I raised an eyebrow when I saw the skill and selected it immediately.
{Skill Name: Overseer's Resonance.}
{Skill Description: The Overseer of the Deus Arms has approved you to receive his full power in order to unlock the fourth and final form of [Vengeance]. Overseer's Resonance must be used while crossing blades with another Deus Arma. Doing so will also unlock that sword's fourth form. If Overseer's resonance is successfully used on a Deus Arma, it will also permanently increase the power of Vengeance and the corresponding weapon.}
{Bravery 0/1}
{Compassion 0/1}
{Justice 0/1}
{Willpower 0/1}
{Intelligence 0/1}
{Charity 0/1}
{Mercy 0/1}
{Faith 0/1}
{Honor 0/1}
{Strength 0/1}
{Hope 0/1}
{Redemption 0/1}
"It's about damn time..." I mumbled.
"Darling...?" Cassandra said.
I quickly showed her the ability and she placed her hands together.
She smiled joyfully and looked at me.
"Darling, that's so amazing! You'll finally be able to unlock the full power of Vengeance!!!" She said.
"Yeah, it's been too long since I unlocked the third form. I'm going to have to resonate with the others, now," I said.
Cassandra began fidgeting and looking shyly at me.
"C-can I...be Mizik's first...?"
Why do you have to make it sound dirty?
"Please...not in front of my mother..." I said.
"How cute!!! She's asking so nicely, Mizik! And don't worry, I know all about that stuff. Your father and I-"
"Stop! I don't want to know!" I said.
I suddenly recalled the love letters Isabella talked about at the Iratus estate...
I had actually gotten around to reading them on Ignitus and well...
She wasn't kidding. Those things should have had an age restriction...
And my mother was the one instigating it.
"Fine. I'll resonate with you, first, Cassandra. I actually planned to, anyway," I said.
"Yay! I get to be Mizik's first again!" She said.
Just stop making it weird.
She held out the blade of her dagger and I placed Vengeance's blade on it.
[Before you do this, ask her about the philosophy of Intelligence.]
"Cassandra...tell me about the philosophy of Intelligence. Do you understand it? Are you following it?" I asked.
She smiled.
"To analyze your enemies and your surroundings is to understand the potential danger they pose. War is a game of wits. It is not simply about who can beat the other with strength...but through tactics. A small blade is light and easy to use. Killing an enemy requires very little effort with the right tools and proper planning. Intelligence is knowledge and knowledge is power. My greatest strength is not my blade, but the mind I use to control the field of battle. My weapon is simply a tool to serve the will of Vengeance...and also it's amazing wielder! In fact...true Intelligence is to follow Mizik everywhere and love him forever!" Cassandra said.
[Somewhat unorthodox at the end...but she understands it at the very least. Intelligence says she is also ready. I will allow you to resonate. Go forth and grant her my power!]
"Overseer's Resonance," I said.
Vengeance glowed brightly and so did Intelligence.
Then I saw a series of words appear before my eyes.
"I, the Overseer, request your power. Resonate with me and be awakened!" I said.
Intelligence flashed and I saw power flooding into Cassandra.
"Oh! This is amazing! I feel so much strength flowing into me!" She said.
At the same time, I felt a tremendous power boost as well.
Next...I knew what I had to do...
I took out the other nine blades that I held and began resonating with each of them.
The amount of power this sword held was truly amazing... It had more power than the legendary heartstones.
Then I looked at the counter.
{Bravery 0/1}
{Compassion 1/1}
{Justice 1/1}
{Willpower 1/1}
{Intelligence 1/1}
{Charity 1/1}
{Mercy 1/1}
{Faith 1/1}
{Honor 1/1}
{Strength 1/1}
{Hope 0/1}
{Redemption 1/1}
Now I needed to find Difar...
"We're cutting our training short today, Cassandra. Let's go," I said.
"Right behind you, darling!"
"Valtheim, take us to Difar," I said.
She appeared immediately and bowed her head.
"I...obey..." She said.
* * *
A few minutes later, we found Difar sitting on a massive throne and speaking with a...
...Horrifying monster that had tentacles and eyes all over it.
It made strange noises when he spoke to it.
"No, keep them locked up. I don't want any of those freaks running around while I'm absent. We have enough of those roaming the streets and trying to escape the depths. Speaking of which, the deep realms of Ukazaath should be sealed off as well. No one knows what's down there except me, and it's not pretty. Trust me, The Insanity hates company. Lastly, I already have plans to finally deal with The Devourer. He's an annoyance that seems to have outlived his usefulness. Oh, and tell everyone to stay the hell out of the Deep Abyss, would you?" Difar said.
"Difar, I'm sure whatever you're talking about is important, but I need to see Extinction," I said.
"DAMMIT, MIZIK! FINE!!" He yelled.
Extinction materialized in his hand and he threw it at the ground near me.
It stuck into it and stayed still.
Stealing it was tempting, but I still needed his help.
Vengeance, does Difar need to follow the philosophy off Hope for this to work?
[Normally, yes. And I am against giving my power to such a false wielder. Hope is currently reforged into Extinction and cannot access its true power, nor can I grant it. If I did not allow this, it would be impossible to unlock my full power. But I can still tap into the soul of Hope. You may resonate, but Difar will gain nothing from it. Just as I would have planned.]
Good. I still need to kill him for that sword one day. It would be a pain if he got stronger than he already was.
After my talk with Vengeance, I simply resonated with Extinction and left.
I wasn't in the mood to deal with Difar's shitty attitude and I didn't want him to notice my skyrocketing power...at least not yet, anyway.
Since Vengeance also told me that the sword wouldn't be able to unlock its fourth form, I was feeling more cheerful.
Hope had one hell of a fourth form, apparently...as Vengeance explained later.
Hope's fourth form was called 'Limit Break' and was one of the strongest offensively. The third form, Overdrive, allowed the user to push past their maximum power to an extent.
Limit Break effectively removed one's natural limit on their power. Allowing them to perform at a truly insane level. The only drawback was that it could harm the wielder if they overdid it.
Such a thing would supplement Difar's already ridiculous amount of power. I didn't need that. No one did.
I still had no idea what Vengeance's fourth form was, but he told me I would know very soon...and that I would finally understand why he was the ultimate weapon.
Now I only needed to resonate with one more sword...
Bravery.
The sword Rose held.
Truthfully, that was entirely my fault. I should have snatched it from her when I had the chance.
I wasn't thinking clearly when I gave her the sword and neglected to take it back in the hopes that it would jog her memory. Unfortunately, I helped create a mockery of my beloved Isabella in the process.
I would pry it from her cold, dead hands if I had to... But I still contemplated if there was a way to resonate without taking the sword from her, first.
I knew it would be difficult to look her in the eyes and end her life, but I had to. Still, there was something else to worry about.
She had forcibly unlocked Bravery's fourth form, somehow. That made her a problem.
As long as I couldn't access the final form of Vengeance, I wouldn't be able to kill Rose, anyway.
Vengeance knew that, and was more than willing to help.
Regardless, I sat down on the bed in our room and checked my status menu.
My stats had all increased exponentially. Even though I was currently in my younger form, I felt almost as strong as I had been before.
I wondered how much power I would have by the end of all of this...
Just as I confirmed that I had not gained any new abilities, Cassandra tackled me down.
"Miziiiik~! I want to cuddle!" She said.
She laid her head on my chest and stayed there.
I held her in my arms and smiled.
I had no idea how long she would be gone, so I wanted to cherish her as much as possible.
Eventually, I allowed myself to drift off into sleep as well.
* * *
Several days later, plans for the assault on Excelsis were truly beginning to form.
At this point, Cassandra and I could now hold our channeled powers for about four hours. The cooldown had been reduced by two hours as well.
This was all because of my constant tampering using The Archmage while under its effects. I worked diligently to ensure that Channeled Power would complete itself quickly, but I couldn't get around it, somehow. It was like I couldn't properly understand the nature of the ability.
In fact, this was a problem I'd run into before with The Archmage.
While I could gaze into the chasm of magic and retain my sanity, I had mortal limits on the things I could do and understand.
Because my mind was still that of a mortal human.
Regardless, I decided not to tamper with our new skill too much. I didn't want to damage anything.
On another note, I had spoken to Vakra. Both Cassandra and I took part in his experiments and he determined that his hypothesis was correct.
The combination of Difar's personal form of Corruption branded to our souls, regardless of the state, plus the existence of extreme amounts of purified divine energy caused a reaction.
Since my soul was not Corrupted and simply bore the mark of a curse, I was not fully spared.
Cassandra, however, was completely unaffected by the reset as far as her memories went.
After that, a memo was written up and immediately sent to Difar.
He promised to curse me every time from now on and recreate the exact scenario that got us in this mess.
The piece of shit...
Currently, I was standing with Cassandra in our room. I wanted to give her something...a gift.
"Iris was able to strengthen the threads of mine and Isabella's connection through the Blessing of the Creator. Since I can understand how to do that in my older form, I plan to give you a similar skill to the one Isabella had," I said.
"You mean Adoring Resonance, darling?" Cassandra said as she looked hopefully at me.
"No. This one is different. Adoring Resonance made us both stronger based on our proximity. It let us share our emotions without words. This one is what I'm going to call...Obsessive Resonance."
"Ah! What does it do!? I can hardly wait!"
"It's similar to Adoring Resonance, except that we won't lose power when we're apart. It'll make tracking one another easier and grant a power boost."
Cassandra was speechless.
Although she was breathing heavily.
While in my older form, I tapped the area where her heart was and made the skill.
When it was completed..
By Iris...I was not prepared for this...
I felt her emotions. It was something like an extreme, all-encompassing desire to...immerse as much of herself in me as possible.
The depths of her madness and devotion were truly bottomless.
"Kyaaaa!!!! My darling Mizik can see my love for him! And...I can see his love for me! I am truly honored! It makes me so happy!"
Regardless, once everything had finished, the two of us went to talk to Johann.
* * *
"I trust that you'll respect the previously discussed boundaries?" Cassandra said as she stepped forward to meet Johann.
"Like I said, don't worry about it! I already have someone else in my heart. This is strictly business," Johann said.
"Excellent. I will be in your care. Now, the plan of action is that Vakra has given us a device to map out the area. I will be using this as well as another device that will be attached to the barrier generator," Cassandra said.
"And my job is to create enough of a distraction when the time comes for you to use it," Johann said.
She nodded.
"This will be a long operation, so I am likely to run into my...ugh...sister. If that happens, I will pretend to be released from Mizik's non-existent control. In that scenario, you will be my caretaker. I will not, under any circumstances, allow the Oracle to know of my arrival. Do whatever means necessary to ensure this," Cassandra said.
"Once the device is in place, get out of there and come back. When we're ready, we can assault Excelsis. The first device will allow us to map out the area and not get lost. The second will hack the barrier and allow The Dark Army to enter Excelsis. Cassandra, please do your best. I'm counting on you. You'll be rewarded with whatever you want after you return, okay?" I said.
Cassandra smiled at me.
"Yes, darling! I will do all I can!" She said.
"Good. Let's get some sleep. You'll be leaving tomorrow," I said.
Cassandra and I left after that and went to bed.