Forged Legacy

“It’s so nice of you two to join us,” Cassandra commented as everyone began loading up their dinner plates.

Cash, mumbling through a mouthful of bread covered in strawberry jam, replied, “Thanks for having us! Things have gotten pretty boring without you three.”

“Speak for yourself,” Celeste groaned. “Brutus has been all over me about finding the demons attacking our flanks.”

Harvey perked up, freezing for a moment before rushing to dump the scoop of mashed potatoes he was holding on his plate. Neither angel seemed to have noticed the hiccup, but that didn’t stop the icy-cold jolt rushing down his spine.

“Is everyone ok?” Steve asked worriedly.

“That’s the thing. They haven’t attacked a single angel, but we’ve had Nephilim drop dead without a monster anywhere near them. We managed to dig a few bullets out of the bodies, but they all dissolved before we got a chance to take a closer look at them,” Celeste elaborated.

“We all knew they’d have snipers. Why’s it such a big deal all of a sudden?” Tyler asked.

“We have countermeasures in place. That’s why we make sure to send a wall of Nephilim carrying shields the size of this table out in front. The problem is that they’re all getting shot in the back,” Cash replied.

“We know it’s a small group because they only hit one squad a day, and they keep moving to try and hide their tracks. We think we found one of the spots they were hiding in, but they haven’t come back since we posted a guard nearby.”

Every sentence pushed the spike of panic a little deeper. He’d made sure to find a new hideout every night for this exact reason, but he had no idea they were looking for him. They either weren’t trying very hard, or he was in for a nasty surprise. Killing heaven’s divine beasts had always been a risk, but it was one he was willing to take with all the levels it was getting him. They were just raw genesis matter anyway. For essence they were, and to essence they shall return. He was fine as long as he didn’t kill any angels.

“You ok, Harvey?” Cassandra asked.

“Hmm?” he responded.

“You’re just staring at your food,” she chuckled.

“Oh, sorry. Julius and I were chatting about the design for a new wand,” he lied. He may have been hesitant to tell his family about the extra voice in his head, but it gave him a great excuse whenever he zoned out.

“You told them?” Celeste asked.

Harvey nodded, appreciating her encouraging smile. “So, if these demons aren’t killing any angels, why is Brutus so worried about finding them?”

“Just because they haven’t yet doesn’t mean they won’t. They’re not killing enough to actually change the outcome of a battle, but they’re definitely slowing us down. Personally, I’m not too worried about it. Whoever they are, they know that attacking Heaven for real won’t end well for them,” Cash explained.

Harvey jumped in, leaping on the opportunity to change the subject. “Makes sense to me. Seems like a waste of time searching for a few ghosts in the wind.”

“I might agree if Brutus hadn’t personally put me in charge of rooting them out. Every damn morning I have to sit through another meeting where he tells everyone how incompetent I am.”

[It’s not your fault, Celeste. We’re just too good,] Julius snickered in Harvey’s head.

“That’s ridiculous! Why would he blame you?” Harvey asked, ignoring the invasive thoughts.

“He’s still mad about us stealing his thunder. At this point he’d take any excuse to make Celeste look bad. Everybody knows the trial would’ve been over by now if she was our Commander,” Cash said, earning a slap on the shoulder from Celeste.

“Don’t say that! And if you’re going to, say it quiet enough that nobody else will hear you!”

They spent the rest of dinner catching up about other things going on in the trial. Eleanor showed off her new wand while Max put on a talent show, singing a barely recognizable rendition of a Broadway musical their Mom liked. The angels were like new people when they finally left, all the stress from a week of war having melted away after spending a night living like a normal family. Sadly, they both knew it would start all over again tomorrow, but they enjoyed the brief respite nonetheless.

Harvey, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to see them gone. He kept waiting for one of them to connect the dots. The bullets all dissolved before they could analyze them? Who else do they know that conjures their own bullets? Sure, they’ve never watched one of his rounds break down into essence, but they had plenty of context clues that all pointed right at him.

“You sure you’re feeling ok?” Steve asked.

“Yep! I’m fine,” Harvey replied, his voice a little higher than he would’ve liked. “I’ll be in the garage.”

“You’re allowed to take a break, you know?” his Dad laughed. “You’ve been working all night and sleeping all day. You can’t burn the candle at both ends forever.”

“My sleep schedule is a little off, but I’ve always been a night owl,” he excused.

Steve pulled him in for a hug, patting him twice on the back before walking upstairs. “I trust you. Just remember, life is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Not wanting to chit-chat with anyone else, he made a beeline for the garage. His first batch of wands with essence crystals embedded in the grip was waiting for him. Julius had spent the last two days simulating arrays with Cognitive Crucible that could make use of the large amounts of essence stored in the gems to charge powerful, single-use arrays inscribed with his most powerful inks. Desolation arrays made from a combination of his Prophet’s Suffering and Starving Swarm inks were too expensive for a G-Grade’s essence reserves, but there was nothing stopping them from using essence crystals to charge one as a last resort. He wouldn’t have a problem using the wand himself, but he wanted to refine his methods before forging himself a staff chock-full of interchangeable array sets he could swap back and forth between using Modular Array. The ability to turn his inscriptions on and off so he could fit more without overloading a material’s essence conductivity was something he hadn’t really had time to explore yet, and a wand seemed like a great opportunity to practice. His end goal was an array that he could add supplementary runes to, letting him change a fireball’s resonance from Heaven’s Wrath to Famine’s hunger at a whim. For now, that was out of reach, but working on weaker G-Grade wands was helping him move in the right direction.

[So, are we still going out tonight?]

Harvey was trying his best to avoid thinking about tomorrow’s battle, but Julius wasn’t going to let it go.

They’re looking for us. What do you think Brutus is going to do if he finds out I’m the one he’s been trying to find?

[Brutus won’t be the one who finds you. It will be some random angel that we can either fight or run away from.]

Run where? They’re not going to let me fly right over the wall while I’ve got an angel on my tail.

[Who said there’s anyone tailing you?]

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I’m not killing any angels. I’m a little concerned you’d suggest that in the first place.

[Don’t put words in my mouth. I can think of a dozen ways for you to get out without anyone realizing it’s you.]

Oh really?

[Yes! You could knock them out, tie them up, or make something to help you escape! What about a magic flashbang mixed with an arc charge? That way you can blind them and get away while they’re getting zapped.]

Or we could be happy with the levels we got and focus on the forge? I’m only 6 levels away from maxing out my Class, and getting Profession levels is going to be harder back on Earth anyway since we can’t guarantee I’ll have a safe place to work.

[Would you rather get those 6 levels killing mindless beasts or E-Grade angels? I’m not saying it’s guaranteed that they turn on you, but I don’t like the risk.]

If Brutus wanted me dead, he’d do it here. I have nowhere to run.

[Yes, but neither does he, and I’d bet everything I have you’re stronger than him right now. He could kill us with overwhelming force, but what would that look like to the rest of the Faithful counting on Heaven to keep them safe? He’d have a full-on rebellion by the end of the day.]

Harvey set down the wand, unable to focus on the detailed array while they debated. In the end, Julius convinced him to keep sneaking out. The fact he was already used to finding a new spot to set up every night meant the odds of sniffing him out were low, but he made sure to fly farther than normal just in case. Monday’s battle came and went without any hiccups, netting him another Class level. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were the same, with him spending his afternoons in the forge and the early morning hours inscribing wands inside a camouflaged bunker. Harvey had mostly calmed down after four days of not seeing an angel come within 100 yards of his hiding spot, but that peace was short-lived.

Instead of relying on conjured beasts to fight their war alone, Friday’s battle saw the angels coming out in full force. None engaged Hell’s monsters hand to hand, but they mowed down as many as they could with guns and skills while hiding behind shields conjured by the many Sentinels filling Heaven’s ranks. The blitz forced the demons to retreat from their entrenched defenses, fighting a running battle as lions, rams, and eagles chased them through the city. Instead of following their beasts to the next lieutenant’s stronghold, the angels spread out and began sweeping every pile of rubble and collapsed building large enough to conceal a sniper.

Shit! What do we do? What do we do?

[Stay calm, they might not find us! The camouflage is good, and Hidden Fortress can hide your aura as long as you chill the hell out.]

Harvey had picked a spot where two houses had collapsed into each other, worming his way so half of Legacy’s redoubt was in the remains of one of their kitchens while the other poked across property lines into a bathroom. The opening he’d been firing from had morphed to look like a shattered glass window half-buried under the rubble, and he would’ve had a hard time finding it even knowing what to look for. He’d spent more time every night finding good hiding spots, even going outside to pile some extra debris on top of the changes added by his new Class skill. Still, the angels were leaving no stone unturned.

[Just put your gun away and get away from the window. You need to get your breathing under control or they’ll hear you from a mile away.]

Julius was right. The sound of his huffing and puffing was practically echoing off the steel walls. Crouching beside the bunker door, he waited. Muffled voices soon appeared in the houses beside him, and he could hear wooden beams creaking and broken tile crunching as the angels did their best to dig through the rubble without collapsing what remained of the homes on top of their heads. Cold sweat ran down his back, and he could feel his underarmor sticking to his skin. He debated pulling his revolver out of his spatial ring, but worried that seeing a weapon might make them fire on sight. There was still a chance they didn’t find him, but if they did, he wanted the first thing they saw to be an unarmed man wearing a full set of holy silver.

The voices grew louder until something knocked against the wall of Legacy's Redoubt right behind his back. Harvey barely contained a gasp, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. Whoever it was knocked again, hearing the dull echo before pounding harder.

“You find something?” a voice called from far away.

“I don’t know, I…” a woman began, her voice clear as day as she poked her head through a second firing window facing inside the ruined kitchen. Harvey was shocked to find that he recognized her. She was part of Celeste’s squad and had fought beside him against War and the other horseman. Before she could call out, he ripped off his helmet, revealing his face and giving her a pleading smile.

Recognition flashed in her eyes, and she whispered, “Harvey?”

“Yes. It’s me.”

“What are you doing out here?”

“Umm… I,” he stammered.

“You ok, Stella?” the angel called out again.

“I’m fine! Just checking something out!” Stella shouted back. Quieting to a whisper, she asked. “You haven’t killed a single angel?”

“No,” Harvey nodded furiously.

“Fine. I won’t tell the Commander, but you owe me,” she retorted.

“What do you want?” Harvey asked, worried this might still get out of hand.

“My own set of armor. I saw the one you made Cash, and I’m tired of fighting in a robe.”

“Deal. Come by tonight, and I can get your measurements.”

Stella winked at him before walking away. Harvey didn’t move for hours, giving the army plenty of time to give up on their search. Only when his essence reserves were fully topped off did he carefully sneak out of the rubble and fly as high as he could over the wall. Instead of landing in a neighborhood close to home, he flew deep into Heavenly territory, landing in a neighborhood where it would take at least an hour to walk back home. Frantically shedding his armor and changing into street clothes, he finally let himself exhale.

[The angels are just as bad as the demons! All just greedy bastards.]

I’ll make her whole squad a set if it keeps me alive.

Celeste and Stella were waiting for him when he walked in the front door, amiably chatting with his mother while Max napped beside them.

“You’re back!” Cassandra exclaimed, letting all the pent-up anxiety go as she ran over to him.

“He is!” Celeste seethed. “Do you mind telling us where exactly you’ve been?”

Harvey sighed. “I’d rather not.”

“Too bad. Cassandra, thank you so much for your hospitality, but Stella and I need to have a little chat with your son.”

“Yell at him all you want, but don’t you dare touch one hair on his pretty little head,” Cassandra warned. The icy venom in her words caught Celeste off guard, but she took the words in stride.

“I’ll try my best.”

The two angels escorted him to the garage, and the door had barely closed behind them when Celeste blew up. “IT WAS YOU! This whole time, you’ve been the demon haunting my nightmares.

“I…” Harvey began.

“I don’t want to hear it! I stuck my neck out for you. Got you a weave anointed with genesis matter even though you shouldn’t even know it exists!” Celeste ranted.

“Wait. You got Brutus to give him genesis matter?” Stella interjected.

“Shut up, Stella!” Celeste exclaimed.

“For Heaven’s biggest secret, a lot of you seem to know about it,” Harvey mumbled.

Celeste’s eyes tried their best to carve straight through to his soul, and he could see her lip quivering as she held back her rage. Instead of screaming, she spoke with the cold tone of a general condemning him to the front lines. “Get whatever measurements you need so Stella can get out of here. I don’t need her being seen hanging out with Heaven’s most troublesome family of Faithful.”

Color bloomed out from Harvey’s eyes, forming rings of superheated steel as he used Artificer’s Eyes to measure Stella’s frame. She spun slowly without being asked, clearly trying to avoid her Captain’s ire.

“Got it,” Harvey said.

“Good,” Celeste barked.

“For the inscriptions, I was thinking,” Stella began.

“Get out!” Celeste shouted.

Stella fumbled with the doorknob, not needing to be told twice. An awkward silence filled the room as they both stared at the door, and Harvey decided to try and explain himself before she got the wrong idea. “She wasn’t supposed to tell anyone.”

“That’s what you’re worried about? Not the hundreds of beasts you killed? Not the lives you put at risk prolonging this war?”

“Beasts made from the same power flowing through my weave. Beasts that Heaven gladly turned into oil for my brother’s?”

“That doesn’t matter!”

“Yes, it does! Look, I’m sorry Brutus has been all over you about this. I really am! But that’s part of the reason I did it. I don’t trust him, and I couldn’t let this trial end without getting the power to stand up for myself if I have to.”

Celeste looked like she wanted to scream, but instead she grabbed her head and groaned. Pacing around the garage, she stopped on a dime and spun towards him. “You told me you wouldn’t do anything stupid.”

“I told you I wouldn’t get you in trouble,” he corrected. “I recognize that might not have worked out, but I never intended to get you caught up in this.”

Plopping onto his stool, she slouched against his workbench. She didn’t say anything for a long moment, so Harvey let her simmer, worrying that another excuse might set her off all over again.

“Brutus doesn’t know. Stella came straight to me. I told him that we handled it,” Celeste sighed.

“That’s great!”

“No, dumbass, it’s not great. I just lied to my commanding officer to cover for you. Again! I’m sick and tired of getting caught up in your messes!”

“I’m sorry. Whatever I can do to make it right, I will. Please.”

“What you can do,” she griped, standing up and looming over him. “Is lock yourself in this garage, finish your bribe for Stella, and wait for this System-forsaken trial to end.”

“Fine. Is there…”

“Ah! The only words I want to hear come out of your mouth are yes ma’am.”

Harvey couldn’t help but chuckle, nodding his head as he complied.

“Good. We’re making a push towards the third lieutenant in the morning. Without you killing all of our soldiers, it might actually work. This trial might be over sooner than you think,” she said as she pushed open the door to the house.

“Sounds gre…”

“What did I say!”