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The Fusionist Book 8 -- Chapter 7

  Grandmaster Fusionist Carleton Schistite abruptly sat upright from his nap, a feeling of alarm running through him as his eyes opened in confusion. It took him a moment to wake up enough to think straight, but when he was fully conscious again, he rolled himself off his cushion and scrambled to his feet, the complete Fusion from his lap that he’d finished before his nap ignored in his haste. It was still clattering along the smooth stone floor as he threw himself out the door.

  I have to get to the guards! One of my Fusions in the tunnel stopped working!

  He was panicking because such a thing had never happened before, especially when there should’ve been months before he had to worry about replacing them. Of course, it wasn’t just him replacing them, as they had a dedicated team whose primary purpose was to ensure the safety of the Fusionist Sanctuary as a whole, but Carleton was the one responsible for ensuring it got done – as well as contributing his own Skills toward that end.

  Fortunately, as a Grandmaster Fusionist, his own awareness of his Fusions was typically more than enough to warn them of an attack, as he could sense when they had been triggered – even at such a distance. Some of the other Fusionists had a high-enough Magical Detection Skill to feel their own from further out, but Carleton’s Skill at Level 75 was unparalleled among most Mages, let alone among the Fusionists in the Sanctuary. Such an ability to sense his Fusions had come naturally over time, but it had heightened greatly once they had hidden down below, away from any conflicting energies with which the upper world was rife.

  Especially after the arrival of the Apertures throughout the Kingdom. That had been the final component that the Fusionists barely getting by in Sidleton had needed to do something drastic. Carleton still wasn’t sure if it had been the best idea to stage the town like they had, making it seem as if they had been overrun and killed to the last before retreating underneath the mountain, but it had proven safe enough so far. True, many of those who had originally wanted to flee from the craziness that was happening all over the Kingdom had slowly begun to regret hiding away, as almost everyone had been part of the SIC, and they were feeling guilty for abandoning their duty.

  He couldn’t blame them, because he still felt like it was his duty to serve his Kingdom. But the message came one day that the SIC had decided to abandon them, cutting off all supply deliveries and – not in so many words – quietly thanking them for their service. With the current crisis going on, Fusionists weren’t seen as essential members of the Corps anymore. In short, they were abandoned by both the SIC and the Kingdom, surrounded in almost all directions by Apertures that were slowly getting stronger, and left to fend for themselves.

  That had hurt them severely, because they didn’t necessarily have the fighting force to go out and close Apertures like most towns and cities did. Sure, they had a very small contingent of Martials as part of the defenses for the walls, which was enough – with the contribution by the Fusionists living there – to protect them from Scissions opening up. But none of them were suited to going out into the wilderness and closing an Aperture. They had originally tried to do so, shortly after the Apertures’ arrival, and it had resulted in the deaths of two Martials and three of his precious Fusionists, who weren’t exactly combat Mages used to slinging around spells.

  Long story short, Carleton came up with the plan to escape to somewhere safer, and so was born the Fusionist Sanctuary. It had taken months of work to get it done, but by that time, the situation only seemed to get worse for the Kingdom – and they hastily retreated to their new home.

  And now, their home was likely being invaded, once again.

  It had only happened a handful of times, when the Illusionary Perception Ward had failed to stop some monsters from finding their way inside when the nearby Apertures expanded too far, but fortunately the traps he and the other Fusionists had set up along the entrance tunnel were enough of a deterrent for 90% of them. The last 10%, who typically lived to reach the Sanctuary only because they came in such numbers that their traps weren’t able to kill them all, were dispatched by their Martial guards and backup spells by nearby Fusionists.

  Never before, though, had one of his Fusions protecting the tunnel broken. He immediately knew that it hadn’t been triggered, as that would have felt entirely different; it was like feeling the potential in it being fulfilled, so it was somewhat satisfying – if he had to put it into words. This new feeling, however, was like someone had suddenly snatched away the meal that was in front of him. It didn’t hurt, as it was separate from him, but the disappointment he felt when the Fusion was broken was something that he would never forget from that point on.

  Rushing out of his modest stone house, which unfortunately was far from the entrance to the tunnels, he was momentarily blinded by the bright Fusion lights of the enormous cavern in which the Fusionist Sanctuary sat. He blinked away the brightness even as he stumbled in his haste, but someone managed to catch him before he face-planted.

  “Carleton! What’s the rush?”

  The Grandmaster Fusionist barely recognized Nabana as she spoke, and he didn’t even look at her as he thanked her briefly for catching him. “Thank you! There might be something in the tunnels!” he shouted, before picking up speed again, pushing his old bones to their utmost. He felt at his neck for his whistle to let the guards know to be wary of incoming monsters, but he only clutched at his threadbare tunic, his important warning device having been taken off before he started his Fusion earlier. It had an itchy leather string attached to the whistle, so he always took it off whenever he was creating Fusions so that it didn’t compete for his attention.

  Unfortunately, it would probably take just as long to run back and get it as to arrive at the tunnel, so he kept running, passing others in his haste to arrive on time. As Carleton closed the distance, he reached out with his senses to see exactly which Fusion along the tunnel had been triggered. He nearly fell again when he pushed his Magical Detection Skill to its utmost and discovered that it wasn’t just one Fusion that had broken, it was all of them. The others had been just barely out of range enough not to alert him during his nap, while the last – and closest to the Sanctuary – had basically been near enough to metaphorically hit him over the head.

  If the monsters were that far already, then it wouldn’t be long until they swarmed into the cavern!

  Breathing harder than he had in a long time, Carleton wanted to yell out toward the guards in the distance but couldn’t, so he simply kept running, hoping that he would arrive in time. He passed through the growing crops faithfully cultivated by those with Naturalist Specializations in addition to their Fusionist ones, and he knew that he was getting closer; he only had to pass through three separate fields to be able to see the tunnel leading to the surface.

  Come on, I can get there in time—

  The sound of two whistles blowing made his heart drop into his stomach, even as he broke through the last field, only to see the spotlight Fusions they had installed years ago for just this purpose flare to life. He wasn’t angled quite yet to see inside the tunnel, but he was at least relieved to see that more Martials were arriving as they blew past him, and even a small contingent of Fusionists nearby were running as fast as they could toward the entrance. Carleton just hoped it was enough, though he was worried that it wasn’t based on how his Fusions had been broken. He’d never heard about a monster being able to do that, but so many things had changed up on the surface over the last few years that he figured that just about anything was possible.

  “A Gergasi! Kill it!”

  This time, there was no one to catch Carleton as he stumbled and fell on his face, sliding painfully over the gravel surface leading to the entrance. A Gergasi?! How did they find us?

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  While none of those who had joined him down in the Fusionist Sanctuary were more than just minor Nobles, or had been at one point, they all still knew about what the Gergasi had done to enslave the higher-ranked Nobles for centuries, essentially running things behind the scenes. Supposedly, that control had been eliminated at some point, and the angry Nobles had spread the news far and wide, and that news had reached them even after they had been abandoned by the SIC and the Kingdom.

  Carleton hadn’t really cared enough about that at the time of their departure from Sidleton to wonder where the Gergasi had actually gone, now that they weren’t in control anymore, but now it seemed as though at least one of them had found them.

  We’re dead. They’re too powerful.

  While never actually meeting one himself, he’d heard stories, from some of those who lived down in the Sanctuary, about the Gergasi, and that they were more powerful than hundreds or thousands of Mages and Martials put together. While that seemed hard to believe, with a hidden refuge of mainly only Fusionists and a handful of Martials, he didn’t really think it mattered whether the stories were completely true or not. They weren’t necessarily fighters there in the Sanctuary, so even a handful of powerful SIC Mages and Martials could probably kill them all without breaking a sweat.

  Carleton wished he had spent more time practicing offensive Geomancer spells when he attended Crystalview Academy; instead, he had focused more on finding ways to shape dirt, stone, and even some metals to make creating Fusions more effective on them. While it had certainly served him well, being able to toss a few boulders at the Gergasi would’ve been nice at this point.

  Getting up, Carleton rubbed his now-bloody hands across his pants to scrape off the gravel that had embedded itself in his skin, even as he caught his breath and prepared to offer what offensive spells he could to try and kill the Gergasi before it could kill them all. Pain in his knees from his fall made him limp, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from contributing what he could to their defense.

  Even as he arrived at the back of the pack filling the tunnel entrance, their close numbers working as a wall to prevent their enemy from easily coming inside, Carleton couldn’t help but be proud of those standing ahead of him. He could sense the fear emanating from them, but despite the overwhelming odds, these dedicated Fusionists were willing to sacrifice their very lives to protect those they loved within the Sanctuary. There weren’t many full families that had blossomed throughout the years they lived in Sidleton, but at least half of the Fusionists who lived there had a significant other, and there were a dozen children of varying ages who lived within the Sanctuary, with a few of them so young that they didn’t even know a life outside of the cavern.

  Even if they didn’t have someone to die for, each and every one of them was willing to perish if their neighbor or friend could live for just a little longer. They were a close-knit community, and it shone through as he watched them put everything into obliterating the threat that came knocking on their door.

  “What’s happening?! Nothing is hurting it!”

  “My spells are being absorbed somehow!”

  “Stand back! I’m going to collapse the tunnel on its head!”

  Sadly, as he halfway expected once he heard it was a Gergasi, it didn’t seem as if their attacks were getting through. The powerful giant was too strong for them, and even as he watched Johana cast a Stonebreak spell, which should’ve collapsed part of the ceiling above the target, he saw the ceiling break apart—only to solidify back into one piece, as if nothing had been done to the stone.

  But there was something strange about the way it had happened. It didn’t feel like a spell had fixed the roof of the tunnel; either the Gergasi possessed some sort of special power that allowed it do such things which felt remarkably like the effect of a Fusion, or it was somehow using a Fusion to fix the stone—

  A half-remembered rumor flashed through his mind as the Mages in front of him parted slightly, allowing him to see the tall figure bent over nearly in half inside the tunnel. Quickly putting some things together in his mind as he saw the sheepish-looking man, as well as the assortment of normal-sized people behind him, he shouted, “STOP! STOP ATTACKING!”

  Even if he was wrong, having his people stop their attack probably wouldn’t make much of a difference, given that none of the spells, none of the physical melee attacks, and none of the Battle Arts that he saw used appeared to be doing anything but be absorbed by something surrounding the Gergasi. But if I’m right, he’s not a Gergasi. Or at least, I don’t think he is.

  It took another 20 seconds for the last of the attacks to stop, with the panicked Mages and Martials pulling out all of the stops to try to eliminate the threat, but eventually the last of the spells dwindled, allowing Carleton to push his way to the front. The others gave way to him, a few of them looking shocked at the blood on his hands and pants, but he ignored them as he approached the tall man in front of him. Once he got a good look at him, his attention was immediately seized by the figure’s weapon, a long halberd that was entirely too impractical for such a tight space. But it wasn’t the weapon itself that caught his attention; instead, it was the sheer amount of power it contained; even with a void shroud attempting to conceal its presence, the half-hidden formation was so incredibly strong that it couldn’t help but leak out of the attempted camouflage.

  That, and if there was one thing that Carleton knew how to spot, it was Fusions.

  “Uh, hello? Sorry about the height—” the man began to say, but Carleton cut him off.

  “Are you the Fusions prodigy we heard about in Copperleaf Academy? Lark, or something like that?”

  The too-tall individual appeared surprised that he had recognized him. How could I not, given what I heard about him? “It’s Larek, but yeah, I guess that’s me. I haven’t been back to Copperleaf in years, however; there’s been a lot of other stuff going on since then, as you know.” Larek hesitated for a moment. “Or perhaps you don’t. How long have you been down here?”

  The Grandmaster Fusionist could sense that the Martials and other Mages in the tunnel were still on edge, and this suddenly casual conversation was unnerving them. Turning toward them, and almost blinding himself in the process since the spotlights were still active, he raised both hands to stop them from doing anything else aggressive. “Stand down, everyone, he’s one of us,” he stressed. At least, I hope so. Still wary, the Fusionists at the rear started to back away, while the Martials up front still brandished their weapons threateningly. “No, seriously, he’s not a threat. I will take full responsibility for them while they’re here.”

  That didn’t appease the guards all that much, but they at least backed up against the tunnel walls and didn’t deliberately threaten the tall man any further.

  “Hold up, it looks like you’re injured,” he heard from behind him. Turning back to the Fusions prodigy, he saw the man start to put his hand in an empty-looking sack tied to his waist, but he didn’t actually go through with it. “Darn it. I forgot to recreate some of my Graduated Parahealing Fusions, as Healing Surge should work on all the Volunteers,” he muttered. Picking up a loose stone that had fallen from the ceiling when it was nearly brought down on his head, he looked up at Carleton and said, “One moment. This should only take a few seconds.”

  Wondering what the man could mean, the Grandmaster Fusionist’s knees almost gave out as he witnessed the impossible. Pattern Cohesion appeared in front of the prodigy in an instant, creating a formation that looked vaguely familiar to him, and he realized it was one of the healing Fusions he’d seen briefly years ago before it was commandeered by the SIC. He’d never had the chance to study it fully, which was disappointing, but now he was seeing it created in real-time. Except that he didn’t have much chance to see the process in action, because he witnessed a veritable cyclone of Mana being funneled into the Fusion so quickly that he fully expected the formation to shatter. Taking an involuntary step back from what he assumed would be an inevitable explosion, he was shocked to see the Fusion stabilize and then transferred to the small stone, where it *clicked* into its complete form.

  And it was all done in seconds.

  “That’s… impossible. That can’t be real,” Carleton muttered to himself, completely flabbergasted by what he’d just seen. He was barely conscious of him accepting the Fusion when Larek held it out to him, and he obeyed the suggestion that he activate it; a second later, he could feel a numbness spread through his injuries, and a few seconds after, he saw the wounds he’d suffered from his earlier fall disappear. Even the small pain in his back that had been fairly persistent over the last year faded away, and he felt himself standing taller as a result.

  “So, uh, care to invite us in? I, for one, would love to be able to stand upright again.”

  Startled out of his thoughts as he realized that he had been staring at the stone and its Fusion in his hand for an undetermined amount of time, he looked up at the prodigy and apologized. “Oh! I’m terribly sorry; I wasn’t thinking. Come, come!” he waved the prodigy and the people behind him forward, only now realizing that each and every single one of the additional people had a number of Fusions on their person. And if I’m not mistaken, there’s even one inside of them; I wonder what that is?

  As they began to exit the tunnel, where the spotlights had blessedly been deactivated, he realized something. “Where are my manners? My name is Carleton, and I’m ostensibly in charge of this little refuge away from the craziness on the surface.” As he passed into the larger cavern, lit up from hundreds of Fusion lights attached to the ceiling and against the walls of the houses everywhere, he waved his hands expansively to encompass it all. “And let me be the first to welcome you to the Fusionist Sanctuary!”

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