Aghanim's Rubick Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Ifrit roared. Manipulating the primordial forces of reality, he willed a conflagration into existence. Obeying his will, heat surged to an unbearable degree, burning hot enough to sear flesh from bone. Any human within even vague proximity to the torrent of hellfire he unleashed would have been turned into molten slag, melted from the temperature even as it burned the very air from their lungs.

Stroking my chin in the midst of the flames, I examined the feedback I was getting from my Magical senses. Being immune to temperature sure came in handy at moments like this. Originally, I took control of the flames and kept them from my body, but after some quick testing by sticking my hand into them I concluded that they could not harm, thus freeing up my attention to focus exclusively on what I was reading from the soul of the being in front of me.

It was the weirdest one I have ever encountered. Most souls were like spheres of spiritual energy, or at least that’s what the feeling I gleaned from them looked like when transplanted into a visual medium. However, whatever was happening at a spiritual level in front of me messed with that experience heavily. It was like there were two spheres instead of one, only being distinguished by their unique ‘feel’, The two flickering in and out, one attempting coming to prominence before being usurped by the other.

The dim, defeated soul was likely the one of the woman whose body the elemental spirit had usurped, Shizu. Activating Hanako’s skill and pumping it to its limit, I was able to more easily discern what was going on beneath the surface. Shizu‘s soul was fighting a war on multiple fronts, and losing. Every time she tried to regain control of her body, the soul of Ifrit attempted to merge wit her own. This provoked a violent reaction, Shizu fighting back the attempted merger but in the process losing ground in the battle for her body.

Her efforts were not entirely in vain, however, as with the very clear distinction between the two entities she fought to maintain the roots of a plan started forming in my head. However, rather than being able to calmly and logically deliberate on the best course of action, I noticed something rather worrying. Every time Shizu was beaten back, she grew weaker, the light of her soul shining a little dimmer.

She was running out of time. If something were to be done, it needed to be done now.

To that end, I immediately put my hard earned knowledge into practice. As Lanaya had informed me, Hanako was by far the best Magic user the Ogres had available. Unfortunately for my mystical appetite, her scope of knowledge was almost exclusively limited to barrier magic. That was perfect for the current situation however, as I started to fight back against Ifrit.

The first spell seemed to take the Elemental completely by surprise, glowing ethereal chains snapping into existence around him, quickly constricting his arms into his sides and restraining him. Not for long, it turned out, as and explosion of fire built up within his body and burst out violently, dispelling the binding. Clicking my tongue, I formulated a modification to the binding as I simultaneously moved my Core into the sole of one of my feet, taking the vicious slash the elemental delivered to my chest without even a flinch.

My body was one of the first things I experimented on, the insane durability offered by my form, something I quickly realised I needed to understand in order to leverage properly. Careful controlled experiments, in curated environments, in escalating orders of trauma. Crushing, cutting, slicing, burning, freezing, drowning, suffocation and more besides, all pointing to one inevitable conclusion.

Not only could I regenerate the damage done, nothing even caused me pain. It seemed that the only way I could be harmed was indeed by direct damage to my Core. There was another hypothetical danger, that being an effect that syphoned Magic at a faster rate than I could produce it. However, thanks to my still ongoing digestion of Veldora, that was unlikely to occur anytime soon.

Grabbing onto the burning Elemental, I focused, summoning many different seals and bindings, straining Hanako’s Analyse to it’s limits. Modifying Thought Acceleration, I split my attention equally, one half focusing on maintaining the bindings upon the struggling Lord of Fire, the other etching out his soul for targeting by another of my skills.

Once I was sure that I had successfully separated out the two, the hard fought boundary Shizu’s efforts ensured existed between their souls aiding me in this endeavour, the baleful orange glow of Devour started shining from my hands. The pentagram symbol flared to life, its appearance triggering some sort of instinctual fear in Ifrit. Struggling mightily against his bonds, he roared as the flames burned white, hotter than ever before.

It didn’t save him. The orange glow engulfed him, the infernal skill greedily pulling out the creature’s existence out of Shizu’s body, his magic getting dispersed and feasted on greedily. As the skill finished, I was able to see the woman that the elemental lo9rd had overtaken. The Japanese beauty briefly looked at me with gratitude before her body gave in and she collapsed into a heap.

I followed her to the ground, my own body starting to rebel. A wave of discomfort washed over me, the unconscious effort to maintain my human form no longer sufficient. I had to focus hard, my form bubbling and shifting against my will. Doing all this while feeling like I was going to throw up was a uniquely horrible experience.

My mind whirled, sluggish and unresponsive as I struggled to find the reasoning for my sudden bout of illness. As I looked into my Magic, which was reeling and writhing, I found the issue. Ifrit was the strongest being I had Devoured after I ate Veldora. The dragon was so magically dense it was as if I was a gorged snake, bloated with my meal and slowly digesting it over time.

However, with the consumption of Ifrit, the slow digestion of Veldora meant that I had to incorporate the entirety of the elemental’s being without drawing it out at all. Identifying the issue, I attempted to smooth the process, focusing hard on integrating Ifrit’s considerable store of magic into my own. As I did, I was struck by pain for the first time I entered this world, the very Core of my being burning in agony as I stretched it past it’s limits.

“...ick! Rubick! Are you okay?!” I heard a voice calling me, through the haze of pain and discomfort that surrounded me.

“N-n-noooo…” I groaned out, my voice garbled and mushy, “But I… will live. How’s… Shizu?”

“That’s… She…” The Slime's voice trailed off, distress clearly audible.

“Lady Shizu is rapidly ageing.” Rigurd’s voice was the next I heard, my senses fully focused inwards, “I believe she will soon pass on.”

“What?!” That shocked me.

After all this effort, she will just die anyway? That caused no end of indignation to rise up within me. Purely powered by spite, I forced myself to reform, my features still slightly incorrect and wrong, but it was good enough for me to hobble over to where the Goblin was kneeling over the lying figure.

The Slime, who had been leaning over me, hopped after me rapidly as well. As I reached the woman, I collapsed onto my knees, the limbs fading way as I no longer needed to focus on them.

“You saved me.” The woman, who looked to be in her late 30’s whispered, her hair rapidly greying as her ageing progressed, “Thank you.”

She lifted up a trembling hand, resting it on the Slime as she looked to me, “Both of you.”

Her soul was ravaged. Without Ifrit bolstering it, despite how in conflict they were, it was flickering and fading. I could see how it’s edges were poorly defined, her magic leaking through like a sieve.

“Not yet, we haven’t.” I spoke, my voice less garbled, but the strain showed through, “You’ll die soon if we do nothing.”

I refused to let that happen. I didn’t know these people, so I wasn’t attached to what happened to them, but I took pride in my work. To expend so much effort only to fail in my task was just humiliating. I got a lot out of this already, Ifrit would be quite the boost to my capabilities once I finished integrating, but it felt wrong to merely leave it like this.

“I’ve lived a long life.” Shizu spoke, voice weak, “If it’s my time, then I’ll accept it. Promise me something though?”

She looked towards the Slime, who bobbed its body up and down, “Anything.”

“Take care of my students for me?” She asked, “and once I die, I want…”

“Fuck that.” I interrupted, frustration spiking as I still struggled through the burning agony the Elemental Lord was causing me, “Don’t you want to take care of them yourself? Are you really happy with it ending like this?”

Tears started to fall from her eyes, her composure breaking, “Of course I’m not. I wish I had more time… But this world is not that kind.”

“I can save you.” I spoke, causing the Slime to bounce excitedly.

“You can?!” It asked, ecstatic, “That’s great!”

“Only if you want to live though.” I spoke, struggling to hold a coherent form for this conversation, “In doing so, you will no longer be human. This is your last chance to die as one.”

Shizu seemed shocked at what I was proposing, but resolve filled her teary eyes, “I want to live. This world has taken so much from me already, I don’t want to give it the satisfaction of stealing my life as well.”

“Good answer.” Pain flared, filling my mind as my being protested what I was about to do, as I placed a hand on her shoulder, “Then live. Prove that you are stronger than this world. I grant you your Name: Shizu.”

I felt tension leave me as I Named the woman, like a great deal of pressure had been relieved in my Soul. Most of the energy that was struggling to be integrated from Ifrit flowed into Shizu instead, Allowing my to integrate the scraps much easier. As what happened normally with Naming, my soul connected with hers, giving it structure and form, reinforcing her existence with my own.

This was something that I believed could happen due to her soul resembling that of the various Monsters I had met, the Oni being the most numerous of those. It seemed that whatever had fused her with Ifrit had made changes to her existence over time and with this final nudge I tipped her over the edge, turning her from a partial Human into a full Monster, like myself and the Oni.

Rigurd sucked in a breath as this happened, the slime merely looking on in confusion as Shizu’s vitality returned, youth and beauty flowing through her as her Naming reversed the effects of time. Monsters were immortal until they were killed, their appearance being directly tied to their strength. With the amount of magic she had Drained with her Naming, Shizu was a very strong monster indeed.

In contrast to her, who likely felt the best she ever had, I was left with a deep fatigue. The pain and stretching that my Core had undergone left its mark, phantom aches wracking my occasionally. Still, with the assault of the fire elemental’s essence abated, I could focus on properly reforming my body.

“This is…” Shizu marvelled, sitting up and staring at the skin of her hand, flexing it into a fist and releasing it, “I feel better than I ever have…”

The wonder in her voice was gratifying, but I was hardly in the mood to enjoy it.

“I don’t understand…” The Slime asked, confused, “How could you Name her? Why did it help her so much?”

“Humans are born with names, but only Monsters can be Named…” I explained, exhaustion filling my voice, “Even Ifrit was a title, not a Name. Shizu has been so saturated in Magic that she transformed from a human into a partial monster, by Naming her I finished that transformation turning her into a full Monster like us.”

The Slime rippled, “I don’t really get it.”

“My lord, if you get a name of your own you might understand it.” Rigurd spoke.

Shizu suddenly interrupted, her voice full of concern, “Rubick, was it? I am very grateful to you for saving me, but are you okay? You appeared to be in distress for a while there.”

I smiled tiredly, “I am rather fatigued, yes. For now, may I ask you all to take advantage of the hospitality of this Village? I will speak to Hanako to find lodgings and food for you.”

“Hanako?” Shizu blinked, “Is she also from Japan?”

I laughed, “No, but it’s a long story. After I’ve had a chance to rest, I will tell you all about it, okay?”

The Slime bobbed, “We’ll look forward to it.”