Aiden did not remember what happened toward the end of the fight.
As far as he could recall, Jax had gone crazy.
Then Jax kicked him, and the system helpfully announced that eight of his twenty-four ribs were broken.
After that, Aiden remembered painfully trying to help hold Jax down.
Then he passed out because of the backlash from using the Revolution Core.
So when he blearily opened his eyes to a tiny beam of light hitting him directly in the face, Aiden tried to roll over.
He immediately gasped and went rigid as extreme pain shot through his ribs.
"Ah, you dick," Will hissed in pain. "You moved before I could warn you."
Inside Aiden's head, Will was also writhing despite his spectral body having no damage to speak of.
It took Aiden a moment to even start breathing normally again.
Once he could, he turned and scanned the room.
It was his house.
He was lying on the bed.
Aiden shifted slowly and bumped into something that made a small whimper.
"Could you not?" Jax whispered in pain. "My everything hurts, and I feel pain so much worse now."
Aiden shifted slowly to look beside him.
Jax was lying next to him, surrounded by what seemed to be a mountain of pillows.
Aiden carefully moved to the edge of the bed and pushed the covers away from himself.
His chest was wrapped in what seemed to be a brace made of metal formed around his ribs. The whole thing seemed designed to be non-bulky and out of the way, but it still made him hold his arms out like he was trying to drip dry after forgetting his towel in the bath.
He shuffled around the bed to the other side of Mount Pillow.
There, he could see Jax's snout and eyes poking through.
"Hey, dude," Jax said in the casual tone of someone ordering from a restaurant menu. "How are you doing? Everything hurts, and life is pain."
Aiden looked him over.
He went to cross his arms, winced, and instead settled for a floating crossed-arms pose of doom and relative comfort.
"Do you want to explain what exactly happened?" Aiden asked. "Like when you broke eight of my ribs?"
Jax stayed silent for a moment.
"Fine," he said. "But I need you to do something for me."
Aiden raised his eyebrows, waiting for him to ask.
After a moment, Jax said, "Is… is that a yes? I can't tell if you're doing something with your face to say yes because I can't really see you."
Aiden rolled his eyes.
"And what exactly is this thing?"
"You see that bottle of high-end booze on the shelf behind you?"
Aiden glanced back.
"Liora put it there as what she described as cruel and unusual torture," Jax said. "And I have been made to stare at it for the past eight hours because the pain won't let me sleep."
His eyes shone with desperation.
"Could you, like, pour some into my mouth?"
Aiden looked at the alcohol in question.
Then he turned back to Jax.
Apparently, he took too long to begin pouring, because Jax spoke again in a quieter, more pleading tone.
"Please," Jax whispered. "We are injury buddies, after all."
"In case you forgot," Aiden said, "you're the one who gave me this injury. Remember?"
"Honestly, no," Jax said. "I remember getting grabbed through a door, breaking the skulls of two skeletons, getting stabbed, then waking up with everyone angry at me and living with what feels like red-hot metal shavings under my fur."
Aiden blinked at him in momentary confusion.
"So wait," he said, "you genuinely don't remember spinning your own snapped neck back into place, kicking me into a wall so hard I both went into the wall and broke eight ribs, scratching Selene all to hell while Beatris had to fix you?"
Jax's pillow mountain remained silent for a moment.
Then he said, "Okay, hearing what happened while I was out, I now see why everyone was so mad at me."
Aiden took a moment to consider whether Jax was lying or not.
Considering what had happened the last time Jax almost got someone killed in a dungeon, his mood was not matching up.
Aiden lifted one of the pillows away so he could see Jax.
Jax was in a similar cast to Aiden's, except instead of only his chest, it covered everything up to his face. It had cutouts for his eyes, but otherwise only left his snout exposed.
"Okay," Aiden said, "let's say you forgot here. How did you even survive in the first place? The system announced you were dead and everything."
Jax looked up at him.
"Well," Jax said, "if I hypothetically told you I passed out drunk, woke up in the duke's vault, found a weird book on rituals and stuff, found one that would make me stronger, and used it to grant myself some neat abilities, but the important one being a healing ability that can even keep me alive beyond death as long as I want to live, but makes pain twenty-five times worse…"
He paused.
"Would that be okay, or would you get even madder?"
Aiden stared at Jax with a look of absolute confusion and disbelief.
Jax mumbled something under his breath.
Then, using his tongue, he slowly spun his system screen around.
Jax "Wildfang" Stormcaller
Age:
19
Race:
Fullblood Beastman, Wolf
Class:
Pugilist, Lv. 15
XP:
6,350 / 27,000
HP:
38 / 38
Ki:
94 / 94
Stats:
Strength:
32
Dexterity:
30
Constitution:
14
Intelligence:
4
Wisdom:
15
Charisma:
4
Soul Skill:
Feral Instinct (D)
Passive
Your natural instincts sharpen in combat, allowing you to sense movements and attacks just before they happen.
You gain a bonus to Dexterity-based saves and dodges and can make perception checks to avoid ambushes, even when distracted.
Skills:
Lifeforce Control (D)
Passive
You can tap into your Ki instead of HP when taking damage, allowing you to withstand attacks without tiring as quickly.
This gives you a unique edge in prolonged battles where endurance is key.
Ki Disruption (E)
Cost:
10 Ki
You deliver a precise strike that can disrupt your opponent's energy flow.
The target must have a high enough Constitution or be unable to use energy-based abilities until the start of their next turn.
It is particularly effective against mages and aura users.
Martial Arts (D)
Passive
Your unarmed attacks deal increased damage and have a higher chance of hitting.
Your natural combat style is fierce and unrelenting, favoring fast and powerful strikes.
Iron Fist (E)
Cost:
10 Ki
You surround your fist in Ki, enhancing its power and speed.
This provides a consistent option for heavier damage when needed.
Commanding Presence (E)
Passive
Nearby allies gain a bonus to morale and cannot be forced to flee unless you are unconscious.
Powerful Strike (E)
Cost:
25 Ki
You focus your energy into your fist.
Your next strike deals extra damage.
Ballroom Dancing (E)
Passive
You have learned the art of ballroom dance.
You perform it with more finesse and grace.
Vow of the Heart (D)
Passive
Vow:
I will always aid my friends and allies.
Vow Boon:
Allies near you are empowered.
Vow Bane:
If you break your vow, the boon is reversed for 30 seconds.
Vow of the Body (C)
Passive
Vow:
I will carry their burdens when they cannot.
Vow Boon:
When an ally falls unconscious in battle, your strength, speed, and durability are increased for a time.
Vow Bane:
If all allies fall unconscious, you feel a high level of fatigue sink in as the boon is negated for the next week.
Vow of the Soul (A)
Passive
Vow:
I will always rise, even if the world says stay down.
Vow Boon:
Your body will mend itself, regrowing lost limbs in seconds and closing wounds at an unprecedented speed.
This healing is not negated by unconsciousness or even death.
This healing stops if your will to live stops.
Vow Bane:
You feel pain twenty-five times stronger.
When you take damage, you undergo extreme mental pressure. If you cave into that pressure, it will cause insanity.
If killed in this state, this skill's ability to heal beyond death is negated.
Relentless Assault (D)
Passive
When you land an attack on an enemy, a path to a potential follow-up attack is revealed.
As Aiden finished reading over Jax's stats, he felt an indescribable urge to punch him.
He leaned in with what must have been a very dangerous look in his eyes.
"Hey, Jax," Aiden said. "Oh buddy. Oh pal."
Jax's eyes shifted away.
"When the fuck were you planning to tell, like, any of us about this little walking time bomb of a skill you now have?"
Jax refused to meet his eyes.
He mumbled something about eventually getting to it.
Aiden stared him down.
Then he popped the top off the bottle with his thumb.
A look of hope spread across Jax's face.
Then realization sank in.
"You…" Jax whispered. "You wouldn't dare."
Aiden smiled.
"Come on, Aiden," Jax pleaded. "It would just hurt."
Aiden gave him an evil grin, tipped the bottle up, and began to chug.
Jax squirmed weakly.
Considering what Aiden now knew, that might as well have been Jax flailing and thrashing all around the room.
"No," Jax wailed. "You fiend! How could you?"
Aiden kept drinking.
"Just a drop, man. Come on. That's a five-hundred-gold bottle there. I don't need much. Just a sniff. Something, man."
Aiden drank.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Jax wailed as Aiden finished the entire bottle.
Once it was empty, Aiden grabbed a bit of water from a nearby pitcher and poured it in. He swirled the bottle around, then drank the last remnants of the honestly pretty good-tasting drink.
Then he heavily set the now-clean, utterly booze-less bottle on the bedside table next to Jax.
Jax's head lay in a small puddle of tears.
"You're…" Jax sniffed. "You're inhumane, man. Worse than a monster!"
"Well, it serves you right for keeping something like this a se—"
Aiden was cut off mid-sentence by a system notification.
You have failed to stay sober.
Aiden stumbled.
Then he fell back on his butt.
A jolt of pain shot through him as he sat up and yelled, "Ow, FUCK, damn it!"
Even then, he could feel his words beginning to slur as the pain quickly faded.
It could have been a few moments later.
It could have been hours.
Eventually, the front door opened, and the others made their way inside.
"Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyy, guys," Aiden said, his words coming out weird and funny. "Where dib you go?"
"What the hell happened to him?" Beatris yelled, sounding alarmed as she ran over to where Aiden sat on the ground. "We were only gone an hour!"
Selene walked over.
Jax said in a sob choked voice, "He drank it. He drank the whole thing. Even washed it out so I can't even know the smell up close."
They worked together to lift Jax.
He whimpered quite loudly as Selene and Thalia carried him out the door and toward the front of the vehicle.
Liora put Aiden's arm around her shoulder and helped him up.
"Come on, Aiden," Liora said. "We're already a day behind schedule, and from what Peridot said, the medicine will fix your bones by day three and Jax's by day five. For now, we need to get on the road."
Aiden chuckled.
"But wait," he said. "I can't drive while drunk. That's, like, a big rule."
From outside came the sound of grinding gears.
The vehicle lurched slightly before going into gear.
Aiden partially sobered up on the spot.
He saw Selene in the driver's seat, looking through the owner's manual as she read different sections and pressed buttons.
Aiden silently gulped in terror for the vehicle's transmission.