章節 107: Not Alone
Liam focused his new energy on the last few sections of the wall, completing the circle around the mountain. He had succesfully isolated the landslide, preventing it from going further towards any of the nearby cities.
He worried he had been too late to save some towns and villages, as a portion of the landslide had managed to spill past the barriers before the walls were fully raised. But when he looked into the distance, he realized he was not alone in this.
Relieved, he turned to the simpler task. In areas where no cities or towns lay, he began lowering the walls gradually. This allowed the landslide to flow out slowly and stabilize much faster.
'There's no way I'm keeping up my domain for hours,' Liam thought, fully concentrating on making sure he didn't mess this up.
A few minutes ago, at another massive city on the complete opposite side of the mountain, several yellow-colored portals appeared.
Out of the portals walked familiar figures wearing the traditional robes of high-ranking mages. They spread out across the city, making hand signals and raising their arms. Large yellow shields manifested at their palms, covering entire sides of the city.
One person stood at the front of the city, preparing to take the full force of the landslide.
The landslide heading toward this city was far smaller since it was much farther from the mountain than others. But even so, the people in this city wouldn't survive if left alone. And since the landslide was caused by a creature from a different dimension, such a massive loss of life could greatly disturb the natural order.
The Ancient One raised her hand towards the oncoming landslide, the Time Stone glowing as green, magical constructs formed and shot forward. They struck the landslide, slowing it to a snail's pace.
With a calm motion, she created a massive yellow shield. The landslide struck it, splitting and flowing harmlessly to the sides, where other Masters of the Mystic Arts held firm with their own shields.
The Ancient One looked up at the sky above the volcano. Shortly after, she sensed the use of dimensional energy far ahead as golden beams shot a hundred feet into the air near them. A smile briefly crossed her face before her expression turned serious again.
The other masters also looked at the phenomenon, sensing the unfamiliar energy forming above the volcano and spreading. They had never encountered anything like this before, but since the Ancient One did not order them, they trusted that the situation was under control.
Then, massive walls rose a couple hundred feet away from them.
'Fascinating,' the Ancient One mused. 'In all my centuries of existence and the countless futures I've seen through the Time Stone, his magic is unlike anything I've seen before.'
'And it is strong,' she acknowledged. 'It's a pity I can no longer see his future after today's events.'
Her gaze softened. 'The role I was meant to play is nearing its end.'
The landslide around the city thinned out quickly, as the walls blocked more than three-quarters of its original length.
The mages and the Ancient One regrouped, seeing that the landslide in their area had completely dispersed. The land surrounding the city had now been raised several feet higher than before.
In the distance, they could see the walls carefully dispersing the landslide to ensure it wouldn't bury any nearby towns or cities.
Meanwhile, as Liam stabilized the landslide, he turned around, wanting to thank the previous users of Incursio. But they were nowhere to be found.
'This wasn't planned at all,' Liam thought. 'I need to visit Incursio's dimension again after this.'
Nearly half an hour passed before the last walls sank into the ground. The landslide was stabilized for now; all that remained was for rescue workers to save the civilians on the island.
'Even though it's fine for now, if another earthquake hits, all the debris could start moving again,' Liam thought as he flew away from the mountain's peak.
As he reached the bottom of the mountain, he unsummoned Incursio.
Taking a few steps forward, Liam collapsed onto one knee. His entire body ached immensely from the evolution and the constant draining of his energy.
Liam closed his eyes, coughing violently and spitting blood into his right hand. As he opened his eyes again, he finally noticed something was off about his arm.
Horrified, he stared at the white scales covering his right arm, reaching up to the point where the stone giant had torn it off. His fingers had transformed into bone-like structures, ending on extremely sharp claws.
"What the fuck is this?" Liam cursed.
Suddenly, intense chest pains struck him, as if his heart were exploding. The pain spread throughout his entire body, like an army of ants eating away on his flesh all at the same time.
Liam fell to both knees, clutching his chest as he coughed up more blood.
After a few agonizing minutes, the extreme pain slowly began to fade, leaving behind a dull, barely manageable ache from the exhaustion.
'What is this all about?' Liam thought, still feeling stabs of pain every few seconds.
The sound of sizzling magic and approaching footsteps made him turn. A yellow portal opened behind him, and through it stepped the Ancient One, Mordo, Wong, and two other mages he didn't recognize.
Mordo's gaze fell on Liam. He wanting to greet him but froze upon noticing Liam's changed appearance and unfamiliar energy. His expression hardened as he raised his weapon instinctively, the two mages beside him following after him did the same.
The Ancient One raised a hand to stop them. "There's no need for this."
"Why not?" Mordo's voice was clear. "His energy signature and appearance are completely different. How do we know he's the same Liam? How do we know he isn't an enemy now? Is he even the same Liam we once knew?" His weapon lowered slightly, but his body remained tense. "We can't take that risk. It isn't safe."
"Not all that is unfamiliar is dangerous," the Ancient One replied calmly. "You witnessed his intentions yourself. His appearance and power may have changed, but his heart has not."
Mordo's jaw tightened. All his life he had followed by rules and order, beliefs that left no room for exceptions. He could not easily put those principles aside, even for someone who used to be a friend.
"You expect us to trust someone who looks like that?" Mordo gestured at Liam. "Rules exist for a reason. They must be followed. What if you're wrong?"
"Then it will be my mistake to bear, not yours," the Ancient One said gently. "Go. There are other matters that need your attention."
Mordo hesitated before bowing slightly. "As you wish." He stepped through the portal with the others, though their wary glances lingered on Liam as they disappeared.
When they were gone, Wong turned to the Ancient One. "Are you sure about this?" he asked quietly.
She nodded, revealing a soft smile.
Liam looked up at her, his voice hoarse. "What's happening to me?"
"Power comes at a cost, young Liam," she said. "And it seems you've found what that cost is."
章節 108: Changed
'A cost, huh.' Liam thought, looking at his right arm. 'I can understand why Mordo wants nothing to do with this. In all teachings, appearance changes indicate corruption—a connection to Forbidden Forces, which is strictly forbidden.'
"We should head back now," the Ancient One said. "There is some aftermath that needs to be handled, and you need to get some rest."
Liam nodded. He stood up weakly. Today had pushed him to his limits—not because of the fight with the stone giant itself, but because of how tricky it could be to protect ordinary people.
'I did improve my strength by a lot again,' Liam thought. 'This raw amount of physical power is something I've never had before, not to mention the increase in the amount of energy I can use.'
"You did great handling this dimensional tear," Wong said as the Ancient One turned to open a portal back to Liam's room. "Not many could have managed it better."
"As for Mordo, don't mind him too much. He'll come around eventually."
"Thanks," Liam said, offering a weak smile.
"Head back to your room now and rest. We'll discuss the aftermath tomorrow," the Ancient One said as she turned around.
"Sure," Liam replied, stepping through the portal to his room.
The Ancient One and Wong nodded at him before the portal closed in front of Liam.
After the portal disappeared, Wong looked at the Ancient One.
"Are you sure he's going to be okay?" Wong asked. "That level of change isn't normal."
"Nothing is certain," the Ancient One said. "While we can help him as much as possible, in the end, it will all depend on him."
Wong stayed silent, studying the Ancient One as he became lost in his thoughts.
The Ancient One summoned another portal—this time to the training courtyard—and walked through it.
'Who would've thought he could get so strong in just the few years he's been here?' Wong thought as he followed after her. 'Let's just hope the corruption doesn't consume him.'
Meanwhile, Liam walked through his room, exhausted. He glanced at the mirror as he walked past it on his way to bed but stopped in his tracks.
'So, my arm wasn't the only part that changed?' Liam thought, stepping closer to the mirror.
From above both ears to the middle of his head, two long, white horns curved back diagonally from his head.
'So now I have a different arm, different eyes, and I've grown horns?' Liam thought, feeling the horns with his hands. 'Am I even human anymore?'
'No wonder Mordo reacted like that,' Liam thought, walking to his bed. 'I could have still covered up my arm, but with these massive horns, there is absolutely no point.'
"I'll check it out properly tomorrow," he muttered, feeling too drained to think about the changes.
He climbed into bed, his horns cutting his cushion into pieces as he fell asleep. Despite being drained, he was still really worried about the physical changes he had gone through.
In his sleep, he began dreaming. This dream, however, wasn't unfamiliar to him.
He was trapped inside the Tyrant, unable to do anything but watch. The dream picked up where it had last ended.
The Tyrant, pierced by the massive greatsword, began evolving. Golden light surrounded its body as it ripped the greatsword out of its chest, throwing it to the side with such power that it killed thousands of ordinary humans upon impact.
Still covered in golden light, the Tyrant absorbed energy from its surroundings. It drained the life from trees and grass, turned the soil beneath its feet into solid rock, and continued gathering energy.
The energy gathered on its back, turning into a massive set of wings. After the evolution was complete, the Tyrant spread its wings wide and shot into the sky, escaping the people that had surrounded it.
The dream ended there. Next, Liam got nightmares for a few hours, thinking off his future with his monsterous appearance, until he was pulled into another different dream. This time, he watched a man in familiar armor battle large beasts with a long red spear.
For half an hour, Liam observed as the man killed beast after beast before the dream ended and he woke up again.
Scratching his right arm since it felt itchy, Liam thought, 'That was a weird night. I saw another part of Incursio's memory… but what was the dream about the man in Incursio's armor?'
He paused, scratching his arm again, before realizing something was off.
He sat up and looked at his arm. The scales that once covered it had completely vanished, he no longer had claws for fingers either.
'What the hell?' Liam thought. 'So it wasn't permanent?'
The more he looked at it, the more he realized that wasn't entirely the case either.
'This arm… it's a completely different color compared to my other arm.' He noticed more differences. 'The bones, veins, nerves and muscles—it's like they belong to something else entirely.'
His arm had turned a pure white, as if it was colored by a white crayon. Its structure had no resemblance to that of a normal human's. He had more bones and muscles inside his arm than before, even stranger was that it all functioned properly.
Liam hopped out of bed and walked to the mirror. There, he saw his own face and hair again and started smiling.
'My horns have shrunk as well,' he noted.
Feeling his horns, he realized they were now much shorter and thinner than before.
Taking a closer look inside his body, he noticed changes in his skull. Two round bones branched out from the sides, piercing through his skin and left a little farther above his ears than the night before.
'Thank God,' Liam mused, happy. 'For a moment, I thought I was becoming the next Bruce Banner.'
He had been seriously worried about his future with the changes Incursio had left him with.
"People don't like monsters, after all," he muttered.
Looking even deeper into himself, Liam looked at the significant changes in his cells.
The percentage of white energy within his cells had increased dramatically, especially in his right arm and horns.
'Those areas consist of about 90% white energy and 10% yellow energy,' Liam thought. 'But it looks like the yellow energy in my body is slowly flowing into those cells, balancing them out.'
Grabbing his notebook, he began writing down ideas.
'It seems my horns are shrinking because the yellow energy is forcing my body to return to normal,' Liam noted. 'Very interesting. That might mean I won't have horns at all in the future.'
'At the same time, the horns could still be there if the energy levels out with the rest of my body before they completely shrink.' Liam thought.
"But would they grow in size again if I summoned Incursio?"
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The grandfather of a very close friend of mine suddenly collapsed yesterday and was rushed to the hospital, where they discovered he has blood cancer. The doctors say it's only a matter of weeks.
During this time, I will be away from home for 1 or 2 days a week.
If all goes well, I should still have enough chapters prepared to continue daily uploads on the other days. However, I want to let you know that I might miss a day or two in the coming weeks.
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