to see a chubby, dark skinned man wearing bloody butchers clothing entering the larder. The man was wiping his hands off on his gruesome smock still whistling a tune like he was just going about another days work. As if he wasn't butchering people for meals.

The man's happy tune died upon seeing Jason's armored figure.

"What? Who are you and what are doing here?"

The man's indignant voice died when Jason swiftly moved to press the knifes point against his throat, under his chin. Jason's right had moved to grasp the man by the scruff of his hair, jerking his head back and keeping him held firmly in place.

The pig of a man went pale, sweating heavily as he stuttered out fearfully, "D-don't k-k-kill me. Y-you're w-with those a-adventurers, r-right? I-I can-"
His voice halted as the knife's point pushed in deeper into his throat, drawing some blood.

"Where are you keeping them?" Jason demanded harshly, his tone icy cold.

The human butcher pointed hesitantly down the hall, "J-just down the hall, third door on the left, w-where we keep the fresh ingredients-"

The man realized his poor choice of words as the grip on the back of his head tightened and the point dug even deeper into his skin.

"I-I mean... t-the... p-please don't ughkk-" his pleading was cut short as Jason jammed the blade through the filth's neck as he tugged his head violently forward. The monstrous butcher grasped madly at Jason's helmeted face, wide uncomprehending eyes glazing over as his life-blood flowed out of him. He gargled a few more moments before going still and Jason dropped the waste of space to the floor, long accustomed to being stained red by the blood of people.

You have defeated [Blood Cultist Butcher].

Jason took several minutes taking deep calming breaths, letting the rage recede. He'd taken a defenseless life and that twinged a bit of guilt from him, but was quickly squashed by the fact that the man was a literal human butcher. The entire blood cult were monsters that needed to be put down like the rabid dogs they were.
He didn't even look back or bother looting the waste of flesh as he picked up and reshouldered his rifle, walked over the corpse and exited the nightmare larder. He moved with purpose towards the storage room that held the fresh 'ingredients'. The very thought locking his unseen scowl in place and rage burning inside, as he tightened his grip on his rifle, ready to start reaping cultist lives.

First, he'd free the adventurers, hoping that meant they could fight and have them aid him in destroying the blood cult. Failing that, they could help him leave and go get the local authorities to stop them. He wasn't delusional enough to believe he could fight magical people when he'd just gotten his own powers, but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

---

Once he got to the door, Jason saw on his tactical map that there were four yellow dots inside that Gordon commented on, {Four bronze rank essence users inside, Guardian. They might be the adventurers but could very well be cultists. Be careful.}

He removed one hand from the handguard and tried the handle to find it surprisingly unlocked, and slowly turned the handle all the way. He steadied himself, prepared for a breaching action, and quickly swung the door open hard, his hand quickly returning to his rifle. Shouldered, finger on the trigger and aimed at the nearest dot, he was ready to methodically gun down each target in quick succession.

That action quickly proved unnecessary upon seeing what laid before him. There were cages that were lined across the walls. Large ones that could fit bears on his right and smaller ones the size of dogs cages on a dirt floor. The roof and walls were rough timber, and there was a pervasive smell of damp earth -or at least he assumed as much as smell was blocked by his helmet. Four of the cages in the cellar contained a person. The smaller ones had a black guy and two white girls in them.

The last one was in one of the bigger cages with thicker bars and drew his attention the most. Inside was an impossibly hairy man the same size and shape as Chad. Though, his head looked like a lion, complete with a mane. It sort of reminded him of Beast from the old live-action Beauty and the Beast TV show his sister Erika had him and Kaito watch when she babysat them.

Jason must have been silently staring at the lion-man for a bit as he growled out, "Who're you? You're not a construct or golem and that armor is conjured, not forged. So, you're an essence user, but you're not wearing the cult's robes."

"Clearly," one of the white women with long platinum blonde hair sneered, "whoever it is, is a disgusting blood cultist. Their red and black weapon should make that obvious. Being conjured just means their essence abilities are just as tainted as they are."

"I'm not one of those bloody cultists," Jason stated vehemently, breaking out of the stupor of seeing a lion-man. "I actually killed two thus far and I'm here to free the captured adventurers. I'm assuming that's you lot."

"Yes, we are," the black man confirmed with an elegant, smooth and cultured voice that spoke of wealth and a high education.

"Are you a local adventurer that happened to be passing by," the other woman with strawberry blond hair asked.

"No, I'm not an adventurer," Jason replied. "I was sort of accidently summoned here and nearly eaten. It's a bit of a story really."

"One for another time," the black man cut in.

"That's right" the hairy man agreed with a growly tone. "Just hurry up and get us out of these cages. We can get the story of why you're here later, when we're not about to be sacrificed by a blood cult."

"You can't serious be trusting this impure essence monstrosity," the platinum blonde woman spat out.

"All that matters right now is that he can get us out of these cages," the black guy chided. "Unless you have another way out, Anisa?"

"No, I don't," the newly identified Anisa conceded, "but we shouldn't consort with likes of-"

{Heads up Guardian! Incoming hostile iron rankers,} Gordon suddenly blasted into Jason's mind, his tactical map showing two red dots moving on his position fast.

He whirled around towards the cellar door he'd entered through, weapon raised and fired in three-round bursts as a figure appeared. The individual was covered in a hooded blood red cloak so he couldn't tell if it was male or female, but it was irrelevant as the first three nanite bullets slammed into them, center mass.

The figure dropped their dagger, lips open for a shout that never came as the rounds tore through their lungs and heart. The second, reflexive three-round burst punched into their head, through an eye, cheek and forehead respectively, spraying grey-matter and chunks of skull out behind them.
The gore coated the face of the young man behind the figure, his hood having been down. Even as the first cultist was still falling lifelessly to the ground, Jason had adjusted his aim and let out another three-round burst from his Outbreak Perfect.

But his attack was blocked by a bloody mist like shield as the man held up a raised hand, shock and fear plastered on his face. The act seemed instinctual as he just stood there, hand raised as Jason fired three more bursts of his rifle's rounds into the blood shield. Though, he snapped out of it as the shield started to lightly crack and turned to run.

"Crap," Jason cursed as he moved to catch the cultist, mentally shoving aside the defeated cultist prompt. He kept firing at the shield, very small cracks only just starting to thicken.

{It's a magic shield, the nano rounds can't affect it well enough,} Gordon explained. {Only the kinetic force behind the rounds doing anything.}

That was when the corpse on the other side of the shield exploded, releasing a swarm of nanites that flowed onto the fleeing cultist. What looked like red lights started eating away at his clothes and then burrowing into his skin, eyes and mouths. He screamed in agony as his body mass was being broken down by the nanites.

This also caused the cultist to slam into the wall and fall to the ground, helplessly scraping at his face to try and remove the tiny machines eating him alive.

{Switch to the Divinity,} Gordon supplied before he could even ask. {It's disruptive force is ideal in taking down magic defenses.}

Jason tossed his Outbreak aside, dissolving into nothing as a new rifle formed in his raised arms, like he was holding an invisible rifle. Just like with the cloak and his Outbreak, he could feel a the power eager to be used. Arc energy filled the space and condensed into a white-and-gold rifle, though unlike any Jason has ever seen before. The barrel was split into two wide parts meeting down at the stock where a golden middle pointed out with a container of sparking arc energy connecting above the trigger to create a V-shape.*

Jason had fired the Divinity, an electrical beam of energy slamming through the shield, shattering it into motes of red particles as if it was a paper screen. As he ran back into the hall, he dissolved Divinity and reconjured Outbreak. That was when a blood red mist tinted yellow enveloped him, coming from the still screaming mouth of the cultist.

You have been hit by [Debilitating Blood Spores].
[Debilitating Blood Spores] fail to take effect.

His helmet kept the spores from being inhaled by him, seeing as his armor had a filtering function. Though, he felt it had some limits based on quantity and quality. But he pushed those thoughts aside and shot the cultist in the head, silencing his screams.

You have defeated [Blood Cultist].

Jason once more mentally dismissed the annoying window, idly wishing the prompts would miniaturize out of sight when in combat.

{Will do, Guardian,} Gordan spoke up. {I'll make sure any interface prompts stay out of your way going forward.}

{Huh, thanks,} Jason mentally replied. {You can hear my thoughts?}

{Of course I can. I have full access to your body and soul, which are one gestalt entity. Remember?}

"Yeah, just not a priority at the moment," Jason said aloud. "Need to hurry now. Someone must have heard all those shots and will be here soon."

He ran back into the cellar and aimed his weapon at the lion-man's cage while barking out an order, "Back up! We're out of time, I'm going to shoot out the lock."

The lion man was painfully wincing while holding his ears as he shouted back, "Ow, my ears are ringing. That weapon of yours is loud."

"I know," Jason clipped back. "I'm sorry but it'll go away. Now move back so I can bust you out."

"That won't work," the black man informed. "Gray's cage is made to handle his strength and would require at least a silver rank essence ability to break or a gold rank power attribute. My aura is restrained because of the suppression collar but I can still sense that you're only iron rank, right"

Jason nodded.

"That's what I thought," he sighed. "Even our smaller cages are too much for your level."

Before Jason could argue the point, his vision shifted so that he saw an energy flowing through the entire cages.

{They are reinforced with magic of much higher quality than your capable of beating,} Gordon explained.

Jason sighed and relented, "Alright umm... Have you got a name? I'm Jason Asano, and just thinking of you as the black guy is rude."

"Rufus Remore," the man responded.

"G'day," Jason greeted. "If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears."

"Jason, you don't happen to have a silver or gold ranked spirit coin, do you?"

"Hang on a sec," Jason replied.

There were 26 silver coins and 6 gold ones, all looted from Landemere Vane's body. He took out one of the silver ones, idly noticing how none of the adventurers were surprised by the action.

Item: [Silver Spirit Coin] (silver rank, common)

A distilled quantity of raw magic (crafting material, currency).

Effect: Used to fuel silver-rank magic items or as a ritual component.
Effect: Consume to briefly increase all attributes to silver rank.

"Oh," Jason dragged out in understanding. He had previously examined the lesser spirit coins, which didn't have an option to increase attributes. He vaguely remembered there was a strength attribute or something.

"So, I consume this to increase my attributes?" Jason asked for confirmation. "Consume, as in, eat?"

"Yes, Jason, it's very easy," Rufus answered simply. "You just put the coin in your mouth. Once you do you'll only have a fleeting moment to break open one of the smaller cages, like mine. Gary's would require a gold ranked coin."

"So, these attributes," Jason replied, "I assume one of them is strength?"

"The power attribute increases strength," Rufus explained. "The coin will increase them all, but only for a very short time."

As Jason wondered how to remove his helmet, which automatically dematerialized, Gordon interrupted {Wait, Guardian,} forestalling his consumption of the coin. {After using a coin with more power than your body can handle, you'll be greatly weakened. I suggest you use the keys inside your inventory first. I'll highlight the one meant for the cages.}

"Why don't you have eyebrows?" the growly timber of the lion man named Gary asked.

"Not now, Gary," the strawberry blonde woman chided.

"Sorry," the big furry man apologized, "just curious."

"Curiosity can wait until we're free," the nicer woman continued to chide.

"What are you doing?" Rufus asked upon seeing Jason return the coin to his inventory. "You'll need the coin to free us."

"I told you we can't trust him," the platinum blonde woman stated smugly.

"Actually," Jason corrected, "I think it'd be better if I just used the keys." He emphasized the point by holding up Landemere's key ring, and as Gordon said, one was highlighted in his vision.

"And where'd you get those if you're not with blood cult?" Anisa asked as if she'd just caught him red-handed.

"Enough Anisa," Rufus barked out firmly. "He obviously got them from one the cultists he killed. Two of which we witnessed him kill. So, unless you have something useful to say, keep your mouth shut."

"You dare-"

{Incoming!} was as far as Gordon got as a sudden explosion of force slammed into Jason, a shattering sound as his shield broke, tossing him into the far wall hard, cracking his armor and bones in equal measure.

All the air had been violently forced out of his lungs, making him gasp upon rising to his hands and knees. But the gasp was quickly choked by goblets of blood spewing from his throat.

He'd managed by pure dumb luck to hold on to the key ring, but his rifle had been somehow ripped from his right hand. Glancing down at the appendage, Jason saw that his fingers were twisted and broken, the armored glove torn and chipped with bone sticking out here and there.

It had happened so fast that he hadn't even processed the pain of having his hand mangled. Looking back at where he'd stood just a moment prior, he saw an elegantly beautiful woman of similar Mediterranean looks as Landemere. Most likely his sister from the youthful, mid-twenties look to her.

But those were inconsequential details as he also noticed that she was holding his Outbreak rifle, the metal warping and cracking in her vice grip. Then there was the absolute fury burning in her eyes that paired horribly with the twisted malicious smile on her face.

"Hello there, little rat," an elegant voice matching the woman's beauty but was also heavily laced with the fury of her eyes. "I found what you did to my son."

A chill unlike any he'd ever experienced before ran up his spine, completely overshadowing the fact that a man in his twenties was her son.

Jason knew he was going to die.

{You need to flee, Guardian,} Gordon shouted into his mind. {She's silver rank. You don't stand a chance against her.}

"There's no escaping her here," Jason stated grimly as he stood shakily, helmet rematerializing, storing the key ring and conjuring the strongest weapon he had.

The Graviton Commemoration machine gun was a huge gun, roughly the size of a 50-cal. mounted machine gun he'd typically seen mounted on Humvees. It had an odd triangular grip underneath the barrel which didn't matter as his hand was pulped so, he just rested his on his wrist to balance the weight. It was a purple so dark it almost seemed black with tubes running along the entire gun, from barrel to butt that had glowing purple energy flowing through it. Just in front of the trigger was a huge block that on typical guns would have a feed belt leading bullets to the chamber but this one just had a flow of purple void energy feeding the chamber. Even the sight right above the chamber had a purple glow to it, and just like his rifles, the reticle appear in his HUD.

It was heavy and he knew it'd kick like a horse but he still lifted it painfully, aimed at the woman's face. His vision was blurry, and his health icon was orange all over with a few dangerously red spots.

"Good," her grin grew even wider, splitting her face, "you know that you're cornered and like any corned animal you'll trash and bite. But iron rank trash like you can no more hurt me than you could a god. The tyranny of rank."

Her eyes gleamed with an evil, joyous light as she gripped his rifle with both hands and tore it in two as if it were wet tissue paper. The two halves of his weapon breaking down into particles of light as she slowly advanced on him.

"Even so, I'll enjoy your struggles as I break you for daring to defy the Vane family."

Jason fired, the machine gun's recoil forcing it up until he forced it back down, and rounds that warped time and space slammed into the woman. To her shock, the rounds pierced her body, causing blood to spill from dozens of little holes. To Jason it was surprising they were so small and shallow. Most things would be turned to chum, or at least fist sized holes that went clean through them.

He just held down the trigger, constantly adjusting his aim for the recoil, emptying his mana at a prodigious rate. The booming sounds of the rounds were so close and loud it sounded like a never ending explosion. When squeezing the trigger resulted in a screen appearing to tell him that he was out of mana and couldn't fire Graviton Commemoration until it recovered, he was mauling over whether to risk using his mana engine. The effects of mana exhaustion left him wavering on his feet with a splitting headache.

Even so, he gritted his teeth and held a trembling machine gun pointed at the woman shrouded in blood red aura. Worryingly, the small holes were healing shut at such an extreme rate that besides her torn clothes, she looked unharmed.

{Into your soul vault, guardian!} Gordon shouted into his head as the Ghost activated his soul vault's ability, a Torii gate rose from the ground, leaving it unmarred. It was barely halfway up when the woman smashed through it as if walking through a cobweb.

The silver ranker had the same malicious grin on her face, though a little extra heat to it as she tisked, "Trying to portal away little rat."
He tried bashing her in the head with his weapon. Her silver rank reflexes allowed her to easily grab it and ripped it from his hand mid swing. Just as she tossed it aside, he punched at her with his good hand, that she caught with ease.

Then with her raw strength, she crushed his hand with the same ease as closing her fist. Bone shattered, invoking a scream of pain from Jason, that he cut off with a grunt.

"That's it, little rodent, scream and beg," the woman gleefully chuckled.

"Go bugger yourself," Jason spat.

The woman snatched him by his throat and lifted him into the air in a blur, with the ease of holding up a glass of wine. "Tsk, tsk. It seems I need to teach you how to properly speak to nobility."

Her right hand was still enclosed around the mangled mess that was Jason's hand while her left was wrapped around his gargling throat. So, he tried kicking her, which resulted in more cracks in his armored boots and pain shooting up his legs. All it got out of her was another round of chiding chuckles.

"A hard learner," her eyes gleamed as she spoke in a dark voice. "Good. Let's start by removing the inappropriate attire you're wearing."

Lady Vane released his mangled left hand to proceed in ripping off his armor, like she was peeling an egg. The sounds were terrible as metal screeched in protest as she tore away handfuls at a time. She also made sure to periodically change the grip on his throat so that he struggled to breath but wouldn't pass out.
It was once he was left in just his fatigues that she noticed that his broken hand was almost completely healed and the mangled mess of his left one was starting to resemble the vague shape of a hand.

"Oh, you have a passive minor healing ability," she said too cheerily. "That'll make this more fun."

Jason glared at her and tried spitting in her face, but her reflexes were beyond human capability and she easily jerked him enough to avoid it. It was quickly followed up by a seemingly gentle slap from her prospective but ended up shattering his jaw.

"Really? How vulgar," she sneered.

Then with her free hand, she pressed into his ribs, slowly cracking them, one-by-one, eliciting gargled grunts of pain from Jason. When his right hand was restored she started in on his fingers: bending until they snapped, yanking until they tore and hung limply from barely attached ligaments and skin.
Through the fog of pain Jason thought he heard several voices yell out curses and slurs at the woman in the attempt to remove her foul attentions away from him. His favorite being Gary's comment about her being a meat chugging bitch.

Despite the cruel glee the woman took at torturing him, Jason never stopped glaring at her. The fire in his eyes disturbed the woman as not many had the will to endure such things, let alone so defiantly.
That was when she ripped his pants off, giving him an appreciative once over, "Well, aren't you blessed... though, once I'm done there's not going to be anything worth using."

Jason was internally panicking but maintained his hard glare.

"Let's see. Hmm... I started with your right hand so, I'll start with the left this time."

The agony of her slowly clenching her fist around his testicle until it was crushed was what got him to start openly screaming. By time she crushed his second testicle, Jason finally, blessedly fell into unconsciousness.

---

Cressida Vane had admittedly gone a bit overboard in torturing the iron ranker, having ripped off his genitals completely and caved in his face upon passing out. There wasn't much fun in the act when the subject wasn't screaming anymore and he'd nearly died.

Even though his death was much deserved, she wanted him to suffer more, to suffer for all eternity and she had a way to do that. Her cult was set to perform a sacrificial ritual to summon and bond a Sanguine Horror, an apocalypse beast that feeds on blood. An ideal familiar for the Blood Cult that could grow to devour all life on the planet.

All that was required for the ritual to be finish was the four live sacrifices in the sacrifice chamber out in desert not too far from her Estate. They'd completed all the preparations requiring a lot of ingredients including dozens of local human lives to ready the blood pit there. These last four would give up their very souls and that was what she wanted from her son's murderer.

His soul would be destroyed, increasing the power of her family.

Thus she had forced a bronze rank healing potion down what resembled his mouth to keep him from expiring right there and then. Had one of her servants bring her a iron rank suppression collar and tossed him into one of the larger cages for added measure.

His attacks had surprisingly got past her newly acquired silver rank resistances. It must have been transcendent rank damage -which was extraordinary at iron rank- to do so, but the gulf between silver and iron was so massive that they were just minor injures her silver rank recovery easily healed. But they could've easily killed any iron rank being. Even some Bronze rank ones could be overwhelmed and brought down, eventually.

The last thing Cressida wanted was him breaking out and escaping.

Now she rested in her dining area, drinking an expensive silver-rank wine as Dougall, the estate's gardener, gave her his report on his findings on what had happened.

"Who'd we lose, besides my son?" Cressida asked, in a controlled, elegant voice.

"Noah, Hellen and Jasper," answered the gruff male voice of Dougall.

"Shame about Noah," she tutted. "He was truly the best butcher our family has had in a long while. This iron ranker has cost us a lot."

"Yes, milady."

"His aura is stronger than a new iron-ranker's should be. With his age he most likely has most of this first two essences' abilities. Still how did someone who didn't even have a full set of essences kill Landemere?"

"It seems the young master had mostly done himself in, milady. Summoning spell gone awry, from the looks of it."

"Is that why all those little monsters are running around?"

"It would seem so, milady."

"So whoever this is got lucky and killed my son when he was at his most vulnerable?"

"Not that lucky, milady. He met you"

"Just so, Dougall," she acknowledged. "Do we know what Landemere was trying to summon?"

"I had a bit of a potter through his notes, milady. It was one of them entities from beyond the void."

Cressida sighed deeply.

"Astral beings," she muttered unhappily. "I told that boy it would be the death of him. We're a nice, traditional blood cult family. This nonsense about ineffable ancients from outside reality was never going to work out. What did you do with Landemere's body?"

"Mulch, milady."

"You mulched my son?"

"Well, he won't be mulched yet, milady. Composting isn't a quick process. I can fetch him out from the pile if you like, but milord won't be happy. He was quite specific as to the dispensing of the body."

"I don't care what my stupid husband thinks; he married into the family. This is my manor, my family, and we do things the traditional way. Goodness knows what poor Landemere will taste like after having gone in the mulch pile."

"I'll give him a good and proper wash before I bring him into the kitchen, milady."

"Thank you, Dougall. Excellent work, as always. Now, do we know where this man came from?"

"No idea, milady. He seemed to have entered through the well entrance in the hedge maze. I was tracking his aura after killing the monster that had stolen my trowel.

I still can't figure out how he got on the premises. Our contact only knew about the four bronze rankers, I'm afraid."

"Have Daniel check our arrays and see if there are any openings this intruder used to sneak onto the property," she ordered. "And press our contacts in the Adventure Society to see if they sent any iron rank adventurers out on a contract nearby."

"It will be done, my lady," Dougall bowed. "Do you want me to send him to the kitchen as well?"

"No. He killed my son, I don't want him trotting off to death with his soul intact. Put him with the others for the blood feast."

"Yes milady, although that will be one too many."

"I don't think the extra blood will be a problem."

"I was thinking about the high priest, milady. You know how he gets."

"Yes, quite right, Dougall. Very well. Pick one of the others you like, and keep it for yourself."

"Very generous, milady. I'll take the elf, if milady has no objections."

"Are you sure, Dougall? Elves are quite stringy."

"Derrick was keen to try one, milady. I warned him, of course, but you know how young ones are."

"Oh, yes," she said. "They never believe you until they suffer the consequences for themselves. Just look where it got Landemere, and my daughter isn't much better. If it wasn't for the cult, I swear I never would have had children. Go fetch my idiot son's body before you take the elf. I don't want him picking up any more flavor than he already has."

"Of course, milady."

---

Jason found himself in yet another unfamiliar area, but unlike the hedge maze, he felt like he knew this place. Even connected to it in way that ran deeper than his connection to Gordon and his powers. As if it had been a part of him all his life and he'd only just now discovered it.

Though, the first thing he did was to quickly check his beans, gently cupping them to confirm they were whole. The sigh he let out was deep as he thoroughly examined his junk before looking around at his surroundings.

It was a large valley who's perimeter was marked by four monolithic mountains. The northern mountain was a glowing mixture of yellow, red and orange stone that radiated warmth throughout the entire valley. The western mountain was the more typical stone color but had a geyser of crystalline water that sparked with electricity constantly firing and supplying a river that ran through the entire valley. The eastern mountain was pitch black stone covered in pale white trees topped with purple leaves and who's peak had a dark purple halo surrounding it. The Southern mountain looked like it was made of black metal with red vines weaving through out it.

There were miles of forests with cliffs, rivers, ponds and gorges through out the valley but what caught the eye was the massive city of towering skyscrapers. Despite recognizing them as skyscrapers, their architecture was completely foreign. They were sleek metal with lines of energy flowing through them like veins or circuitry. Gardens and parks perfectly curated into the structures' roofs, balconies and domed areas.

An imposing wall surrounded the shining metal city, interposed with watchtowers heavily armed with mounted AA guns and machine gun nests.
Jason was standing on the largest tower in the middle of the city, nearly as large as the mountains. It was a massive platform the size of a stadium with an arcade for shopping but with no people and trees interspaced throughout the area. There were even stairwells and elevators leading up and down to different levels.

The sky was a blanket of starlight and massive galaxies that made the night sky bright and beautiful. But what caught his attention were the items floating amongst them, somehow visible despite their miniscule size. They had a glow that drew his attention.

"Are those really my items?"

"Yes, Guardian," Gordon's voice boomed from all around, the sky flashing with each word.

Jason whipped his head around, not seeing the small, shelled eye anywhere. "Gordon? Where are you?"
"Everywhere. I am part of your soul."

Jason looked closer, or more accurately, farther at the sky. Their were parts that separated to reveal an endless void and the sky parts were highlighted. Those parts looked like the segmented parts of Gordon's shell.

It was like the valley was inside the Ghost.

"Okay, mate," Jason replied. "Am I actually here? Because last I remembered I was having my plums crushed by a cruelly evil beauty."

"No, you are not here physically, just mentally," Gordon clarified.

"How long has it been?"

"A few hours, Guardian. I've been exceedingly busy healing the damage done to your body."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Do you know my current state outside?"

"You're mostly back to normal, but you have been collared and locked into a cage. Your powers and most of your racial abilities are being suppressed."

"Well, that's not good," Jason muttered. "What can I do?"

"With some effort, you should be able to push my physical shell out. The suppression collar is simply iron rank, a low quality one at that. With the increase to your aura and state as a half-transcendent being, you could theoretically push back the restraining effect long enough for me to leave your body."

"Hmm..." Jason hummed in thought as he planned his next steps.

---

*I combined No Hesitation and Still Hunt.

*Yes, I combined Graviton Lance and Commemoration.

*The cloak Ichigo wore when saving Rukia from her execution by the Firebird King.

*The classic titan armor you see on VG247 Destiny class guide: Titan minus the fur around the shoulders.

*Destiny 2's Divinity with the Sky/Perdition Ornament.