Hiral casually side-stepped the cutting, downward swing of the mace, his unbelievably soft Coat of Amin Thett snapping at the motion. Black fabric flowed like smooth shadow, the white runes seemingly embroidered directly within gently reflecting the artificial sun of the Cradle of Tomorrow. Even with the faction-war over—and Vorinal the Fallen defeated—that didn’t mean conflict vanished.

  Beast Waves still crashed against the walls of the fortress on a regular basis, while E-through-B-Rank parties constantly went out to complete trials. The achievements, rewards, and experience were far too good to pass up. And, because Hiral and his raid party—including Nivian and Ilrolik’s groups—would need to leave very soon now that they’d recovered from their injuries, that brought him here.

  Dodging a second swing of that same mace.

  “Better,” Hiral said as he swayed back, then immediately leaned in the put his palm against his opponent’s shoulder. A slight shove, and their off-balance stance completely collapsed, sending them head-over-heels, rolling through the dirt of the training yard. “But you’re focusing too much on your weapon, and not enough on your feet.”

  “Says the guy with how much dexterity?” Nat asked from where she sprawled out on her back.

  “A lot,” Hiral said. “But that’s not the point. Solid footwork is literally the foundation of any combat. It’s movement. Positioning. Balance. Control. Yes, bopping your enemy on the head with your mace is all well and good, but it’s the footwork that will put you in place to do that. Or, get you out of the way of their big, nasty axe.”

  “Bopping?” Nat said, lifting just her head to look at Hiral. “You think that’s what I’m trying to do?”

  “Sure looks like it,” Hiral said with an evil—yet, big-brotherly—grin.

  “If you weren’t A-Rank…” she started to threaten.

  “You still wouldn’t be able to hit him,” Loan said from where he leaned against the railing with Left, Right, and Milly. “Why don’t you come back over here, and we’ll practice those steps again while Milly gives sibling revenge a try?”

  Nat groaned. Getting pushed around by Hiral was one thing, but at least he had a sense of mercy. Once Loan got going… well… they’d get better, or they’d pass out trying. “Fiiiiine,” she finally grumbled, pushing herself to her feet and going over to join the huge Shaper. As much as she complained, she had asked for Hiral—and the others—to work with her. She needed to get stronger, and she knew it.

  Milly… had just sort of got dragged along, and her face said exactly that as she stepped out to take her place in front of Hiral.

  “I don’t see why I’m here,” Hiral’s youngest sister said. She vaguely wiggled the ‘weapon’ in her hand, while her Medium bobbed in the air nearby. “I can’t even use this with the Fool tattoo. If anybody attacks me, my barriers will take care of it. And make them regret it.”

  “Even your barriers can’t stop everything,” Hiral said quietly, not really wanting to bring up the party member she’d lost in the trial against the Infested and Possessed. Unfortunately, it needed to be said.

  Milly’s face tightened. She was too young to have to deal with that kind of pressure. To deal with that kind of loss. She was the one who’d chosen the role of healer though. And, if she was going to keep going out there with her group, it was something she was going to have to deal with. Every minute of every day.

  “That’s why I should be focusing on making my barriers better. Stronger,” Milly said. “If they were more powerful, then… then…” her teeth ground as she couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence. She forced herself to, though, proving her grit. “I could’ve saved him if my barriers had lasted longer.”

  “And what if it was you those Possessed had gone after?” Hiral asked.

  “Same thing,” Milly said immediately. “Stronger barriers last longer. Even if they’d gone after me, if I could hold out until the others got to me, we’re all okay.”

  Hiral looked at his little sister for a long few seconds, wanting nothing more than to skip the lesson she needed to learn. His role as her big brother was to protect her. To let her be a little girl just a little longer. Except, she was growing up too fast. Choosing to grow up, and he couldn’t always be there to protect her. So, his lessons would have to do it in his place.

  And there was one very good lesson he’d been taught recently. One that didn’t come from Loan—as good an instructor as the man was—but instead from somebody not even of this world. A damn old goat that’d nearly killed his entire party.

  Rule number six, he’d called it.

  “If your barriers can last long enough, everybody will be okay?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes!” Milly said, that old stubborn look on her face hiding some of the hurt and guilt from failing her friend. That was how she looked at it. She wasn’t good enough, and he’d died. It wasn’t the truth, but it would take her time to heal from that wound.

  “Put up your strongest barrier,” Hiral said.

  “Why?”

  “Barrier,” Hiral said.

  “Fine. If this wasn’t on cooldown when…” she muttered, and Force Dome appeared around her like a tight coffin, the energy of it shimmering as Spiked Shields made it very unpleasant for anybody to hit. All in all, it was an excellent choice. A practically indestructible shield. Compacted thanks to Adaptable Barrier to further increase the protection. She was right, too, if she’d been able to use it when her teammate got attacked, it would’ve been able to withstand anything the D-Ranked enemy threw at it. “Now what?”

  “Now I teach you rule six,” Hiral said, stepping in closer to his sister. When he was sure she was looking at him, he casually lifted his hand like he was going to knock on a door with his knuckles. Then, oh-so-very slowly, he lowered it and knocked, Milly’s eyebrow going up like she couldn’t believe his theatrics.

  She even opened her mouth to tell him how useless it was against Force Dome, until the barrier shattered like fragile glass beneath his knuckle. Until it continued beyond that to snap into her stomach, blasting the wind from her lungs, and tossed her back a dozen feet to skid in the dirt.

  Until she looked up with tears in her eyes, gasping for breath, and Hiral ignited his pseudo-aspect.

  Black fabric exploded into white energy across most of his left side, down his right arm and thighs, the runes along them going from white to inky black. Scarves of energy snapped out behind him and across his face. The Crown of Amin Thett—two crystal horns—settled on his head, while reality rippled around him, fourteen new shapes emerging to circle at his back. The Edicts.

  Just like that, a weight like a small moon fell on the training ground, everybody—other than Hiral and his doubles—dropping to their knees under the pressure. More than a hundred heads turned in his direction, even the B-Rank eyes wide at the power bearing down on them. At the power their instincts prayed wasn’t aimed at them.

  Black lightning sparking along his body as his runes bled across the Second-Skin of Amin Thett to form into the Rune of Eclipse along his left side, Hiral rose into air to float fifteen feet up.

  “Nothing matters in the face of overwhelming power,” Hiral said, echoing the old goat’s words, as his voice clearly carried to everybody present. “Abilities break. Skills fail. Everything you’ve always counted on is useless.

  “Except,” he added, holding up one finger. “Yourself.”

  In front of him—like those all across the training yard, except for Loan—Milly pressed against the ground like she struggled for breath. The weight of his power pushed her to the sand, held her there, and squashed the fight right out of her. Eyes wide, her brain told her to flee. Her body told her to hide. Except, beyond that, neither worked. What could she possibly do against somebody like him?

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  It was time to remind her.

  “No matter how strong you get, there is always somebody stronger. When all your PIM-given power fails. When your barriers fall. When your friends need you, the only thing you can rely on is yourself. Overwhelming power is just that. Overwhelming. It is, however, not unbeatable.”

  “You’re… A-Rank…” Milly squeezed out, voice cracking at the words.

  “So?” Hiral asked. “Once you leave the Cradle of Tomorrow, do you think the world will be so kind as to only throw D-Rank enemies at you? What will you do when your party needs you? When Nat needs you? Will you give up? Will you lie on the ground and complain about the Rank-difference?”

  At the mention of her sister, Milly winced, but then something else happened. She snarled. If it had been Nat the other party had gone after…

  The anger sparked something in her, but it still wasn’t enough. Anger never was. It was a fire that burned hot and dangerous, but not reliably. It wasn’t what would serve Milly the best.

  “I’ll tell you what you’ll do,” Hiral said. “What you’ll do now and what it will teach you to do then. You’ll get up.”

  “I… can’t…” Milly breathed.

  “You can. You all can,” he added to the rest of the training ground caught up in his little lesson. “When everything else falls around you in the face of overwhelming power, there is only one thing you can—you need to—rely on.

  “Yourself. You are the real power, not your PIM or your abilities. You are what’s left when the rest of it is taken away. The body you built yourself. The skills you learned yourself. The fire in your heart to not give up.

  “The will to back it up all up. The will to fight. To protect. All these small pieces that make up who you are. Train these—not just your magic—and it doesn’t matter what Rank you are, you will always have a chance to win. Even against overwhelming power, sometimes, a chance is all it takes.

  “Now, Milly, get up.”

  The world reverberated with his words, the Rune of Eclipse—along with Gravity, Increase, Connection, and Dreaming—on his chest bringing his will into reality to give them all the little push they needed. He wouldn’t pick her up, but he would help her pick herself up.

  This time, Milly didn’t complain. She didn’t tell him she couldn’t. No, she forced her hands under herself and pushed. On shaking arms, she got up to her hands and knees, the weight on her back feeling like a certain Runeocerous was sitting there.

  Over near the fence encircling the training yard, Nat wasn’t doing much better, even though she had one hand on the railing to pull herself up. Loan had gotten both of his feet under himself, but even the massive Shaper wasn’t having an easy time with the sheer weight of Hiral’s solar energy.

  Hiral’s eyes going back to Milly, he silently willed his sister to keep going. She could do this. It was hard, yes, but not too hard for her.

  “You can do it,” Left said from where he crouched casually beside Milly. “Get up.”

  Next to Nat, Right offered the same encouragement.

  To both his sisters’ credit, neither asked the doubles for help. Neither reached out for a hand to lift them up.

  “Show him how strong you are,” Left said quietly. “Show us.”

  “I… am…” Milly ground out between clenched teeth, forcing one of her legs in and under her chest. That one motion had her breathing heavy, like it’d take everything in her body to do just that. She didn’t give up there, though. No, from there, her left hand went to her knee, and she pushed her shoulders up so she could glare at Hiral.

  C’mon, just a little more.

  He didn’t say those words though, keeping the pressure on his sisters. They didn’t need him to go easy on them.

  “Once more,” Right said over by Nat. Her hand was on the top railing, and one more good pull would ger her back on her feet. And, even though her legs shook like leaves in the wind, her face was steel.

  “Yourself,” Hiral whispered.

  Like the single word was a trigger, both his sisters threw everything into that last step. At the same time, their second foot jerked in under themselves, and they stood straight against the overwhelming power holding them down. Trying to hold them down.

  Staring defiance up at Hiral, Milly and Nat forced themselves to straighten. All around the training ground, they weren’t the only ones. Bonders, Makers, and Growers likewise forced their bodies to rise against the power trying to grind them into the dirt.

  Nobody there in the Cradle was weak. Maybe some had come thinking the trials would be an easy path to power, but that misconception had been tempered out of them quickly. Especially with the trials against the other faction. Tomorrow had built a forge, and the people who passed through it were coming out stronger than ever.

  No, they weren’t up to the level of Hiral and his party, but they weren’t slouches. Especially not his sisters. Still, he held the pressure on the yard, waiting for those last few to get at least most of the way up. This test had never been about breaking their spirits. It was meant for them to succeed, with the only real pressure on them coming from inside them.

  His true power would have ground them into the dirt, while Eclipse and how it allowed his other runes to act had instead allowed him to place a weight on them just beyond what they were normally capable of enduring. A chance to prove to themselves they could go just a little further if they needed to.

  “Good,” he finally said, releasing his grip on the training yard. As one, the sweat-streaked group stumbled and fell back to the ground, bodies shaking from exertion. From success.

  Not Nat or Milly, though. No, those two forced themselves to stay standing as Hiral lowered himself back to the ground.

  “Your barriers are strong, Milly,” Hiral said. “And your skills with your magic are top-notch. Thing is, they won’t always be enough. Just like how you practiced in The Endless Tunnels the first time we brought you to a dungeon, you need to keep training your body, mind, and will. Then, it was about learning to take a hit. To not shy away or panic at the pain.

  “Now, it’s about moving past that. Learning to not take a hit, and making it second nature. Forcing yourself to not turn aside from unexpected power, or panic against an unknown enemy. Dungeons and trials are excellent experience and training, but they’re also curated for your level. Designed to give you the opportunity to grow your magic. Beyond that, it’s up to you to make yourself the best possible person to wield that magic.”

  Milly’s hand rubbed her stomach where Hiral had hit her. “All that,” she said. “Was to tell me I need to learn how to dodge?”

  “Or, when not to,” Loan said, coming up beside Milly and putting his big hand on her shoulder. “Training, like we’re doing here today, is like giving your body a brain of its own. While the one up here,” he gently tapped her head, “directs all your PIM-given power, the one here,” he squeezed her shoulder, “keeps you safe, and the one here,” he pointed at her heart, “has the strength to stand up to things like what you did right here.

  “Remember what your brother was like when he left Fallen Reach that first time? Was he strong?”

  Milly looked over at Hiral, a flash of sadness going across her face. She remembered his time as the Everfail just as well as he did. “No.”

  “Why do you think he survived down on the surface, then? Was it magic?”

  “Training,” Milly said, clearly seeing where this was going.

  “And stubbornness,” Loan said with a chuckle. “A lot of that second one, too.”

  “Don’t worry,” Hiral said. “It’s hereditary.”

  “Believe me, I know,” Loan said.

  “Milly, do you get what we’re trying to tell you?” Hiral asked.

  “Yes,” Milly said. “After… what happened. I thought if I just got better at my magic, I could make sure that didn’t happen again. But, my magic isn’t the only thing I have to keep my party safe. And, I have to use everything. Including myself. Especially myself,” she amended. “Including learning how to dodge things my barriers won’t be able to stop.”

  “Well, recognizing those things, first, then dodging them, yes,” Hiral said.

  “How did you break the Force Dome,” Milly said. “Even if it’s only D-Rank, it’s supposed to be immune to physical damage. You shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

  “He’s A-Rank,” Loan said.

  “So?” Milly argued back. “Immune is immune!”

  “He’s also overpowered,” a new voice joined the conversation, Yanily and Seena strolling into the training yard. “You get used to him doing the impossible.”

  “We all felt something crazy happening over here,” Seena said to Hiral in explanation to their appearance. “Figured it was you.” The smile she had on her face clearly told him she was more amused than anything about it.

  “Had to teach her about rule six,” Hiral said. Seena and Yanily both just nodded at that, without him needing to say another thing.

  “From the looks of things, it was a good lesson?” Yanily said, looking at everybody else in the training yard still on their asses.

  Hiral looked at Milly to answer the question.

  “I’d give it a seven out of ten,” the little brat said, crossing her arms.

  “Whatever!” Hiral said. “You’ll thank me later.”

  “Probably,” she admitted.

  “Good, then let’s get back to footwork,” Loan said, his hand still on her shoulder. Almost as if he was keeping it there so she couldn’t escape.

  From the look that crossed her face, she seriously considered trying for a second. Then her own version of stubbornness was back.

  “Okay,” she said. “Teach me how to dodge, or dance, or whatever you think I need.”

  “Now there’s the attitude!” Loan laughed, then pointed over at Nat. “You too! Come along.”

  Nat gave Hiral a look—and a small nod of thanks—before going to join the big Shaper and her sister.

  “You sticking around here?” Seena asked Hiral.

  “Yeah,” Hiral said. “We’re leaving soon, so it’s nice to spend some time around them. Besides, there’s something I need to work on myself, and I’m finally feeling up to it.”

  “Oh, that sounds like something fun,” Yanily said. “Need a hand?”

  Hiral looked over at the spearman and Tempest Roar—the S-Rank spear Hiral and the others had helped forge—in his hand.

  “You know what?” Hiral said. “I just might.”

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