Forged Legacy

Chapter 145 - Father's Vigil and Blessed Break

All the hair on his head was gone. Even the little hairs in his ears and nose had been burned away after the brimfiends blasted him. Outside Legacy’s Redoubt, the battle was winding down. The bodies of dead hellhounds and the discarded robes of tortured souls acted like a second wall, insulating their group from the waning conflict. Harvey glowered at his brother who was both trying and failing to stifle a laugh.

“I’m sorry,” Tyler blurted, hunching over and grabbing his stomach as he let it all out. “It’s just strange. I was starting to get used to the golden eyes, but this is too much.”

Harvey wanted to be angry, but chuckled when he pulled out a mirror and saw his own reflection.

[Yikes,] Julius said.

“What do you mean? That’s a handsome devil right there!” Harvey replied.

“You’re no devil,” Cash smiled. “Now come on, let’s get out of here before the bunker collapses and we get buried in monster meat.”

Harvey took the vanguard, making sure the coast was clear before the group pushed back towards the gate. Roving squads of angel templars, sentinels, and snipers dispatched any demon still willing to fight while happily letting the rest retreat.

“You guys have to be level 5 by now, right?” Harvey asked as they broke off from the stream of angels walking towards the underground teleporters. A playground was visible just inside the closest neighborhood, and they moved to sit at one of the empty picnic tables.

“Probably, we haven’t… ahh!” Steve groaned, falling to his knees as his weave shone like a star. Tyler soon followed, both squirming under the pressure of gaining multiple levels at once.

Harvey didn’t panic. He’d experience the same thing after detonating Veils End and knew the pain would pass.

“This is going to happen a lot,” Cash muttered. “Everything they’re fighting is 20 levels higher.”

“I’m surprised they managed to kill so many without any skills,” Harvey admitted, moving to stand beside the angel while they watched.

“They got lucky. Not many with a level 4 Class get to fight tortured souls under the light of an Ophanim while safe inside a bunker. Their first real test will come this afternoon.”

“So you do want to take them hunting for stragglers? Are you worried about getting ambushed again?”

“Of course I’m worried, but this time I know my backup isn’t going to leave me behind,” Cash replied.

“I haven’t seen any other humans fighting. Were the ones you took part of a special program or something?”

“It’s something we normally start doing once the first faithful cap out their Professions, but I advocated accelerating a few promising warriors once we lost our second lieutenant. I’m sure it won’t be long before more of your people join the fray.”

It only took a minute for the light to sink back into their exposed weaves, but they moved like they’d just run a marathon.

“You guys ok?” Harvey asked. Neither responded, but Steve gave a weak thumbs up after rolling onto his back. His chest heaved as they struggled to catch their breath.

“How many levels?”

Tyler looked at his hands, sluggishly putting fingers down before signaling 7.

“Damn, 7 Levels?” Harvey exclaimed.

“Eight,” Steve croaked.

“I might not have eyebrows, but at least I can count,” Harvey howled when his brother slapped his own forehead. He was never going to live that one down. Eventually, Harvey helped pull them both to their feet, moving them to the picnic table where he also gained a Class and Race level. Apparently, the System knew he needed to wait and make sure his family was ok before he was calm enough to ascend.

They’d both reached level 12 with their Class, pushing their Race up to Level 16. Tyler couldn’t help but marvel at his newly doubled strength and dexterity, using the playground equipment to test his new limits. Now that the alarms had stopped, children were filing out of the nearby homes and darting towards them. Two young boys who had to be twins were racing towards the swingset, but froze in fear when they saw Tyler using it as a pull-up bar.

“Tyler! You’re scaring the kids,” Harvey chastised.

“No I’m not! If anything, they’re afraid of you, baldy,” Tyler retorted.

“Boys,” Steve grumbled. Tyler’s body moved on instinct, dropping down and jogging over the second he heard the warning tone in their father’s voice.

“So,” Cash laughed. “We knew you’d probably have one skill to create today, but now you each have two. Any ideas?”

They chatted for a while before strolling to the nearest church. Every neighborhood had one nestled in its center, each seemingly pulled straight from one of the many Christian faiths back on Earth. Both Tyler and Steve intended to at least loosely follow the Templar and Sentinel paths laid out by the angels, so Harvey didn’t have much input in their skill choices.

Their father went first, placing his gauntlet-covered hands on the crystalline orb. Nothing happened. Surprised, Steve glanced back at Cash, who was busy discussing something with Tyler.

“You gotta take the gloves off,” Cash instructed.

Steve smirked, pulling off the armor and placing it inside his slipsack. Rainbow haze surrounded him, and he got to work. The first ingredient for his skill was his Mark of the Devout. The second was a memory from one of the classes taught by the Sentinel instructor. It showed an essence barrier subtly changing colors and growing denser as the angel infused it with his aura. He guessed it was one of their first lessons in aura control, but wouldn’t be sure until he saw the skill description. Next, he added three visions Harvey recognized. The first was simple, showing his father gawking at the magnificently horrifying Ophanim flying high above them as they walked to the battlefield. The next showed Cash bathing them in his Willpower-enhancing smoke, and the final showed all four of them mowing down the tortured souls made corporeal by the holy resonance released by the Ophanim’s gaze.

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[An aura skill? Like Julian’s old healing one?]

Maybe. I think he’s trying to replicate the Ophanim’s ability. Not sure if you’d call that an aura skill or what.

The visions sank into the Loom, weaving into the shape of a glowing, golden eye opened wide.

Oh no.

[Oh my god, yes!]

My mom’s gonna lose it.

[Even better!]

The eye floated off the Loom, floating straight towards Steve’s forehead. He tried dodging out of the way, but he couldn’t move far with his hands glued to the orb. At the last second, he turned his head sideways, hoping to bury the ink under his hairline, but it found its home. When the light receded, he turned to see his two sons staring at him, slack-jawed.

“Your mother’s gonna kill me,” he sighed.

His parents had lectured him about staying reverent in the house of the lord his entire life, but even Cash couldn’t help but laugh. Smack dab in the middle of his forehead sat an eye bigger than his other two combined. A subtle golden glow radiated from within. Looking at it was unnerving. Being a tattoo, it never blinked. It just watched, casting judgement on all it saw.

“It looks good,” Tyler coughed, his face turning red.

“Don’t lie to your father,” Steve grumbled.

“Show us what it does,” Harvey laughed. “Then we can decide if you’re ever allowed to take that helmet off again.”

Father’s Vigil | G Grade | Rare:

The Father, both in Heaven and on Earth, is called to watch over his children. Two unspoken promises bind all under your watchful gaze. Allies will feel your vigilance, receiving a boost to their Willpower as your holy resonance fills the air around them. Enemies will be bathed in the Lord’s light, where no lies, fear, or corruption can take hold. The speed and strength of holy resonance released by your aura scales with Willpower and Endurance.

“That’s actually an amazing skill. Neither the stat boost or the holy aura will be as potent as an Ophanim or my own skill, but you managed to combine the two pretty well!” Cash smiled.

Hearing that helped mollify him a bit, but his dad still didn’t look happy.

“Listen, you can hide the tattoo once you evolve,” Harvey assured. “You want to do your second one now or let Tyler have a go?”

Before he could respond, Tyler shouldered past them and placed both hands on the orb.

“I was going to let him go anyway,” Steve muttered.

Tyler didn’t have a Mark yet, so he could only use the memories and plans the angels provided for his skills. Harvey knew the plan Tyler created with Cash, so he wasn’t surprised when the first skill was formed by a mix of Templar concepts and time spent training his base-running with his baseball coach. Stealing bases required disguising your intentions before bursting into a full sprint. It was one of the few skills in baseball Tyler wasn’t naturally talented at, but years of training had helped him develop the speed needed to do it well.

When the visions finally sank into the Loom, the sigil that formed was much more abstract than any he’d seen before. It was just a hodgepodge of jagged gold and red lines. For a moment, Harvey wondered if the skill had been rejected somehow, but remembered something when the tattoo sank into his legs.

“No way,” Tyler laughed. “It traced my scar.”

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Tyler had gotten a nasty scar on his leg when a third baseman accidentally stepped on him while he was sliding. This was back in his coach-pitch days. Harvey remembered his mom threatening to sue the other kid's parent for hurting her little boy, but Tyler had grinned from ear to ear because his coach said he’d buy ice cream for the first person to steal a base.

“Interesting. Especially since you didn’t include the memory where you got it in the skill,” Cash mused.

Blessed Break | G Grade | Rare:

When doing the Lord’s work, there can be no doubt or hesitation. Evil must be struck down hard and fast, with the full weight of your conviction behind every move you make. Gain increased Dexterity while charging toward a target, building momentum as you move. This momentum infuses your weapon with divine power, released upon your next strike. Momentum rapidly fades once you stop moving. The speed of your charge and the power of your strike scale with Strength and Willpower.

“This is just like an Uncommon skill most Templars use, but it looks like adding the baseball stuff upgraded it to Rare,” Cash explained.

“You know me,” Tyler shrugged. “I’m not your average guy.”

“Yup. You’re exceptionally irritating,” Harvey replied, not missing a beat.

His brother blurred, dashing towards Harvey before punching him right in the chest. His fist glowed golden, erupting with holy force as it bounced off his steel chestplate.

“Ow!” Tyler complained, shaking his hand.

“Play stupid games, win stupid prizes! I’m level 45,” Harvey laughed.

“Speaking of levels, I think it’s best for you to wait to create your second skill until you have a chance to test out your new strength and get some more experience under your belt. Skills made from classes and concepts are good, but it’s better when they’re built from lived experience,” Cash said.

Tyler tried to rush back to the Loom, but crashed hard when their dad stuck out a foot to trip him. Silver armor clattered off the chapel floor, and Steve picked him up by the back of his breastplate like a dog picking up her puppy by the nape of its neck.

“You heard the angel,” Steve condemned. “Stop rushing and think for a minute.”

Tyler pulled at his armor, straightening it once he’d been set down.

“Your family is a funny mix of personalities,” Cash said.

“I know. I’ve got one son who overthinks everything and another who barely thinks at all!” Steve groaned.

“Hey! Max is doing his best!” Tyler complained.

“I’m talking about you!” Steve shot back, smacking the back of Tyler’s head. “Compared to you two, Max and your sister might as well be angels.”

“I don’t see Eleanor helping hunt demons. Do you?” Harvey mocked.

“No, brother. I don’t think I do,” Tyler joined in, following their dad out the door. All jokes were set aside when they reached the tall, silver gates. Outside, they could hear the howl of a hellhound far in the distance.

It was time to hunt.