Unbound-Chapter Nine Hundred And Ninety Seven – 997

“Are you serious?” Archie couldn't believe what he was reading. "Those big Trees are rewarding you for…doing what you’d be doing anyways?” Archie groaned. “How come I don't get any good Quests?"

"Well," Beef puffed out his chest. "Maybe you just gotta git gud."

Archie stilled. "I'm going to kill you. Just know that.”

Beef laughed, but Archie didn’t. The kid gulped audibly. "You're joking." He looked at Gabby. "He's joking, right?"

The Titan ignored Beef, much to Archie’s delight. "Why’re you here?"

He shrugged. "I need some armor. It seemed like this was the place to go."

"Left side," Harn called.

Archie turned toward the man. "What?"

"Left side. Your armor's waiting."

"Huh? I didn't ask you to make anything yet."

"No, you didn't, kid. But I did anyways. You're gonna need it."

"Huh." Archie ambled over to the storage chests off to the side. Built into the walls, they formed a series of metallic tombs. On the left-hand side, they glowed with sigils that might as well have been Greek, for all that he could read them. Luckily, he didn’t have to—the moment he got close enough, a series of them flared up and a section opened up. A rack unfolded from its metal tomb, trays popping free to display a set of brilliant armor.

Analyze.

Name: Cuirass of the Flightfoot (Set Piece 1 of 4)

Type: Armor (enchanted)

Lore: Forged by the Master smith Harn Kastos, this chestpiece was formed from shadowflesh harvested from the godslaves of Noctis, the late Goddess of the Night. Layered atop of it are plates of orichalcum and arcanite, interlocked into a descending pattern across the abdomen. It is meant to be worn with the Boots of the Flightfoot, Trousers of the Flightfoot, and Helm of the Blind.

Durability VII

Turn Projectiles IV

Fade From Sight III

“Wow. A whole set.” Archie saw all the rest of the pieces as he lifted up the plated jacket. It was heavy, owing to the plates of orichalcum and arcanite sewn into the fabric. “This is expensive isn’t it?”

Harn grunted. “Priceless. Probably.”

“Wait, this leather…” Archie reread the description. “It’s made from godslave flesh? How the hell did you even get that?”

"Had people harvesting," Harn said between hammerblows. He didn’t so much as look up from his work. "Turns out their easy pickins once you put an axe in their brains and stick ‘em with a butcher enchantment."

"These enchantments…I didn’t even know they had stealth ones."

"That took some doin’. The inscriptionists haven’t practiced it much, but they did good work. Might even keep you alive. You too, lady," the man said, nodding at Gabby. "Been workin’ on yours since your brother brought you back.”

Gabby started. “Why?”

This time Harn did stop. He frowned at the woman. “I see someone with shattered armor and I’m gonna make a replacement, yeah?” Her jerked his chin to the same wall Archie stood at. “Over to the right. Consider it a ‘welcome to the team’ present."

The Titan didn’t say anything else. She moved a bit woodenly toward the wall, and in the light of a nearby forge, Archie could see tears in her eyes. Another reminder that she wasn’t a heartless killer anymore.

The wall opened up, just as his had, unfolding until it revealed a set of armor made far differently from Archie’s. It was a set of full plate, forged entirely out of red-gold orichalcum into a series of snaking bands. Lines chased across the breastplate, pauldrons, even the arm and leg parts that Archie didn’t know the names of—it looked like it had been rippled by the wind or waves. It wasn’t until she lifted up the full helm that Archie realized he was mistaken.

It’s shaped like flames. Golden flames.

Gabby clutched the breastplate to her chest, awe etched clearly on her face and emanating from her unveiled Spirit. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Just make sure to put it to good use."

Beef looked hopefully at the Forgemaster. "What about me?"

Harn lifted a thin sword from his anvil and inspected its tapering blade. It was a fine sort of weapon, though not one Archie would have ever used. A rapier, he was pretty sure.

"I got nothin’ for you."

"What? Why not?"

"Your death energy doesn't work in my stuff. It fouls it up my hammer and twists up the sigaldry we scrape in. Nasty stuff. I'm not touching it anymore. You can go fiddle with your chitin and the Eidolons. They're in the back working on something that makes my head hurt."

"Really?” Beef rubbed his furry mitts together. “I should go check on that.”

"Aye, you should. Maybe they have something that might protect you, though I doubt anything's gonna be quite as good as Hallow there."

Beef’s armor creased across his abdomen. The thing was smiling. "I appreciate that, Harn."

The man gave a grunt before quenching the blade in a pool of what looked like blood. “That Quest of yours is powerful if you complete it. We need power, wherever we can get it.”

Archie curled his lip at Beef. “You told him before me?”

“I needed help with armor stuff! I had to pick his brain.”

The Titan spoke over them both. “What are the Eidolons working on, Harn?”

“Not a clue. Go ask, and tell that big bastard Ogun that I got their shipment in. Might be they can make use of it to help you all out.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

In a chamber off the side of the Forge, where the ceilings were vaulted and the walls bare, the Eidolons had set up shop. There was a workstation within, and though it was far more limited than the Forgemaster’s, it was set up with numerous counters, anvils, and troughs—things that Beef had no name for and which he could only guess at their use. The Eidolons were gathered in a cluster when he entered, trailed by Gabby and Archie, and they looked up with an almost guilty expression on their stone faces.

“Ah, Beefhammer.” Eagin smiled, stepping forward. “As well as the emperor’s sister and Archibald. Welcome.”

“Hey there, Eags.” Beef set down the crate he’d been carrying. Despite his gentleness, it clanged against the smooth tile. “Brought you something.”

Gabby put her crate down as well, though Archie carried nothing but the daggers at his hip.

Eagin peered curiously at the crates. Behind him, the other Eidolons craned their necks from behind a counter, where a number of tools lay haphazardly on its surface, along with broken chunks of stone. “What’s this, then?”

“Your supplies. Harn said you’d requested them?”

“Aha!” Eagin leaned in, grasping the top of the crate with hands bigger than even Beef’s. The lid of the metal crate was pried open with remarkable ease, revealing piles of dark soil packed within. Eagin tapped the side of the crate. "Yes, excellent. It seems it's all here.”

“What exactly am I looking at?” Archie asked, peering over the edge of the crate.

Beef took a deep sniff. “It smells…nice. More than nice. Huh. There’s a lot of entropic energy wafting out of that dirt.”

The Eidolon Exult reached forward and dug his stone fist into the dirt. When he pulled it out, he held a clump of what looked like clay studded with bits of bone and roots, as if it had been growing underneath the soil.

"This is called a graveheart, harvested from the Beacon in Sao’Thun."

"Really?" Beef glanced at Gabby, who seemed surprised. "Are they already trading with us?"

"They are part of the Empire," Eagin said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I've heard it will be the first place Lord Va’s and Lord Knacht will visit."

Gabby nodded as if any of that made sense. Beef scratched his head. "Atar's not going with us? But he's got all that fire, and we’re facing shadow monsters."

"And I have the light," Gabby said, her voice steel. "We will do what we have to.”

Archie pantomimed a jab. “We'll just stab whatever gets close. Who needs mages?"

“I mean, I'm basically a mage.” Beef shoved Archie as the guy snorted. "Shut up. I am."

The Delven rolled with the shove. He had to, or else he'd have been pressed into the floor. Archie stood up, annoyingly unharmed. "So, Eagin, what's this graveheart stuff do?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"It's a catalyst that increases the flexibility and durability of necromantic Mana constructs,” Telys explained. The constellation of lights on her chest flared with every word. “It's used in various alchemical concoctions designed to swell the effects of summoned undead.”

“Swell the…I’m not sure I follow. Do you mean it strengthens them?”

“Among other things, yes.”

Beef clapped his hands together. “I like that! You think I could borrow this stuff?”

“They’re incredibly rare.” Eagin set the lumpy graveheart back into the soil, burying it again. “Even if they weren’t, your Risen aren’t exactly undead. The effect isn’t the same, as we’ve tried with other necromantic reagents.”

“Quite a few,” Ogun muttered. “I’m damn tired of these walls.”

Eagin cleared his throat. “For our purposes, we intend to use it to complete this."

Across the counter, Ogun, Iiana, and Telys stepped aside. Behind their bulk was an equally massive set of stone armor.

"Armor?" Beef asked. "Is this what Harn meant—?”

Hallow hummed. “That is not armor, Beef. That is an Exult. Our Exults.”

"Good eye," Ogun rumbled. "This is a collection of all the Risen Exults you used during Amaranth’s siege. Took a damnable time to extract their pieces from the Multipede’s hide while we were in Gharion.”

Beef blinked, suddenly guilty. The Multipede had been injured during the last moments of the seige, but other than sooth it with entropic energy, Beef hadn’t had time to do more for it. That’s not true, he told himself. You just wanted to go after Vess and the Omen Path.

He made a mental note to check on the Multipede and Sharpwing Matriarch as soon as possible.

“Though the Exults were beyond true repair, even in their limited form, we found enough to make this suit,” Iiana finished.

“Then it is armor?” Archie asked.

“Yes. Uniquely suited to Beefhammer’s core space.” Telys rapped her knuckles against the stone armor. “We figured it would be useful to have options other than Hallow, allowing your Companion to act in her own stead. It would increase your mobility and the variety of your actions.”

"I mean, I guess." Beef tapped his breastplate. "Hallow, what do you think?"

In answer, the Graven Aegis peeled off of Beef's body, the crystalline shape pouring into a humanoid being made entirely of jagged edges. It resembled a woman—one sized on the same dimensions as Beef himself—but its edges and corners were still somewhat jagged with crystalline growth and she had curling horns.

"I think that this has better uses."

“What do you—”

Without another word, Hallow leaped over the counter. Before the Exults could object, she engulfed the stone armor in her crystalline form. "Protean Aegis!"

The Exult shell was subsumed by blackened green crystal in an instant—not just the completed piece either, but all the discarded bits set along the countertops nearby too. They were snagged by crystalline appendages and snatched toward the center. Gabby and Archie darted back as the metal crates themselves were seized by shards that pierced through metal and soil before yanking them wholesale into the accumulating bulk of Beef’s Companion.

“She took the gravehearts!” Telys shouted.

Beef vaulted over the counter, hands grasping at Hallow's hide. "What are you doing? What's happening?"

Her form flashed and gleamed, undergoing a strange, shuddering change.

Resonance Detected!

Synergy Detected!

The Minds Of Warriors Past Have Imbued Your Companion!

Hallow, The Graven Aegis, Has Evolved Into The Eidolon Seraph!

Light filled the chamber along with a chorus of strident singers and blaring horns. It filled Beef, etching into his Spirit and Mind like the afterimages of a flashbulb, before it swirled into a series of chiming bells. Notifications rattled across his vision.

Razorhail Has Evolved Into Halo Rupture (Legendary)!

Protean Aegis Has Evolved Into Protean Apotheosis (Transcendent)!

The light faded, and with it the chorus of voices dimmed down to nothing. The stone armor was gone, and Hallow's humanoid form had been replaced by a towering beast that looked nothing like her. It was a Minotaur, complete with steer-like horns and thick slabs of stone and crystal where naked flesh might normally show.

Beef stepped back, startled by the bright green gaze that met his—eyes he knew all too well.

"Hallow?"

"I…feel quite different."

"I'll say," Beef couldn’t help the quaver in his voice. The Minotaur before him was thick across shoulder and hip, like a walking wall made of interlocking pieces of translucent crystal and star-marked stone. The glyphs on a normal Exult were present too, appearing as constellations of light that etched across her chest and arms, disappearing only when the blackened green light of necromantic Mana swelled in each fist, hoof, and her head.

"That’s freaky as hell," Beef muttered. “You look like a dang monster.”

Archie raised an eyebrow. "Beef, she looks like you.”

That gave Beef pause. No wonder people get scared of me sometimes. “Hallow, are you really in there?"

"I am," the mirror Minotaur replied, lifting a hand to wave at him. "This is quite a surprise, however. I did not expect to reflect you quite so well."

"I'm sorry," Beef winced. "You were all ladylike before, too."

Hallow tilted her horned head. "I have no gender but what you assign, Beef. You have begun accepting the truth. This is good."

"The truth?"

Hallow smiled. "That we are one."