Conquering Resentment

Immense disgust overcame him. As if he were drowning in dark muddy sludge, Uteu's vision obscured, he could not breathe and trying to move was difficult. Darkness writhed and crawled inside of him tainting him from the inside out.

Everything within him screamed to remove this vile thing. To get out of it as fast as he could.

It was all too much.

It overwhelmed him.

He didn't have enough within him to accept so much resentment, so much hate.

Everything began to hurt, he had clearly overestimated himself and now was suffering the backlash.

Uti dug her hands into his shoulders and was crying, saying something to him, but he could not hear her. He could barely keep his hold over her, feeling her slip from him.

Within his minds eye he could feel the star begin to shake violently, attempting to free itself from the three chains pinning it down. The golden outer layer broke off piece by piece as the star warped and twisted from its original shape.

Black sludge poured and dripped from the star as it warped itself. The sludge stuck to his three chains, climbing them and quickly rusting them and turning them a muddy brown color.

He could feel his connections weakening rapidly. The comfort and confidence he felt knowing that they were there, faded. His heart felt as if it were about to burst as all kinds of emotions could no longer be contained.

"No..." He couldn't help but say out loud.

"No I won't let you, don't you dare!"

More than the pain, the thing he felt most was fury. He refused to let this devour his connections to his Links.

Grello who was there for him, helping him despite not being required to. Who was still helping him even this far apart. There was still so much he wanted to learn from him.

Harvet who had her ups and downs but in the end chose to help him in full. She deserved to have a second chance, to be with her brother again and live another life. He regretted not letting her become his permanent Link in the first place.

Judith, while his chain was already snapped with her wasn't it because of the resentment in the first place? That hollow feeling he felt from it left a great discomfort.

And Uti... his precious little sister, the one he had protected for so long and who had sacrificed her own happiness to protect him in turn.

With the fury came a rush of energy deep within himself. If he didn't have enough within himself to accept all of this darkness then he simply just needed something more.

Snapping his eyes open he glared at the mass of black crystals crawling up his arms. Bits of gold dust was mixed into the ones already on him, slowing down the growth.

Uti was sobbing and clinging to his legs, having slipped from his slack hold. She looked to be in pain as she cried. She was at her limit just slowing down the mass of crystals from fully overwhelming him.

He wouldn't let such a thing beat him, not here, not ever. There were people that needed him and there were people he needed. It couldn't just end like this.

All around him small beads of light rose up. Now filled with energy, Uteu didn't hesitate to use this vision of his.

Numerous firefly-like lights fluttered around him, resonating with him. These were all the people right outside of the crystal tower he was trapped in, people from both the Guild and the Association.

With a blink of his eye he filtered them to reveal the ones who's skills he could utilize to help him.

The people from the Guild he would use without a care. They were all sick for letting things get so out of control, they didn't care for the lives of other people in the least. So why should he care for their's?

The people from the Association he didn't know them but they didn't seem all bad. He would give them a chance for now.

Immediately, two pulses of energy lifted off his shoulders and darted to these lights. One pulse gave off a dark grey color while the other gave off a shining copper color.

Several dozens of dull grey chains, ones that signified a temporary connection, all formed within him and he held out a hand to send them all to control the star.

With every new chain that trapped it, the star moved less and less until it came to a complete stop. The sludge was forced back into the star, and a bright glow of several colors surrounded the star, creating a barrier around it.

With the star now under full control there was only one last thing for him to do.

Putting a hand around the star frame, Uteu tightened his hold over it.

The black star trembled as he forced it to take upon a new shape. Now empowered by countless Links, he could take on this vile one without losing his mind.

The black dots making up the star shuffled into place. As Uteu traced along the star, they fell in line to form a chain. Every part that turned into a proper bead chain no longer needed the other grey chains to hold it down, they all properly removed themselves and set themselves aside for follow orders from Uteu.

The black bead chain coiled obediently under his hand and stayed put in a dark corner of his mindscape.

The last three chains that remained where they were, were the slightly rusted gold, silver and first dull grey chain. He patted them to convey his apologies for putting them through all of this with him.

He concentrated as he pat the silver chain. Now with the resentment properly under his control, he could tap into his first Link's abilities. Not stopping there, he also tapped into several other abilities of his other Links.

Using the healing effect with magic manipulation, enhancment and amplification, he healed the chains until they shined like they should.

He filed this combination of spells away for any future need.

Now then...

Uteu opened his eyes to stare into Harkal's furious pink eyes. Now that Uteu had conquered the resentment, Harkal was freed from their torment.

He would have to deal with this man before he could leave this space.