Book 5: Chapter 52

The mind-numbing pain of Aaron’s anchors evolving mightn’t have lasted long, but even a second was too long in a fight at their level. It was like his atoms were being rearranged, and it stunned even him, a man who had been killed countless times, and he felt his limbs quite literally ripped from the sockets.

And worst of all, Darius didn’t waste the moment. As soon as the immense energy rushed out of Aaron, the necromancer smelled blood and struck, immediately ordering his spirits to double their attack as he launched his own Skills toward him in his vulnerable state.

It all happened so quickly: an assault of spirits followed by an array of necrotic powers all slamming into his body at once, and violently ripping it apart.

Aaron didn’t even feel the attacks, as they were drowned out by the pain of his evolving anchors. However, he did feel the rush of relief when his body was no more, and his eyes widened in his soul state.

I’m dead?

It had happened so quickly that it took him a moment to process what had happened.

Thankfully, his death cured him of the overwhelming pain of his anchors evolving, and he regained full control of his senses as a soul. Unfortunately, his soul was immediately tugged violently, and he felt tendrils of aether wrap around his wrists and ankles, claiming him.

“What the?”

It only took him a fraction of a second to realize what was happening. It was the spirit well. It seemed that the Skill, or whatever it was, was more than just an aether battery for Darius. It almost seemed like a storage for souls, and it was greedily pulling him toward it.

Is this how he raises the dead? It struck Aaron that the well had to be tethered to the spirit plane in some way, and likely also was the means that the Death God provided Darius with special souls to inhabit the strongest bodies he collected.

If he were to be sucked into the well, would his soul end up being used elsewhere? How many centuries or millennia of torment would it take before a rebellious soul gave in, and bent the knee to the Death God?

Of course, Aaron had no interest in finding out. And unlike most who had likely found themselves in the same situation, he was in full command of his soul.

Despite knowing that it was going to drag him into its depths, he let the well pull him toward it. He realized that the hordes of mindless spirits around him had halted their assault the moment the spiritual tendrils took hold of him.

Not only that, but even Darius seemed to think he had won, as he spotted the necromancer from the corner of his eye turn back toward the settlement and reimpose the power of the obelisks against it.

In truth, it wasn’t surprising. Darius had likely killed thousands just like this, and had never experienced a soul fighting back against the well.

And for precisely that reason, Aaron realized that this was inadvertently his opportunity, and so he waited. He allowed the spirit well to drag him closer. But as he neared its deadly depths, he felt an absolutely terrifying pull of aether.

It was like nothing he had experienced before. It made the crippling effects of the corrupted aether look like a joke. And in that moment, he knew without any doubt if the pure aether were to touch him, there would be no escape from the well.

Urgency struck, and he wrestled for control of his body, pooling aether and using it to strengthen his soul.

He had no doubt gotten stronger from his upgraded mana anchors, but they were of no use in this form. He either had to break free from the well’s grasp or try to initiate his resurrection.

But he was so close. He could sense something not far ahead, deep in the spectral abyss of the well. It was what tethered it to the mortal plane, and if he could get just a little closer…

“Argh! Let’s go!” He grunted and pulled.

Was it a risk? Absolutely. But he was here to win, and he had never turned down a challenge, and he wasn’t about to, even with his soul on the line.

But it was no easy battle. The tethers of spectral energy that bound him to the well were condemnation incarnate. Unescapable chains that dragged the dead off into the abyss.

But he’d be damned if that was going to happen. Channeling the full might of his inner shinigami, Aaron pulled the aether from the well itself, calling on its own power to strengthen himself.

“That’s it! More! Give me more!”

Aaron’s eyes glowed with aether, and his spirit pulsed with power as more and more aether was dragged into it, and then.

*Shap*

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The chains broke. Just like that. Once they had seemed impervious, and then they were like nothing. Furthermore, he could feel his target up ahead. He was only inches away from it now.

But the moment he was free, the spirits turned on him again. And not just the ones that had attacked him, but ghostly hands reached straight out from the well itself, trying to grab at him.

The attacks came from all around, but Aaron was absolutely brimming with aether now, and though he could feel the heavy strain on his soul, he kept absorbing more power, and as the spirit hands grabbed hold of him, he simply shrugged them off.

Hundreds of hands grabbed at him, hopelessly trying to hold him down as he waded through the swarming spirits, pushing deeper into the well. He was free now, and the terrifying aether within did not pose the same threat.

With a grunt, he threw the clambering spirits aside, reached out, and grabbed it.

He could feel the pure aether within his grasp. It was what was holding the well in place, and his fist tightened around it, shattering its link to the mortal plane.

In an instant, it sounded like thousands of souls all screamed out at once, but he cared little, swatting them away as he pulsed aether through his feet in an attempt to escape the well.

It felt like he was fighting underwater as countless clawed spirit hands reached out and tried to prevent his escape. He pushed some away, and dodged others, as he struggled toward the light.

There was perhaps no other moment he felt so grateful for Yendal’s teachings. She had insisted that he was a master of the basics, and that was precisely what was keeping him alive as the aether he absorbed faded, and his soul weakened back to its original state.

With each second, he was getting weaker, and fighting the spirits became harder. But they were slow and clumsy, and he was still Aaron Dober, and he employed everything he had learned as he avoided their attacks.

So close! I have to move quicker!

He could feel it. The well was collapsing around him, and the thick atmosphere of aether that permeated from it prevented him from resurrecting himself and calling back his soul.

As he raced toward the light, he used the only ability available, reaping the spirits as they attempted to stop him, and dodging the rest.

With each spirit he reaped, he felt himself recover some of his energy, giving him the boost he needed to break free, just as he felt the walls of the spirit well collapse behind him.

In that moment, he felt an incredible rage of the remaining spirits, but oddly, it wasn’t directed at him. It felt like they were screaming out at their imprisoner, and then he watched in shock as a swarm of spirits charged their former master.

He doubted the well itself had been destroyed. He was fairly certain it was an entrance to something bigger, something controlled by the Death God. But with it gone, and its link to their world severed, it seemed that whatever gave Darius control over the souls he had plucked from it had also been severed.

But Aaron was more focused on himself, and he roared as he released a burst of aether, reconstructing his body in a near instant, and gasping as he took in his first breath. It was the longest he had been dead for, and it was a rather discomforting feeling.

“Get away from me!”

Looking over, he watched as Darius turned his attacks on his former servants, disintegrating the spirits by the hundreds. Unfortunately, a quick glance over the battlefield told him that the undead were still loyal to their lord. Also, the battle was not going well.

While Aaron had been gone, Darius hadn’t just turned the corrupted aether back on the settlement and his fellow elites who were still battling against Darius’ undead elites, but he had begun channeling his own power into it, fueling it and strengthening it.

However, despite the grim turn of events, Aaron had broken the spirit well’s link to their world, and in doing so, removed Darius’ most valuable source of energy.

Hastily, Aaron plucked food from his storage, powering himself as he drove his core to cycle, and felt the pulses of mana cascading through his anchors.

He felt stronger than ever before. Despite his death, the evolution had completed, and his control of mana had gone through the roof in the process.

“Yeah, that’s good.”

Glaring up at Darius as he destroyed the last of the spirits, he took flight.

“What? You’re alive?” Darius gasped and shot out several powerful necrotic beams at him, but Aaron easily served and dodged as he rocketed toward the necromancer.

“Not just alive, I’m stronger than ever!” Aaron shouted as his fist collided with Darius’ barrier, sending him hurtling away.

“How?! No one escapes death’s grasp!” Darius shouted as he pressed his palms against the barrier, fueling it now with his own mana and aether as Aaron slammed another fist into it. “Death God? Where are you?! YOU FAILED ME! YOU SAID THE WELL WAS IMPERVIOUS!”

Aaron ignored the necromancer as he pleaded with his own god, continuing to pound his barrier as Darius desperately tried to keep it from failing.

“I can keep this up all day!” Aaron said, taking a bite between punches, and that familiar terror returned to Darius’ face.

This was it. He was going to destroy him. He couldn’t back off for even a second. He might have broken the well’s link to their world, but he doubted it was permanent. And if he gave Darius a chance to summon the power again, he might lose his opportunity once and for all.

“NO! NO! NO! After everything I have given you?! Is this it? DEATH GOD, ANSWER ME!” Darius roared as he tried to keep the barrier from failing. It was as if he was draining himself, his skin wrapping taut across his bones, making him look skeletal.

But at that moment, as Aaron pounded the barrier and Darius faltered, weakening before his eyes, golden light glowed from his chest.

“I’m not done yet!” Darius growled. “Screw the Death, God! I don’t need him! I have the divine shard!”

Aaron felt Darius’ energy levels skyrocket. His soul became suddenly unstable, but he didn’t seem to care. He was soaking up divine energy that threatened to blow him into pieces.

“Now you will suffer!” Darius yelled as he blasted back with an absolutely apocalyptic blast of necrotic energy that forced even Aaron to break his attack and dodge.

His attack was so powerful that when it crashed into the ground nearby, it sent out a wave of necrotic power that instantly killed dozens of defenders as it touched them.

But as powerful as it was, Aaron could already feel Darius draining his life energy, and his soul wasn’t going to hang on much longer.

All he had to do was survive… No. It was more than that. He couldn’t allow Darius to destroy everything else as he went down.