We rushed at each other. The monster wasn’t using its lightless threads to lash at me any longer since it had learned I could just reflect them. Instead, it sought to crush me physically.

  Fine by me.

  I didn’t even try to counter when the mantis hammered in its singular claw. It came down so fast that it blurred again, with enough crushing force that I was sure a direct impact would shatter whatever part of me it struck. If it struck. I managed to block the blow with my mace, still forced to bow down a bit at the overwhelming Power on show.

  Then I let go of the mace and grabbed hold of the claw. Immediately, I started channelling Gravity as fast as I could.

  As I channelled my Aspect, I also focused on Sacrifice, offering the casts as tribute with a muttered promise that I was ending this here, once and for all.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Cast of 1 Gold-ranked Aspect. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: Effect of next cast is raised by 4x ]

  I repeated the process, channelling more Gravity only to Sacrifice it away to boost the subsequent cast. Soon enough, the boost reached ridiculous proportions.

  The monster was clearly taken aback at my sudden shift in tactics. If it had a brain—no, it surely had one. A significant one. Unless something more intelligent was controlling it. Whatever the case, it could think, and it didn’t react immediately to my grab most likely because it was wondering what in absolute Pits I was doing.

  I had already crossed the first threshold of mana exhaustion. Once again, the threads left within my body via Threaded Reinforcement were somehow melding with my physical self. I was once more feeling like I was on the verge of quite literally converting my body to mana.

  And still I pushed on. Every subsequent cast of Gravity had a space-rippling weight to it before disappearing thanks to Sacrifice. I could feel something very off going on with my physical self. It felt like I was slowly being crushed inside a trash compactor, squeezed in from all sides like I was being forced to occupy a smaller space.

  Of course, it wasn’t that dramatic in reality, but I didn’t have a better way to grasp what was going on in my current situation.

  Especially when I finally unleashed an overpowered Gravity with Infusion. And then focused Ignition Charge on my Flare Aspect to bring about Immolation. I ignited. As did everything around me in a radius of over a dozen feet, an infernal scorching the air and turning the ground itself molten orange.

  The idea was simple, after all. I’d just lock the damn bug in place and vaporize it alive.

  Naturally, my opponent was averse to such a plan. It screeched as it tried to pull itself free from my grip, clearly realizing my intent to burn not just it, but everything in the vicinity if need be.

  I wasn’t letting go. One of the reasons for putting on the massive amount of additional weight, to the point it might actually hurt me, was that I would not be allowing the monster to just shake me off. It could barely even lift me a few inches off the ground anymore.

  The black threads came next, but Reflection was a perfect counter to that. Not literally perfect. I was still hurt by the spiking, lashing dark energy, and using Reflection was an additional burden on my mana exhaustion. But it did reflect the threads, lashing them right back at their owner while edged with light, scoring a lot more grievous wounds as it was point blank.

  And all the while, the heat of Immolation grew more intense. I was adding onto it as much as I could using Manifestation on Flare, pushing my mana channelling capacity to the limit, determined to end this once and for all.

  I had spent way too much time on this one, oversized crab-mantis.

  The monster kept fighting, kept trying to free itself. Now I was being bashed by the stump where its other claw should have been. Great.

  Thankfully, the lack of said claw was making the hits not as severe as they should have been. Pain still radiated outwards so much from my skull and shoulders, and when I focused on Pain Sense Control, I stopped feeling the heat too.

  Interesting, I dimly noted, that heat from Immolation alone didn’t affect me, but from Flare, it certainly did.

  That was dangerous. I’d start burning if I grew unaware. But I weathered through it. Everything would be done soon. I just had to hold on.

  The real problem was the heat itself. Even with Immolation’s naturally-gifted immunity to heat, I was starting to feel it. My clothes had caught fire. It wouldn’t be long before my hair did the same and my skin started scorching. It appeared even Immolation had its limits, especially when I was piling Flare on top.

  At this rate, I’d burn myself alive alongside the monstrous target I actually intended to roast.

  That made me distantly wonder how Infusion worked for something like Heat. Would I have just failed to infuse myself with with Gravity or imbue myself with Illumination?

  I focused on the situation at hand. There was only one solution. Only one answer. One thing that I had been training towards for a while now.

  As I continued wrestling against the monster while remaining mostly stationary, I focused the heat from Immolation and Manifestation above us both with Capacity and Concentration. This was a terribly dangerous idea, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  With the heat energy concentrating above us all though, I had finally allayed the monster’s fears that I was indeed going to burn it alive. It probably thought I was just too close for that.

  Stupid bug just didn’t know me well enough.

  My chest still throbbed with ugly agony. The growing heat was cooking me alive from the inside, diving straight into my organs through the wound the bug had delivered earlier. I didn’t let it affect me. Nor did I let the bug’s antics affect my attention. At a certain point, after taking so much pain and abuse, I was just starting to grow numb.

  Which was good because that just made it even easier for me to realize my real goals. Probably not good in terms of future consequences, but I’d worry about the future after I survived the present.

  The bug continued fighting, continued trying to beat me up, to pull itself free, to kill me all at once.

  I just stared right back, blood running over my face in a deathly mask. “You’re not leaving this alive,” I growled.

  Then, as I started casting Gravity once more, I Sacrificed it yet again.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Cast of 1 Gold-ranked Aspect. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: Effect of next cast is raised by 4x ]

  It had to work. It needed to work. I had worked hard, acquired all the components, performed all the practice, knew very well what I wanted and how I wanted it.

  When I channelled Gravity again one more time, boosted to a whopping thirty-six times its normal effectiveness, I focused specifically on the heat energy accumulated above me and the monster.

  It was separate from the Gravity I was using on myself and the Field Manipulation I had tacked on to weigh us all down further. The only function it had was to attach those tiny, fine strands to the energy itself and drag it down to where I actually needed to it be.

  I couldn’t waste any more time. Having already taken so long against this monster, having already suffered so much, even the tiniest thought about what was going on elsewhere, of what was happening at the temple, threatened to send my mind panicking into an oblivion of worry and anxiety and desperate choices fuelled by those.

  So all I needed here was to kill this stupid, ass—

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  [ Ritual

  Ritual Established: Ritual of War. You have performed 1 [Major] Ritual of War. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: All Iron-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 15 ranks, all Silver-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 10 ranks, and all Gold-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 5 ranks for every battle encountered for the next 6 hours and 30 minutes. All negative auric effects negated and all boon effects and buffs boosted by 2x for the same duration. ]

  [ Rank Up!

  Your Ritual Aspects have risen by one Rank.

  Your Path of the Archon Apostle has risen by one Rank.

  Ritual: Silver II

  Path of the Archon Apostle: Silver IX ]

  I could only stare as new strength flooded me to the brim, as new magical energy revitalized my body, soul, and mind. The sensation overwhelmed everything else, making me completely forget I had a massive wound in my chest. I didn’t even remember the throbs on my skull and shoulder.

  “You’re so fucked,” I said to the bug.

  With that, I channelled Sacrifice.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Ritual Reward. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: All Iron-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 20 ranks, all Silver-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 15 ranks, and all Gold-ranked Aspects and Attributes raised by 10 ranks for every battle encountered for the next 8 hours and 30 minutes. All negative auric effects negated and all boon effects and buffs boosted by 4x for the same duration. ]

  I didn’t even bother entertaining its stupid tugs and tickles against me. The monster could do what it wanted. It was going to die anyway.

  This time, when I made Gravity once again focus on the heat energy I had called up above me, the heat that was baking both me and my opponent into the most disgusting meal possible, I wasn’t taking no for answer. Gravity would work on energy, just like it was supposed to.

  [ Affix Unlocked!

  You have acquired a new Affix for your Gravity Aspect.

  Affix: Massless Interaction ]

  Yeah, no. Screw you, stupid Weave. I was not about to consider the physics implications of naming an Affix like that because the Weave itself absolutely didn’t give a single rat’s ass about little limitations like the universal laws governing the entirety of existence.

  Or at least, governing Earth’s existence. Ephemeroth might be in an entirely different dimension for all I knew.

  Instead, I used my new Affix to finally eviscerate the crab-mantis.

  Sparks of void-purple shot out of me to latch onto the roiling heat above both me and the monster I had taken far too long to destroy. I could feel how the Gravity threads tethered to the energy I had gathered above, connecting it all in some kind of net to drag it down. It wasn’t that different of a tether from the one I had felt when I used Gravity Orbs.

  Then I yanked it down.

  The little sea of concentrated heat above me slammed down. Fast. The bug definitely didn’t get any time to react. It didn’t even get to shriek, only managing a squeak before the heat finally burst with a glowing, detonating Flare, vaporizing the monster’s top half.

  I barely managed to stop the same thing from happening to me too, channelling Sacrifice. All this heat, all this explosive Flaring blast around me, it was all mine. An offering I had created myself.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Cast of 1 Silver-ranked Aspect. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: Effect of next cast is raised by 4x ]

  Roiling white Sacrifice mana rushed out through every pore in my body, capturing the explosive burst of heat trying to land on me. I blessed the fact that I had practiced fine mana control thanks to Kostis’s guidance. With it, I made sure Sacrifice only acted on the destructive heat trying to burn me, reaching just a few inches from my body.

  Leaving the rest of the detonation to destroy the clawed mantis.

  Still, I was left coughing and gagging in the explosion’s aftermath, breathing harshly as another blue screen overtook my vision.

  [ Rank Up!

  Your Fervour, and Thauma Attributes have risen by one Rank.

  Your Gravity and Flare Aspects have risen by one Rank.

  Fervour: Gold I

  Thauma: Iron VIII

  Gravity: Gold II

  Flare: Silver II ]

  I blinked away the blue screen. The hugeness of my victory was starting to diminish as it settled in that I still had a lot more work to do. This Blight Swarm wasn’t done just yet.

  Still, satisfaction didn’t leave me so easily. Yet another Affix acquired, and more rank tier breakthroughs meaning more Augmentations to consider. It hadn’t been easy, but I had done it.

  Obviously, I could have tried concentrating the Manifested heat straight into the monster’s body. Pits, I could have destroyed that thing with my bare hands thanks to my enormously boosted capabilities. But Concentration would have intensified its struggles too much and I definitely wouldn’t have acquired the Affix I had been seeking.

  My wounds were slowly fixing themselves. Mana Heal had been working from the start, thanks to my Power-driven motions causing free mana to emerge via Mana Injection to get appropriated by the Vitality Augmentation. Although, the rate at which the healing was occurring wasn’t fast enough. If this kept up, I’d die of blood loss, especially after the latest wounds.

  Wincing, I quickly pulled out a health potion. Then I Sacrificed it.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Health Potion. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: All wounds healed instantly. ]

  I got back up with a spring in my step. The Sacrifice reward hadn’t returned my lost hair, nor made it as if the wounds had never occurred in the first place because I was still left with scars. There was very strong evidence that my chest had been bashed in like a crumpled but fleshy soda can not that long ago. Yeesh.

  Still, I was back in tip-top shape, or as close I was going to get. I didn’t head back to the temple just yet, though.

  First, I needed a little more power.

  Technically, after receiving that buff from the Ritual that had activated, I was brimming with a crap ton of energy. I had what I needed to smash into the rest of the Blight Swarm and force them back yet again.

  But there was an opportunity for more. I just had to find a way to grab it fast. Find a way to make it work without getting overwhelmed.

  The top half of the crab-mantis’s huge corpse was simply gone. Vaporized away entirely, the edges of the insect still smouldering and smoking. The stench of boiled bug innards was making my eyes water. It had been easy to ignore so far, but now it just pressed in like I was in a crowd.

  I could Sacrifice the entire remainder of its body. By the looks of that thing, both its heart and its head were gone, so I really might need the rest of the remainder for Sacrifice.

  Except… the last time I had Sacrificed something with Emulation in mind, it had turned me into a horrid monster. While I hadn’t been monstrous during my transformed state, still capable of reason and feeling mostly like myself despite the monstrous impulses, it was the aftermath that had really struck me.

  I still remembered, with distinct clarity, how awful I had felt after returning back to being a regular human from a Brillwyrm. The trauma of the transformation, of the things I had so easily performed and experienced while in the transformed state, had hit me hard.

  Sure, I could deal with it again. I was pretty certain I’d return to mostly normal if I Sacrificed the bug in front of me. After a few hours, that was.

  But the problems with such a plan persisted. A big factor was that the physical transformation always carried a strong risk that I’d be mistaken for the enemy. Especially in such chaotic circumstances. In the middle of a war, there was precious little space for nuance. It was all kill or be killed. Survive first, ask questions later, if at all.

  The other issue, obviously, was the sheer intensity of the mental effects of the transformation. They grew stronger the more powerful Sacrifice itself grew, and my Aspect was a lot stronger now than it had been when I had used it on the Brillwyrms.

  None of that meant I was just going to leave the opportunity for more power just lying here.

  Clearly, I needed a solution. I already had one too. All this time, I had been working towards it, trying to force Sacrifice to learn an Affix that would imbue me with the inherent properties of whatever the tribute was. Something that would call on the essence of the offering, rather than its emotional value.

  That had to be possible with the right Affix, which was what I had been training for on and off all this while. And now, just as I had with Gravity, I knew what would really push me over the edge was some sort of breakthrough.

  It made me wonder as to the nature of breakthroughs themselves, as to how much my growing Thauma was helping. For now, I closed my eyes, held out my hand, and touched the remains of the bug.

  So, instead of channelling Sacrifice, I performed a Ritual of Growth.

  “This needs to work,” I said. “I need all the power I can get. To protect my friends. To protect my home. To save everything I believe in. I’ve put in the work and now I need it to work. I’ve fought, I’ve bled, I’ve Sacrificed. And I’m not going to stop until this Blight Swarm is beaten, until I’ve broken and destroyed everything that’s trying to break and destroy us.”

  My little speech wasn’t enough, but I kept at it. I really believed what I said. It was just a matter of suffusing that belief into the core of my being, into every cell of my body.

  [ Ritual

  You have performed 1 [Moderate] Ritual of Growth. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: Rank gain hastened by 3x for Iron-ranked Attributes, Aspects, and Paths, by 2x for Silver-ranked Attributes, Aspects, and Paths, by 1.5x for Gold-ranked Attributes, Aspects, and Paths, with learning rate for new Augmentations and Affixes raised by 2x, for 2 hours and 15 minutes. ]

  First, I Sacrificed the Ritual of Growth to boost my growth even further. Then, I focused the next cast of Sacrifice on my enemy. Then, after the defeated monster was slowly but surely consumed by white threads, I finally got it.

  [ Rank Up!

  Your Sacrifice Aspect has risen by one Rank.

  Sacrifice: Gold I ]

  [ Affix Unlocked!

  You have acquired a new Affix for your Sacrifice Aspect.

  Affix: Essence ]