CH27

MN drives could put out theoretically endless power, and so long as a craft can handle it, endless acceleration. I melted the drones down with my aura and outfitted the cherry red yacht with the upgrades it needed to handle its engine.

The trip to Tish had been meant to be a little vacation from training. Instead, it had turned into a raid filled with loot chests. I was driving a hover Yacht with a customized MN reactor home to my farm with a bank account full to bursting after visiting an empty bank on my way out. That wasn’t the end of our good fortunes. Demon possession wasn’t limited to Tishomingo City; between the deployment of the Penal Army and the siege, thousands of lost souls infected mutants and men alike. With the drop in VHA patrols, our neighbors will look to sell their farms and move. I had the money to buy their land and expand our farm larger than ever before. While it would take time out of our training, we didn’t need to spend as much time growing stronger anymore. Rest was more important than training, and a new influx of cattle, chickens, goats, llamas, emus, and delicious bison would help our recovery.

None of that even touched how awesome my black halo had become. It was like having a wizard devoted to gathering energy to refill my reserves constantly. That wasn’t where it ended; I gained PL at a constant rate from filtered demonic power. Compared to that, the Trans AM I sealed away was a toy.

We could build up our culture after we purchased nearly 3000 acres of farmland from fleeing farmers and fenced it in. Jason would probably be against it, but Ember and I would make beautiful children. Dhampir were considered an abomination by mages even though they often turned against their parents and tried to save humans. Their lives were tragedies most of the time.

I had other ideas. Dhampir could become mages if they experienced the culture early enough. Well, why couldn’t they become energy users? If raised right, they would master concealment early and have a leg up on me. Vampire regeneration would help them recover from training, withstand higher gravity, and train longer.

While my thoughts were on the future, Ember’s coffin slid from side to side as I dodged artillery shells. The MN drive powered a shield, but I didn’t want to risk it against shells built to eat through demonic barriers.

Unexpectedly, the onboard computer didn’t receive any transmissions. The soldiers didn’t care who might own the yacht. To be fair, it was a cherry-red eyesore. I threw down the hammer, increasing our acceleration to the eruption of MN particles. We hovered over trenches and landmines, aiming for the weakest part of the enemy line. I increased our altitude a little while dodging a rain of hyper-sonic missiles.

The normal human passengers had long since passed out from the quick turns I was forced to make. Gravity training was great for resisting G forces.

Lasers fired from drones stopped dead on the drone chassis I welded to the yacht’s frame. While they were magic-resistant, they, too, had a melting point. It didn’t take much effort to flatten them into plates once heated and then weld those plates to the yacht’s frame.

My culture was about discovering my enemies’ secrets and replicating them. I had done that well over the last day.

The blue slime in the jar, the Trans AM, or transform all to mana would require tons of research to replicate, but I had what it took to succeed. It was a tool to make mages stronger by streamlining processes through new functions. It was an artificial mutant with a culture designed to be solely complimentary. That was some genius shit.

“I bet they launch a high hypersonic missile before we reach the blockade. If I lose, you can fuck me without losing your soul; even if you beg, I won’t take it. But if I win, I get to sit on your face for a day.” Marie said.

“Shut up. I just want to make it through.” Belda said.

The Soldiers scrambled away from the line as out front bumper of Mythril rammed into the barricade. Runes winked out, sandbags exploded, and stone foam failed to expand in time to stop us. We zoomed past enemy lines and passed into the tree line.

“Why didn’t you take my bet it would have been fun?” Marie asked.

Flying drones, mage scouts, and trained mutant hornets followed us while I tried to shake them in a chase through the woods. The hard part was over for us.

…

Jason watched a cherry red land yacht covered in mismatched, badly welded mythril plates. Jerry rigged energy absorbers, drone-outfitted MN drives, and a robust barrier projector kept the monstrosity in the air. Atom felt like a megacity civilian from a distance, which was disconcerting enough without the demonic energy pinging off his senses. Over forty half-dressed escorts piled out of the transport with luggage in hand the second Atom cut the engine. A hunk of Mythril peeled off the yacht and rolled on the grass, half melted and still hot enough to start a fire. Seals put it out before it could get started.

Every crisis was an opportunity. That was their Father’s motto. He often used a crisis when he was out stealing the secrets of magic to repurpose for his own use. A master might never be willing to part with their secrets until everything they loved was in danger. Who would be better to see them out of that danger than the one who first put them there? Atom apparently agreed with Father’s philosophy.

His brother hadn’t caused the demonic incursion, but he took advantage of it regardless. How could he trust someone ready to take advantage of such a crisis? Mother would be overjoyed by Atom’s progress. She always thought Jason was too soft.

It was always Atom who impressed them by acting as they wanted. He was ready to leave the farm and see the world. While Jason would never be able to conceal himself more than 85%. Soon, he would need to rely on outside runes to hide himself from detection. Emily stood beside him, fuming at the sight of the many escorts about to invade their home. Jason knew they didn’t have the space for them.

Emily’s red face was enough for him to see how this would go.

“Are you going to let him get away with this in your home? You’re the elder brother; he has to listen to you.” Emily asked.

“I’m not strong enough to save your family alone.” Emily’s mother had been raped on live television. The sisters were on a poll that saw constant increases. September 1st would mark the Greda’s rape, and October 1st would be Marian’s. “If you’re useless, then I will find someone else,” Emily said.

Jason saw red; he was losing her, and he couldn’t do a thing to stop her. The girl’s Father was no longer a grand inquisitor with an army of inquisitors and mundane soldiers. Intellectually, he knew that she no longer had the backing of the community or her Father’s organization, but he kept to his former respect. She was of a higher social standing and lowered herself to sleep with him for him. Jason hadn’t wanted to make this situation harder on her.

“I have sacrificed my potential for you,” Jason said.

“You were never worth much; what does your pitiful potential matter, hedge mage.” Jason closed his eyes. “Atom, get those whores out of here; they aren’t stepping foot in my house,” Emily said.

Her house, she called him a hedge mage and made demands of his brother. This was their Father’s house, whether he was here or not. Father’s rules were all that mattered, no matter what Emily thought. There were some lines Jason couldn’t cross, not even for his dreams. Memories of Father spanking him for dropping a watermelon on the ground to eat all of it himself came to mind.

It was a small thing, but it made a mark on his psyche growing up. Jason never received a beating he didn’t deserve.

“We will need to build a place for them; I hope your insulation skills haven’t deteriorated,” Jason said.

Emily gave him a betrayed look.

“You said you didn’t need me,” Jason said.

Emily gritted her teeth and pointed at him, “Shangri-La.” He felt something shift in his aura but squashed it down. Even if he didn’t have the control, power was its own advantage.

“Kill Atom and that vampire bitch.” Emily ordered.

He gritted his teeth and struggled against a powerful compulsion.

“Did you hear what I said? Kill them now.” Emily said.

Atrophied senses sparked to life as he raced against the cancer in his aura.

Jason felt the rune like shrapnel in a wound. He reached into his aura, grasped the white rune, and tugged it. Blinding pain swept through him as he struggled to keep his aura under control while he ripped the parasite out of him. Pieces of white ripped away, dragging power with hit necrotic to his senses. He grasped the hunk of aura calcified by the rune and dropped it on the ground.

On the inside, he was in turmoil. Part of his power was collapsing; the sudden need to free himself of the other runes because she helped him come up with them was overwhelming. This was worse than any of his breakups before.

Suddenly, events took on a different light. Every interaction, word, and reward were used to condition him. Her act of betrayal in Emily’s attempt to do something to him through his runes told an uncomfortable tale.

“You can’t do that,” Emily said.

The runes were fundamentally incompatible with energy. If Jason had been a normal mage, removing a rune placed in his aura would have been impossible.

She planned to use the rune to control him.

Atom came up behind Emily, raised his foot over her shoulder, and forced her down. She collapsed in the dirt, unable to resist.

“You’re lucky she has eyes but can’t see Mt Tai. It's like if you aren’t in one of the three most popular cultures in the world, your power can’t possibly resist theirs. The arrogance of mages will always be to our advantage.” Atom said.

“What should I do with her?” Jason asked.

“Stop tolerating her bad behavior and make her realize she has to earn her keep.” Atom said.

Jason felt like he was taken for granted. Atom had grown strong and returned with loot, and it looked like everything was going his brother’s way.

“I wanted to be a mage,” Jason said.

“She doesn’t make you a mage. It's up to you to decide if you want to devote yourself to that culture. I think you can do better than her and that family.” Atom said.

“I made a promise. My word is all I have left.” Jason said.

His brother looked skeptical before shaking his head. “We have things to discuss and a whole underground lab to shift through. Brother, rip out those runes and learn concealment the right way. You can still be a mage; master concealment before it’s too late.” Atom said.

Jason truly looked at his brother at the almost imperceptible aura surrounding the young man who looked so much like himself. Perhaps this was the way of things, and he had made a mistake falling too hot and heavy with Emily. He had dove into something he didn’t quite understand and let her manipulate him for too long.

A teary-eyed face stared up at him and pulled on his heartstrings. Jason closed his eyes and focused on the many runed covering his aura. They would have to go, and it would hurt. He would lose half or more of his power. Then, he would have to work hard to master concealment in the time they had left. His only chance was to devote himself solely to concealment and get behind in the gym.

He had sunk so much of his time in growing his power level. Jason ignored the most important facet of his culture. Control determined how much of their power level they could use. Concealment was the ultimate representation of that facet of their culture.

“I will write down the concealment techniques I learned from Ember to help you catch up.” Atom said.

Jason felt worse than the worms in the dirt but agreed regardless. He needed the help; he was well and truly behind.

His attention returned to Emily. She wanted to make him a slave and treat him like property. After everything he gave her, she betrayed him. Her rights were revoked.

…

August 30th

Atom 4589

Jason 1899