Things had become a waiting game. After Elliot had disappeared into the fog of purple smoke, Cecilia and Jason had stayed behind to gather debris. The redheaded Delver then took the debris and carved the same symbols Jason had seen on the pebbles used in their fight.
Burst Rune. Elliot had said that before, and Jason wished Luciano's training could be more comprehensive. There were only so many information packets and videos he was willing to go through; it was almost like he was back to the times where his mom forced all those classes onto him.
So, not understanding what was going on, Jason watched as Cecilia grabbed another pebble to carve into it. When she was done, she casually tossed it away into the purple smoke.
"Yer gaze is distracting me, Bello. Can ya not look at me so hot-like?"
"Can I ask what it is you like about me? I can change it."
Cecilia chuckled, picked up another pebble, and waved him over. "Get closer if ya wanna peek. I'm guessin' Lucio ain't giving ya much."
"No, he's a great trainer. I've learned so much."
"No need to lie. Lying ain't cute." Cecilia said with a pout. She carved another one of her burst Runes into the pebble and showed it to him. "Lucio was like that with me, too. He's got it in his head that yer the one he's been dreaming of, so don't let him get to ya. Here, lemme tell ya about Khram Runes."
Jason blinked at how open she was. He wasn't going to question it, but the sudden influx of Delver information was appreciated. "Khram? I thought it was something else?"
"Its the name of the Runes of Khan, or Khram Runes. There's separate groups for each planet as well; Beher Runes for Betta, Mehad Runes for Meggio, and that new world is somethin' I wasn't taught about. Not sure why they have different runes for each, but ya don't really need to know those other ones."
As she spoke, Cecilia grabbed another pebble and showed him the rune she carved on the surface. Unlike the other ones, this carving was shallow and sloppy compared to the others. She pressed her hands together in the familiar hand sign for the release of fire mana, and Jason took several steps back as a small, red glow lit up around her hands.
The pebble she had carved sucked in the released mana like some kind of sponge. Cecilia presented it to him like some kind of present, and Jason was vigilant as he gazed at the bomb, watching the rune she had carved into the surface glow. Then, without another warning, the pebble popped in her hand, exploding in a tiny conflagration.
Jason jumped at the sudden noise, and he panicked as he shot a few glances at the purple smoke nearby.
"Ya should take a look at yer face!" Cecilia cried out between laughter.
"Ha. Ha. What was that supposed to tell me anyways? I already know burst Runes do that."
"Don't be so up in the Clouds, and hmm, Lucio says they're like training wheels." Cecilia said. "Like muscle memory or somethin', yer training yer mana to do what the runes do without their support. He said eventually I'd be able to do somethin' like making things explode from a distance."
Jason hummed at that. "So, like Balakrishna? Where he did a bunch of fancy movements and manipulated his gauntlets?"
"Kinda, I know that the Baldies use wacko movements as their training wheels, and the really strong ones only need to punch or kick to use their mana outside their body. Everyone's got their own way to do it, but we use Khram Runes." Cecilia tapped her Holo, swiping in Jason's direction.
Jason looked down to see that he had received a picture of three different runes. One of them matched the burst rune that Cecilia used. "These are?"
"Yup! I only have access to those three, but I know Lucio's got more. He said they'll help me out when I finally master the burst rune."
"You're really giving this to me?"
Cecilia looked at him like he had spoken in a different language. "What'd ya mean?"
Jason waved the pictures around, gesturing over to the purple smoke nearby. "Isn't that Delver 101?"
"Oh that! Psh, for other people, yeah! Not for familia." Cecilia said with a smile.
"I see…" Jason pursed his lips, stopping a frown from forming on his lips. His current goal was to get out of the Calderone's grip, and while he needed the information, he felt conflicted to receive such unwarranted trust.
It reminded him of how he acted towards Oliver. Except, now he was on the other side of the argument.
Jason clicked his tongue, shaking that treacherous thought from his mind. "Thanks, then. Still don't know why Luciano couldn't just tell me all this earlier."
"Yer way of fishing for info is pretty cute, Bello." Cecilia said, baring her teeth with a laugh. "But, Lucio is like this with a lot of people. He'll be pretty annoyin' for a bit, but he'll calm down later; it has to do with his dream."
"Dream?"
"Yup, Lucio wants to train a Transcendent."
Jason could barely hide his incredulousness at that insane declaration. "He thinks… I can become one?"
Cecilia shrugged. "Whether ya can or not does not matter. He's tryin' to do it anyways."
Suddenly, Jason felt Luciano's irregular actions made more sense. Everyone knew about the Transcendents, and almost all of them had stories written to their names. They were prodigies without equal; men who did the impossible; and they simply above normal Delvers from the beginning. Luciano wanted him to fill those boxes, so when Jason acted otherwise, Luciano grew annoyed or anxious.
Jason derided the actions of the scruffy man in his memories. A childish dream did not seem to fit someone who threatened Jason's family. However, now that he had an idea on what Luciano wanted, Jason just needed to take advantage of that knowledge.
After he solved his current circumstances.
A collision echoed deep within the smog of purple, and Jason inclined his head in the direction it came from. He narrowed his eyes, seeing a couple shadows moving within. The smoke itself was too thick for even his senses to penetrate, but he could tell that it started to grow turbulent.
"I guess that's enough conversation." Jason stood up and stretched, studying one of the nearby burst runes Cecilia carved. Within the burst rune were three vertical lines that Cecilia had added to the design. "They'll go off in three seconds, right?"
"Yup!" Cecilia confirmed his thoughts before she paused. "Wait… how'd ya figure that out so quick–"
"I noticed when we fought. You think that's Elliot that's making his way here?"
Cecilia's gaze followed his own, squinting down the alleyway. "Dunno, does it matter, though? Hopefully, he doesn't die; he wasn't that bad."
"...no, he wasn't like I expected."
The wait ended the second a figure rushed out of the smoke. From how slow they were, Jason immediately ruled out Elliot, and the teen caught sight of patchy fur as the creature screamed and pounced at him.
Jason leaned out of the way of the clawed hands that swiped at him. Another flailing strike missed as he dodged to the side, and Jason caught the next one, grabbing one of the person's wrists. A loud snap echoed in the alleyway followed by an inhuman, high-pitched screech.
The teen let the creature go, slapping his hands over his ears. Though his hearing was impaired, Jason felt his skin tremble as a couple screeches called back.
In the moment he was distracted, a clawed hand tore into his shirt, scratching his chest. Jason's attention snapped back to the ratman in front of him, and when he noticed that its attacks only drew thin, red lines on his chest, he ignored them. He reached out a hand and clamped it around the ratman's neck.
"Wait!"
Jason pursed his lips as he held the crazed ratman away from his body. They were much larger than Callisto, but their frame was similar. Patchy fur covered their exposed skin, and blackened claws extended from their hands and feet, clawing at his skin and failing to leave a lasting mark. Like Callisto, their eyes were completely purple, matching the smoke that lingered on their body like a cologne.
The teen saw a wisp of the smoke trail up to his nose, but he held his breath as Cecilia looked over the new rat-human hybrid.
Cecilia's eyes widened, gasping. "T– This is… Milana?"
Jason frowned and looked at the hybrid in his hands again. Their nostrils dilated, and Jason could see that they had grown more aggressive when Cecilia grew closer. Scent-based hunting, he surmised. At the same time, Jason had a suspicion that was why there were so many claw marks above old lady Mari's housing block; her grandkids were hunting scents that they knew, bringing back more people back to the Eurithos.
The skittering of feet and claws on metal stole the two's attention, and Jason looked up in time for a large rat the size of his forearm to leap down at him. He swatted it out of the air, pulping its body on contact.
"Bleh! Bah, pah!" Jason spat as some of the rat's body splattered on his face. He ignored Cecilia's nearby laughter, spitting more.
"Yer too strong, Bello." Cecilia chuckled, but her joy faded as they both heard thousands of tiny feet scamper in their direction.
Jason paled as he saw the clouds of purple smoke burst like the surface of the ocean as thousands of rats charged them. The wave of rats blanketed the walls, floor, and ceiling of the alley as they charged the two of them.
"We need to get–" Jason turned to warn Cecilia, but the redhead had already grabbed his free wrist and dragged him into a run.
As they ran, Jason saw a red mana domain envelop them, flowing into the pebbles scattered on the ground. However, the purple smoke in contact with the fire mana also grew in size, swallowing the fire mana that wasn't fast enough to be absorbed by the burst runes. The smoke expanded to cover the mass of rats right as they ran over the glowing pebbles.
A series of explosions rocked the alleyway, and Jason stumbled for a couple steps. The hybrid Milana hissed in his grip, scratching his arm and back up. Jason frowned as he debated whether or not to throw the nuisance behind him, but he stopped himself right before he went through with it.
"Dammit…" He could only curse under his breath. There was no telling if Milana would get caught up in Cecilia's explosions, and if the psychopath hesitated in killing the hybrid, they'd be swarmed in seconds.
Cecilia also didn't expand her rudimentary mana domain again. She scooped up pebbles as they ran, clapping them between her palms and forming her hand sign. Then, she kept the fire mana contained within her palms to fuel the burst runes before she tossed them behind them.
Still, her actions were not as quick as Jason liked. The wave of rats showed no signs of dwindling, and the teen found that Cecilia's bombs only served to slow it down momentarily.
Jason bit his lip in thought, taking a glance behind them. The ceaseless horde of rats had broken through the purple smoke again, but wisps of the smoke clung to their fur and the sheer momentum of all their bodies served to drag the massive clouds of smoke, trailing after them like some kind of dust cloud. Even as Cecilia's bombs disrupted them, there were just too many to stop.
"Catch!" Jason said, tossing the rabid Milana over to Cecilia.
The redheaded Delver fumbled with the sudden transfer, but she easily held down the hybrid with her own strength. Cecilia didn't have time to voice any question before Jason had spun around, running towards the wave of rats.
Jason didn't hit the horde straight on, serving to the side right before the wave of rats pounced him. He grit his teeth as his hands slammed into the housing block that made up one of the walls of the alleyway. The building shook from his impact, causing many of the rats on the wall to fall.
However, his intentions were not to clear a wall. His fingers dug into the sheet metal that made up the outer shell of the housing block, and with a torturous groan, Jason had ripped off a large portion of the wall.
"Cecilia, bombs now!" Jason yelled as he waved the giant piece of metal like a fan, sending the nearest rats flying away along with the nearest purple smoke.
At the same moment, the rest of the rats reached him. The horde pounced on him, and Jason swatted the first couple of them away with his improvised weapon. Their bodies were pulped from his strength, spraying gore and bloody fur like some kind of confetti.
Yet, he could not get all of them. Jason found himself drowned in rats. He shut his eyes tight, crouching down on the ground as he held the sheet of metal in his hands. The rats scratched and bit him all over, digging at his sides and the thin wounds that Milana had inflicted on him.
Mana flushed through his system, bringing with it comforting heat. Jason wavered between the endless bites that tore him open, and the heat of his mana that fought against the damage, healing him only for the process to repeat.
Then, he felt the four mana veins near his heart tremble as the mana in the air changed. Jason grinned as Cecilia's fire mana wasn't absorbed by the purple smoke this time, and he counted down from three.
Heat and noise pinballed Jason from his spot on the ground. He flew for a second before he collided with a wall, bounced off of it, and then slammed into another wall.
Jason coughed out a bit of smoke, pulling himself from the wall he dented. The teen patted his body as he felt the bits of flesh the rats had ripped from him, grimacing as his hand came back red with blood. The wounds were already healing, but he had no desire to do such an action again.
He shot a glance behind himself, checking how much damage Cecilia had caused. A large blackened piece of concrete lay at the ground where pockmarks peppered the floor, and holes were torn into each surrounding housing block, exposing the large gears and insulation within. A cloud of black smoke had replaced the horde of rats, and all traces of their existence were small, burnt pieces of them.
"Hurry! It didn't do that much!"
Jason's pupils shrank as the black cloud dispersed around another horde of rats. Even worse, more tunneled their ways out of the insulation in the exposed walls, joining the horde as they rushed over the pockmarked ground.
Jason hurried into another sprint, making sure to grab the piece of metal that survived Cecilia's blast. He caught up with the girl, and he took back Milana as Cecilia wordlessly went back to her bomb creation. Every now and then, he would stop to swing his improvised fan, clearing the nearby purple smoke that was constantly catching up.
"Up ahead!" Jason yelled midstep. He pointed out an upcoming intersection, knowing it was one that they had traveled down. "Which alley were the rest of your bombs in?"
"Third one on the right!"
Jason nodded, continuing to ignore the annoyance in his grip. However, he cursed the second they entered the intersection. In the alley where Cecilia had put her bombs were several human-rat hybrids.
"I don't recognize any of them!" Cecilia added, gripping a pebble in her hand.
Grabbing her by her large coat, Jason yanked the psychopath away before she committed murder. He groaned as the hybrids started to chase after them, joining the horde of rats. With their inclusion, he was forced to stop Cecilia from bombing the horde, disrupting her release hand signs.
"Why!?"
Jason tried to find his words, knowing he was being hypocritical. If he died here, there was no telling what could happen to his family; especially, with whatever scheme was at play here. The hybrids might never regain their normal lives, being more monster than human.
He had thought he had built up the resolve after returning home that fateful night, but at this crossroads, he once again found himself failing to take the final step.
"We need to find Elliot!" Jason said, knowing his reason was hollow. "Don't waste your energy with them!"
"How are we supposed to find big an' burly in this–"
A collision echoed overhead, cutting off Cecilia. Jason's gaze snapped upwards, and he saw the moment when Elliot broke through the ceiling. The burly, blue-haired heir had somehow changed since the last time they saw him, and Elliot looked as if he had gained an extra foot of height along with two large, conical growths over his wrists. Jason figured those were the results of Elliot's Innate talents before he put that fact away.
Instead, he focused on the fact that Elliot fell above the horde of rats and hybrids. And from the hole in the ceiling, Jason saw a large silhouette within the shadows of the ducts as purple smoke began to spill out from the hole like a stream.
"Ain't that convenient!" Cecilia said.
Jason scoffed and tossed Milana towards her. Without any words exchanged, they both knew Jason had the best chance to help out Elliot, so the teen once again spun to face the horde. Cecilia followed his lead, sticking close enough to him that she was almost his backpack.
His heart pounded in his ears. Mana filled his arms and legs, and the teen felt strength grow within him as all the tiny injuries on his body sealed shut.
As he closed in on the horde, Jason held out the sheet metal he had repurposed, placing it in front of both of them like a battering ram. He already saw Elliot fall into the horde of rats and hybrids, so he didn't hesitate to simply charge through the worst.
A gasp rushed through his teeth as he stumbled through the first wave of rats. Cecilia pushed against his back, forcing him to regain his balance. Knowing they'd be swarmed if he stopped, Jason grit his teeth and pushed forwards, crushing anything in his way. Behind him, Cecilia sent out a series of kicks to clear away any rats that tried to flank them.
Several times, Jason saw one of the hybrids try to stop him, and he slowed just enough to not simply go through them. Instead, they flew through the air like broken kites, slamming into the sides of buildings like ragdolls.
Eventually, they broke through the horde to reach Elliot.
The other teen had created a small zone where the rats and hybrids refused to go into, so when the two had reached Elliot, Jason tumbled head of heels the second there was no more resistance. Cecilia fell with him, and the two landed with the redhead on top of Jason.
"Bello, yer so forward."
"Get off me." Jason pushed the woman off him, getting up in a hurry.
Around them, the rats and hybrids encircled them, pacing around an invisible barrier he could not see. Jason looked around and found a small device was placed at the center of their supposed safe zone, and Elliot sat next to the device, gasping for breath.
"You look…" Jason frowned as he looked over the heir.
Elliot's complexion was dark, and Jason caught a shade of purple appearing in Elliot's eyes. The other teen met Jason's gaze, forcing out a smile.
"I'm okay… This can't hold me down." Elliot said. He then placed his hands on his knees, pushing himself to stand on shaky legs. "That bastard kept its strongest thrall above, and every time its injured, the Eurithos healed it. We need to put down a wood or elementless mana domain around it to stop it from doing that."
Jason puckered his lips as if he tasted something sour. Knowing what he did now about Luciano, the teen would bet that the scruffy man knew this situation would come up.
"How long can this thing hold?" Jason caught his breath, striding over to the device on the ground.
"Not too sure." Elliot said, flinching as a spark sputtered out of its internals. "Its a prototype of our company to suppress mobs and monsters."
"Monsters, huh…" Jason mumbled, looking over to Cecilia and the hybrid Milena. The rat-human hybrid they had dragged into the circle had started to scream, rolling on the ground in apparent pain and clutching its ears.
Jason felt a large hand pat his shoulder.
"I see our thoughts also align on this." Elliot said, smiling widely. "Perhaps, I judged too hastily, friend."
Jason shrugged off the other teen's touch. "Its not what you think. There was a need to reserve our energy after I realized the horde wasn't ending."
"Its a good thing you did then. We can ally up and take down the controller above, and if you let me kill it, I might have a way to heal these afflicted people."
"Right, your Innate talent is… Can you do that?"
Elliot thumped his chest. "It is the duty of those of us in power to save innocent people. So long as it has a chance to work, I will give it a try!"
Jason nodded his head at the declaration, looking up into the hole in the ceiling. Purple smoke continued to spill down over their heads, and Jason could see the outline of something larger than Elliot's impressive frame crouched within the darkness. He looked back over to the rabid hybrids that continued to snarl and hiss at them like beasts.
For some reason, Jason did not share Elliot's optimism. However, he couldn't turn back now.