His attention was drawn to the corpses. Aura ripples were emerging endlessly from them, and he sensed awarenesses. Normally, when he killed Cultivators, Souls came out. But not these ones. Why?

His Soul Sense reached for the Tier 2—

The Tier 2's Soul erupted out from the body, from where it had hidden, shoving his own back. At the same moment, there was a massive, explosive ripple through the Aura, bursting out from the body the Soul had abandoned. This was followed by two more such ripples, smaller but equally explosive in nature, from the two other nearby bodies as Souls emerged from them, too.

'What are you? You are no human!' spat Hao's Soul, shying backwards, but then after a moment it paused, and came back towards you. 'No… wait… it's gone? What did I see within you? A monster! You… you hide a Demon within you! You must die, Barbarian! Kill him! Seize him!' The Soul lunged at him, attempting to dig its way into his body, attempting to tear his Soul apart.

Shouting their own battle cries, the Tier 1's joined it.

Nicolai snorted. He didn't need the Dark or the Blade to resist this. Souls without a body were weak; they needed to have been something special in life to be any good at possession, like the undead who'd once held his Blade.

These three were not Soul focused Cultivators and had no special skills when it came to possession. Nicolai just tightened his Soul Sense's defence and danced amongst them, focusing his Soul. Each kick and punch held the weight of his tensed Soul reinforced by his body, and his strikes blew holes in them. He focused on Hao first, as Hao's Soul did the most damage. The Tier 2 fell back, and the other two followed, already collapsing as the Aura ground them away.

'My clan will make you suffer, barbarian…' Hao hissed, sliding backwards as Nicolai advanced.

Nicolai tilted his head curiously, wondering if the words were just empty threat or something more. 'How?' he asked. 'They don't know what happened here.'

You will see! The Soul launched itself at him.

Nicolai caught it, quick as a cat, and tore it apart. But as it died and was consumed by the Aura, something from it dug into him. It felt like a spiritual splinter, pulsing and shivering as it worked its way into his Soul.

For a moment he was concerned, but Cyberwarfare, ever monitoring as a form of spiritual anti-virus, was ready. It tracked the splinter, which reminded it of the worm Paxolnaz had put in them, long ago. After only moments it had dug the splinter out. It held the strange thing in quarantine and they considered it.

It was some kind of spiritual marker. It looked to have been created at some point by a Symbiote, and then embedded in Hao. With the death of his Soul, he had vented it into Nicolai, to mark him in turn. Nicolai guessed that this marker would respond whenever someone from Hao's clan brushed him with their Soul Sense. Thus branding him as the individual who had murdered Hao.

The splinter was something he would rather be without. He and Cyberwarfare tore it apart and vented the shreds of spiritual energy that had composed it into the Aura.

Nicolai hunkered down beside Hao's corpse, putting a hand on the Cultivator's white robes—still almost pristine, in spite of all the blood around. His Soul Sense searched within the man. Hao should have plentiful Symbiotes. It would be difficult for Nicolai to care for them all, especially since he knew he wouldn't be able to make use of them until he was Tier 2. It was a problem he welcomed.

He did not find a single one. At least, not alive. Instead he found the remnants of a slaughter. Bits and pieces of broken Symbiotes floated in the man's Nodes, and those Nodes seemed in a state, too; damaged by the destruction of these Symbiotes, Hao's death and the lack of a Soul. They were fizzing and crumbling. Not in a manner that looked likely to turn explosive, just a rapid decay.

Nicolai pulled his hand back, frowning. He felt he understood what had happened here. That explosive ripple, before the Souls emerged… that had been these Cultivators destroying all of their Symbiotes at once. He supposed he should have anticipated this. He'd been reminded of the capability of instantly destroying one's own Symbiotes not long ago, in the Inheritance, when Hao had used it to deny him the first instance of the Yin Yang Rotation Symbiote.

Feeling at his Symbiotes even now, he could feel the available of what was, effectively, a killswitch within them, one that required little more than a thought to pull. And yet, it still came as a rather bitter surprise. He'd never seen someone actively, consciously detonate every single Symbiote they held. The very idea was strangely offensive. What a waste.

All three of these had done it, right before their Soul's vacated their bodies to attack him. The immediacy of that suggested to him that this final, spiteful act of Symbiote-denial was commonplace to these people. It was something they had all known to do in this situation, something they had made their peace with long ago.

None of the human's from Earth he'd killed had ever done this, for reasons that Nicolai felt were obvious and understandable. If someone had just died, and found that their body was torn and broken, and they were no longer a corporeal being but a strange, wispy, insubstantial thing that somehow, was still just a little bit alive… most people would be much too busy freaking out to think: I have to destroy my Symbiotes to deny them to the enemy! Or, at least, it would not be the reaction of the average person from Earth, people who by nature were unfamiliar with Symbiotes, and Souls, and all the rest,

But to these people it was apparently a commonplace move. Something a little bit ritualistic, even. A move that made a lot of sense, he couldn't help but admit.

If he'd been able to kill them all, and take all their Symbiotes… his stock would have suddenly and rapidly risen. Not even mentioning the Tier 2 Symbiotes, the Tier 1's would have been of significant and immediate use. With those, his actual power as a Cultivator would've been greatly boosted.

As it was… he got nothing. Or at least, none of the Symbiotes these three had broken in.

His head turned to spy the other two corpses, one only a few dozen metres away, the other more distant. He knew that within those corpses lurked two more Souls, surviving as long as they could. They had yet to detonate their Symbiotes. Perhaps there was something he could do? Some trick he could employ? A bargain to strike? A way to kill the Soul instantly, before it could detonate the Symbiotes? Something? Perhaps, but he was a complete novice in this arena.

It was immediately obvious that with a method to prevent enemies from destroying their Symbiotes on death, a Cultivator could rapidly raise in strength by slaughtering everyone he encountered. It was so obvious that it was impossible he was the first to think on this matter. Doubtless there was a well developed meta; methods to prevent Symbiote denial, methods to counter these counters, a continual back-and-forth. Knowing nothing of any of it, it was very unlikely he would hit upon some unexpected answer the very first time he encountered the problem.

First things first… Nicolai looked to Hao's corpse, and felt at the other two nearby corpses, and smiled. Because there were some things which had not been destroyed; these were on the Cultivators persons, not inside of them. All of their internal, broken-in Symbiotes had been destroyed. But, all of them shared something in common.

They had all been in the Inheritance. And, they had all been given Symbiotes in Reward for passing that Inheritance.

The Symbiotes in the Inheritance board-game had all been… display versions, he supposed. The ones they had actually been given were not those exact ones as in the game. Thus, all of them had needed to break in these Symbiotic rewards.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He had not broken any of his in, because there had been no time.

The same, it transpired, bore true for the Cultivators who had pursued him.

In that regard he had simply gotten lucky, and he was happy to admit that. He hadn't anticipated the Symbiote detonation, nor had he anticipated that the Inheritance would give Symbiotes that weren't broken in, thus preventing these Cultivators from destroying their rewards after death.

He pulled a bag from Hao's waist, opening it. It was identical to the bag he'd received, and quite a reward in its own right; these little bags kept the Symbiotes within calm and placid, so there was no longer a requirement to constantly suppress them with Soul Sense. The bags also did some work to mute the ripples these Symbiotes released.

Within Hao's bag he spied the ultimate prize.

The Yin-Yang Rotation Symbiote. It appeared as two tiny worms, one white, one black, both enfolded and tied to one another to form a strange, wriggling ball.

He tied the bag back up and tucked it into an armoured pocket. Next he collected the man's Artifact, which was a jian-type sword slightly longer than his arm.

Irgunsoo, Artifact Blade

Tier: 2

Type: Flying Sword

Irgunsoo is a weak flying sword Artifact. It possesses the power of flight, allowing its owner to ride upon it, and this power may be shared with nearby mundane swords. It may also be controlled via Soul Sense, used to attack or defend.

As an Artifact, the Cultivator can also stamp his or her will upon it, and thus an opponent will not be able to seize it with their Soul Sense in battle, as they might with an Imbued.

It is not capable of ignoring Oma shields.

It possesses these Arts;

- Flying Sword

- Spreading Wings

He strapped the sword to his belt, as being spiritual in nature it wouldn't go into the Big Mouth, then moved over to the other two corpses and retrieved their own reward bags. He checked them over for Imbued or Artifacts but none had any, their own swords were mundane.

He knew that many of the Symbiotes in their reward bags would be duplicates, as most of the basic Symbiotes had been held by everyone. But, these Cultivators had also seized some of the actual rewards, Hao hadn't taken all the good stuff.

With this, Nicolai—who hadn't won even one of the proper Inheritance rewards—had seized them all.

He wondered if Hao would've appreciated the irony of that. Probably not, said the Mask, in what he noted was a rather smug tone. It had disliked the Cultivator, though amongst the corpses there was one it pitied, one it wished hadn't needed to die.

He moved quickly towards the nearest corpse, which had yet to detonate its Symbiotes. He recognised the body, as did the Mask. It was Jinxiao. Nicolai couldn't help but note that the only one it felt at all bad about had been an attractive woman. He supposed that was, indeed, very human.

'Hey, Jinxiao!' he called out. 'If you don't blow your Symbiotes up, I can help you. I'll take your Soul and protect it. You don't have to die here. I am not a vindictive man. Let me take your Symbiotes, and I will find you a new body…'

'You learn fast, barbarian,' came a voice, a whisper heard through the rippling Aura. 'That is just what any other Cultivator in your situation would say. But I think you are lying, attempting to deceive me—just as you deceived us all at the start of the Inheritance. I think you will wait until I am away from my body and the Symbiotes, and then kill me. I would do the same.'

Nicolai winced as the great Aura slap of a couple dozen Symbiotes being destroyed all at once burst out of the corpse like the ringing of a great bell. Jinxiao's Soul emerged next.

'Now you would like to seize me and torture me for information, wouldn't you?'

Nicolai shrugged. He currently had no method to capture Souls, the Soul Trap was full and none of the Tier 1's needed replacing. He frowned at the Soul. She was… much more cognisant of the situation than he'd expected.

'I had heard of this,' said the Soul, as if in answer to his unspoken thoughts, 'but I couldn't imagine exactly what it would be like. With no body, I feel little emotion. The pressure of life has left me. I am… free from it all. Free to simply think. And so… everything becomes very clear to me.' Jinxiao laughed. 'I really wasted my life, didn't I? Serving that arrogant bastard. I hope I remember this realisation, when I am reborn. Next time, I will be a demon and serve no one but myself!' Her Soul shook, trembling harder and harder, and it burst apart into motes of spiritual light with another faint ripple, dispersing into the Aura.

Nicolai chewed at his lip, staring at the fading light reflectively. He found her change of mindset in death upon turning into a pure Soul quite interesting. Would he experience the same, if his Soul left his body? Although Hao had still seemed largely himself—perhaps because he'd remained so focused on killing Nicolai, even in death?

He was also curious about her words regarding rebirth. It would appear religion was not restricted to Earth—that, or her words had nothing to do with religion but were based in fact. Just another area where his information was lacking. It let him to consider once again the matter of these people, who appeared human. The fact they clearly weren't from Earth. Were they actually human? Or was this a case of convergent evolution?

It was a shame he couldn't ask his many questions. The Mask raised a point, and he nodded. Perhaps I shouldn't have killed them all. He should have spared one. Jinxiao, perhaps. Alive and with a body, he could have made her a true prisoner and asked his many questions. The Mask was even speaking of making an alliance. He snorted. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Still, in this case, the Dark had led him wrong. Just one more reason why he needed to be careful, to restrict it when he let it loose. He needed to gain more control over it. He was able to let it out, and pull it back in once the fighting was over… but during the fight all he wanted was to kill, and kill, and kill. Thoughts like I should spare this one, so I can ask them questions, were not of any interest to the Dark, or to himself while it was through him.

He gazed up at the sun and let out a sigh. Never easy. And the yet the smile remained on his face. The satisfaction of spilling all that blood in such a short time still pulsed in slow waves from the Dark, and he luxuriated in it.

His Soul Sense moved quickly through the interior of Jinxiao's corpse, investigating. Two lungs. One heart. Liver, two kidneys, stomach, bladder…

All the organs were there, in the right places. The bone structure matched up; same amounts of ribs, same amount of teeth. They even had an appendix. Convergent evolution couldn't account for all that.

That settled it. He didn't know how or why, but so far as he was concerned these Cultivators were humans.

He collected the reward bag from Jinxiao's corpse, too, and eyed the sprawled, far-off form of the last one.

The ground trembled beneath his feet. Just a tiny tremor, but his honed senses noted it instantly. Slowly turning his head so as to give his helmet's microphones greater coverage, he made out a distant thumping; distant, but closing quick. There came a roar, then another from a different direction.

Ah. This did not come as a great surprise. In fact, it would've been more surprising if all the creatures in the nearby jungle hadn't detected the Aura ripples. The howling of the Blade in its attack, and the explosive bursts of mass Symbiote detonations which had all occurred only a short time ago must have travelled for quite a ways.

It was time for him to leave. He would've liked to try something on the last corpse. Maybe see if the Blade could be used to snuff out a Soul before it could react and detonate the Symbiotes, but it was too risky. Activating it meant drawing on the Dark, and then having the Blade ready in his hands, which was a bit of a risk in its own right. He was certainly more in control, doing better than before. But even so he didn't think it wise to do that when he knew that enemies were coming for him. He didn't want to accidentally go on a spree, using up all the Blade's Tier 3 energy slaughtering random creatures for little gain.

So instead he dashed straight at the last corpse, and launched himself toward it. He'd charged the rapier and it sliced out, burrowed towards the corpse. It enhanced Soul Sense attacks, after all.

The spiritual thump of all the Symbiotes detonating at once rose from the corpse long before the rapier arrived, stabbing deep into the corpse.

Nicolai arrived a moment after. The Soul continued hiding so he grasped the rapier and stabbed a few more times until he felt it die for real. He seized the bag and fled.

From the noises, he knew the creatures had changed direction slightly in response to this latest detonation, and were now coming more-or-less in his direction.

Activating the Pegasi rings and the Lurker Symbiote, he Shelled himself and floated into the air. A brief use of Oma and the mouth on his chest opened up. He reached inside and pulled out the Red Water Bottle, which he'd kept along with the others, and rinsed the blood from his Skin Suit as he continued rising. He wanted to remove as much of the blood as he could, and the Red Water did a good job. Thus clean and with the smell mostly removed, he slung his Shimmer poncho over himself.

After settling into the high branches of a large tree, he paused for a moment to watch below. Numerous Toothbearers alongside other beings soon appeared, and began fighting over the corpses and attempting to eat one another. It quickly turned into a chaotic mess, the sound of which would undoubtedly draw even more beings from further afield.

He was beginning to think such blood frenzies must be common in this place. It gave him the impression that similarly as in the game he'd played with the Cultivators, it was better to keep moving. If he wanted to plant the Assembler he had gained and create some kind of permanent base, he would need to find somewhere extremely secure and well hidden first.

In the meantime, he was glad for the Lurker Symbiote and his ability to fly. By remaining in the upper branches of the trees he avoided a lot of trouble.

While Spirit Beasts tore each other apart down below, Nicolai slipped away.

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