The ritual started innocently enough. Once Arthur had everything in place, he stood at the edge of his blood painting. He crouched and double and triple-checked if he was in the right position. Finally, when he realised all he was doing was delaying, Arthur sat down cross-legged on the hard wooden floor. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but it was necessary. Putting a cushion down could risk destabilising things; a very small risk, yes, but it was an easily avoidable one.

  He placed his palms on the ground on either side of him, each of his fingers connected to a red line of runic script. Arthur took a deep breath, enjoying the ether density in the room. He suspected it was approaching the middle of tier 3, and it was the first time Arthur had been allowed to exist unencumbered since obtaining his class. It was probably the last time he’d experience it in a long while, too.

  Just as he was about to begin, he felt a little twinge from his Bhai Giya connection with Alyssia. Was the ancient magic trying to tell him something? Would it help him perform the ritual better, or was it letting him know Alyssia was in danger? As far as inopportune magical distractions went, this one had come at the worst time possible. He was on a timer right now, and it had been accelerated by a few hours. He’d somehow missed the effect his ritual would have on Iris’ defensive arrays. Rapidly draining ether from the environment had already caused a few failures amongst the weaker ones, and it was only a matter of time before the others joined them.

  I’ll do the ritual first and see what’s going on with the Bhai Giya straight after. Arthur prayed that it wasn't anything serious. Once he started, there would be no stopping; either Wovan would return as a soul splinter, or he would fail. Arthur closed his eyes, counted to ten and opened them again. Carefully, he poured ether into his soul splinter skill and then allowed the changed energy to flow out of him into the ritual, through the conduits that were his ten fingers. The effects were instantaneous.

  He was immediately locked in place, permanently stuck here until the ritual magic ran its course. His blood script glowed brightly, so much so that his basement room looked like something straight out of the red-light district. The ether density shot up rapidly, and all but the strongest defences in the cottage instantly failed. If bounty hunters had somehow been unaware of his location before, that was certainly no longer the case.

  Peak tier 3? Tier 4? Arthur wasn't sure. What he did know was that an unclassed human would die very quickly if they stepped in here. Just as ether starvation was a problem for the strong, ether poisoning killed the weak. Arthur, however, felt more comfortable than he ever had before. Unfortunately, that wasn't to last. The room, which was already stifling courtesy to the phoenix blood, rapidly started to increase in temperature. The ritual circle was releasing more heat than an industry-grade furnace, and his blood started emitting a pink mist that irritated his skin. If it was irritating him, it would probably burn the flesh of any ordinary classer who didn't spec heavily into constitution.

  Using his blood as the primary liquid for his ritual had always been a risky endeavour, and if all he had to suffer was a few minutes of discomfort, Arthur would count that as a victory. Unfortunately, things only got worse. Not only was his blood a perfect catalyst, an ingredient that would always perfectly synthesise with whatever reaction it was used in, but he'd also decided to use Earth's Blessing, another perfect catalyst at a higher grade. They were creating a resonant effect, greater than the sum of their parts, and they were affecting every item used in the ritual.

  Arthur hadn't used Homunculus' Eye, but he suspected every item here had gone up by a subgrade in rarity. That meant the phoenix blood, coveted by many, had just become a true bonafide mythical treasure, something that a tier 1 planet should never contain. A System notification confirmed his fears a second later.

  This wasn't a problem Iris had prepared him for. She'd mentioned it in passing, but the chances of something like this happening, especially on such a drastic scale, were so astronomically low they'd never gone into details. There was supposed to be a little chaos, not whatever this was. It just went to show that the powerful seer wasn't infallible, something he'd do well to remember going forward.

  Already, the System's warnings were coming true, and he could feel space unravelling around him. Colours and distances were all wrong; it was like reality itself was breaking down. Ripples started appearing at random points in the air, the prelude to a true dimensional tear. It was like the world had become a piece of fabric, and some giant being was trying to poke a hole into it. The fabric of reality was strong; it only bulged in certain places where too much pressure was applied, but it was only a matter of time before something ripped.

  Arthur cursed. He had no idea what a dimensional predator was, but he definitely didn't want to meet one when he was locked in place and so vulnerable.

  Arthur didn't know if he should laugh or cry. Who the hell was Razaloth and why did he give a fuck about Arthur's little ritual. There was no way he'd be done in four minutes. He thought he'd prepared well, but clearly, Arthur had bitten off more than he could chew. For a brief, horrifying moment, Arthur wondered if would have to abort his ritual.

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  It would mean losing his chances at gaining Wovan as a soul splinter; a part of her core had already been consumed for the ritual and he didn't think it would be eligible for a second attempt. Earth's Blessing had been used up, too and around a hundred litres of blood. The Titan's bone, at least, had remained untouched, but that was little consolation if the creature it was meant for never saw the light of day.

  No, there was no way Arthur could abort the ritual now. He wracked his brain, trying to think of a way to salvage the situation. There had to be something he could do, anything at all. His eyes fell on Wovan's core, and he recalled his battle with the massive spider. The beginnings of an idea began to form in his head. It was insane- foolish and would probably end catastrophically.

  But it could work.

  That was all Arthur needed. A chance. It was during that battle that Arthur tried to use his aura and, more specifically, his domain offensively. He'd done something similar against Frankenstein, manifesting his aura as a physical force to target the monster when his body failed him. Long ago, Mira had told him that his aura was impressive for his level and training under Alyssia had taught him that it may one day become his greatest asset.

  Well, that day had come and Arthur needed to rise up to the occasion.

  The body and the soul were intrinsically linked, two sides of the same coin. One's aura was an expression of one's soul and so was an expression of all the stats, skills and titles their existence represented. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Arthur activated his pinnacle skill, The Homunculus Hunts and let his domain loose. It normally crossed a kilometre of space but Arthur needed more today; he wanted everything, every drop of power he could extract from it. He was the Perfect Homunculus, surely his soul's expression wasn't limited to a mere thousand square metres.

  His domain pushed beyond its kilometre limit. One and a half. Two. It reached two point three kilometres and finally stopped pushing further. Arthur immediately became aware of a few things. For starters, his house wasn't where he'd left it. His cottage normally rested at the top of a small hill, a short walk away from Mossley Village. Now, his cottage stood in the middle of flat, rolling grasslands with no civilization in sight. Somehow, sometime in the last few minutes, his house had been teleported here, so seamlessly, he hadn't even realised it. Whatever the case, Arthur was glad that it had happened. At least now, no innocent bystanders would get caught up in his experiments.

  The second thing he learned was why his Bhai Giya pact was flaring up so much. Now that his aura was loose, he could see what had been going on in the last few minutes. Alyssia Sil' Vorken was here, and so were three dozen others. It didn't take him long to figure out what was going on. His ritual seemed to have broadcast his location a little more strongly than he'd initially suspected. These were all bounty hunters, come to claim his head, and here was Alyssia, fighting with her life on the line to give him some more time.

  There was a brief lull in the battle as everyone felt his aura settle over them. The bounty hunters turned to look at his cottage, some in awe, some in fear, and some with grim determination steeling their faces. These bastards had come to kill him, to harvest his corpse like he was a mere resource to be plundered. Arthur took everything in, pushing his meagre perception to closely observe the remnants of magic lingering in the air.

  There were traces of shadow magic, lightning, fire, healing and a few more esoteric affinities Arthur couldn't recognise at first glance. He'd learned enough though. Alyssia was hurt, and quite badly at that. Her right arm was broken and hanging limply at her side, she had a deep cut along the left flank of her chest and her calves were dripping blood. All the injuries had traces of lightning magic running through them, one of the few magics fast enough to actually target the speedy alverin.

  He hadn't intended to get involved in this fight when he let his aura loose, hell, he hadn't even known it was taking place, but now that he did, he couldn't do nothing, even as limited as he was right now locked in place by his ritual. Let's even the odds a little. To begin, Arthur first focused on his Bhai Giya bond. He'd never tried anything like this before, nor had Alyssia told him of a function that allowed messaging, but Arthur was a soul mage. Surely he could influence the ancient magic a little.

  I'm sending you a little boost to your health and durability. Half of it will randomly disappear in the next thirty minutes though, so be ready for that.

  He directed the message into a small ball of soul affinity ether and sent it through the bond. Either she would get it or she wouldn't. The way she suddenly started in place suggested she had. Then he selected her with his Source of (Draconic) Vitality title. It allowed him to distribute the equivalent of 20% of his Draconic Vitality between up to ten people. He gave the entirety of the boost to Alyssia. 539 Draconic Vitality. He also selected her as one of the thirteen friendlies whose regeneration he could boost by 20%.

  Alyssia didn't have the numerous titles boosting the stat that he did. That didn't matter. Her health instantly shot up by 15,000 points, which if Arthur remembered correctly, was literally over five times the size of her healthpool. The Draconic Vitality also doubled as the equivalent of 809 Constitution, the single, greatest limiting factor of her highly specialised build. Arthur had just broken her class. He wouldn't be surprised if his alverin friend could exert Mythical potential right now.

  With every second that passed, his basement was growing more and more and more unstable, visible fissures rapidly forming and healing in the air. He needed to speed things up. Already, Alyssia's injuries were looking much better, and the disbelief on her face as she marvelled at her new power would have made him chuckle if he wasn't so pressed for time. He traced the lingering magic in her wounds to their origin points. They all came from one individual, a human lightning mage at level 229. The woman was too strong to have been born on Earth, she was an outsider, but it still hurt a little to be betrayed by his own species.

  My former species, Arthur corrected himself. He was something new, something better. She was 392 metres away from him, well within the boundaries of his aura. Arthur had never tried to use his domain like this, but he knew it was possible. It was what made them so powerful. A domain was a natural progress of one's aura, an expression of their soul, and wherever Arthur's soul was, he could cast magic from.

  Using Cloaked Blade to hide his actions, Arthur targeted the lightning mage's shadow. 5,000 ether. 10,000 ether. 15,000 ether. She didn't sense a thing.

  No one did.

  And so when the explosion of shadow came- destroying her legs, piercing through her stomach, her guts, her lungs and finally her heart- it came with no warning. One moment she was alive, and the next she was dead. Arthur could practically smell it, the fear oozing from the hunter's veins, even Alyssia's as they looked at the mage's pulverised corpse. Arthur grinned. These bastards had come for him.

  They would learn to fear their own shadows.

  Etherious: Originator

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