Chapter 5 – Patronage (2)

Letting out a long sigh, Rain dismisses the Glorious Pebble into a cloud of mist and tries to shake off his anger and disappointment. After all, he still has two more Relics to obtain...so what if the first one turned out to be a dud. Rain slides along the floor to sit in front of the far left chest, takes a deep breath, and throws its lid open. 

The Echo once again whispers to him as the runes on the wall change themselves. 

[You have acquired a Relic...]

Item:  [Ideal Protector]

Prestige:  Paragon

Type:  Armor

Effects:  [Compensation]

Rain's eyes once more glide over the item summary, and a wide smile appears on his face. The Relic is Paragon-rank Armor...that's going to be absolutely invaluable in the Labyrinth.

Much like Relics, Marked and Fel themselves also have Prestige rankings. For Marked, it's the same system as Relics and Bloodline. After you pass your Trial, you become a Champion, and as Marked grow even stronger they can raise their Prestige further to Paragon, Demigod, Titan, Daemon, and God. For Fel, there is a similar but distinct system called Tyranny. From weakest to strongest, its ranks are Fallen, Harbinger, Curse, Dark Titan, Dark Daemon, and Dark God. 

The gaps in power and ability between these ranks is considerable, to the point that fighting something of a higher Prestige or Tyranny is almost futile. The gulf is so wide, in fact, that even someone with a strong, Daemon Bloodline but Paragon Prestige would be hard-pressed to defeat someone with the weakest Paragon Bloodline but Demigod Prestige. There's just too much of a qualitative leap in abilities and durability between Prestige levels – base attacks from a Paragon are not potent enough to harm a Demigod or Curse. 

One exception to this can be Relics, which have their own Prestige that scales similarly to Marked and Fel. So, while a Paragon might not be able to harm a Curse, a Paragon with a Demigod weapon could. Similarly, something of Paragon Prestige or Harbinger Tyranny would be unable to pierce an armor Relic with Demigod Prestige, regardless of the armor wielder's Prestige. That said, it's possible for certain abilities or effects to augment the effective Prestige of something and overturn this rule of thumb. 

Still, this is why Rain is so excited about finding Paragon armor. Even the lowest ranking Fel in the Labyrinth, Fallen, can shred normal human flesh with ease. However, they'd barely be able to scratch this armor, and they can't use Relics to compensate. Even a Harbinger would need to strike a few blows to the armor Relic to get through it. Anything stronger than that has no business being in the Labyrinth. 

Giggling excitedly to himself, Rain looks back at the item summary on the wall, and activates the item description. Then, his glee evaporates in an instant. 

Ideal Protector

A Paragon of Death once boasted that his skill with a sword was so enviable that the only strikes that landed on him were the ones he allowed. Amused by the claim, Death granted him a divine gift that could shape itself into any piece of armor at will, but only one at a time. "There," Death said, "your ideal protection. May you live by your craft and court me all of your days."

Rain blinks several times, staring at the absurd description. 

'Oh you've got to be shitting me...'

He quickly tries to summon the Ideal Protector, and the familiar dark mist begins to swirl around his body. When it solidifies, however, there is only a jet black chest armor, resembling the fit and coverage of a vest – the rest of his body remains unprotected. Fighting a growing sense of dread, Rain tries summoning armor across his legs. Almost instantly, black mist flows to his right leg and encases it in a segmented jet black armor. However, the chest armor from before is gone, and his left leg remains unprotected. Realizing the implications of the item description, Rain can't help but groan loudly. 

"Motherfucker!" 

Rain fights back the urge to scream more unsavory words at his patron deity, and instead spends several minutes trying to summon the armor to different parts of his body. As far as he can tell, Ideal Protector can cover his torso, an arm or leg, or his head, but only one of those six areas can be protected by armor at once. However, swapping the armor between areas is almost instantaneous. Confident in the limitations of the Relic, he summons the armor back to his torso and lets out an exasperated sigh. 

'Whoever you are, you're the worst of the deities.' 

At this point, Rain's not so sure that Fate is his patron...these Relics just don't seem to fit the reputation of Fate. 

'Since Ideal Protector was made by Death, and given to me as patronage, does that mean Death is my patron? That'd be...appropriate...maybe Death wants me to die miserably in the Labyrinth.' 

Intrusive thoughts aside, he's not sure...or maybe he doesn't want to be sure. Given its association with the Fel, Death doesn't have the best reputation among the Marked or society at large. He's also never heard of any famous marked with a Death Lineage, so they must not be very strong.

Deciding that it's time to move on, he moves toward a third chest. However, before he opens it he remembers that the item summary for Ideal Protector listed an effect called "Compensation", which was flashing like the item name. Moving back to the wall of runes, he pulls up the description. 

Compensation

In exchange for limited coverage, summoned armor pieces are lightweight and possess the durability of armor one Prestige level higher.

A considerable fraction, but not all, of the hate Rain was accumulating for his patron deity dissipates upon reading the effect description. Being gifted a Paragon Relic is lucky enough, but if the Ideal Protector is really as durable as Demigod armor...it's almost enough to make up for its misleading classification as actual armor. Almost. 

Satisfied that this Relic won't be completely useless, Rain leans down and arbitrarily opens a third chest. Immediately, the remaining two chests dissolve into mist as the Echo acknowledges his final Relic, and the wall's runes reconfigure themselves once again. 

'Damn...and here I was hoping I might get lucky and just open the other two in quick succession.'

Shrugging off any disappointment from his unrealized greed, Rain turns his attention to the new item summary on the wall. 

Item:  [Fate Shard]

Prestige:  God

Type:  Weapon

Effects:  [Vital Wager]

When his eyes scan over the Prestige of the Relic, they freeze as his whole body goes rigid, not even daring to breath. 

'N-...no fucking way...this is a God Relic. That shouldn't be possible...'

God Relics are so rare that even a non-citizen like Rain knows when they're discovered – only three have been found since the first Marked emerged decades ago, and never in the Labyrinth. The last one was several years ago, and the world was in an absolute buzz over it. Even the three major Marked clans fought over the right to add it to their Relic collections. Finding this will be nothing short of life-changing for Rain. 

However, before he can get drunk on the nigh-euphoric power of wielding a God weapon, reality washes over him like ice-cold water. The memory of his rude awakening about the other two Relics is fresh on his mind. Taking a shaky breath, Rain gingerly activates the item description. 

Fate Shard

This dagger was forged from the Ego of a slain god by an unknown master. Its strike is absolute, ignoring all defenses and Prestige to pierce flesh. However, its cut can only place the target in the hands of Fate, where they are equally likely to die or be healed.

Not wanting to celebrate prematurely, he reads and re-reads the God Relic's item description repeatedly. Eventually, he's satisfied in his interpretation. The Relic is a dagger that no armor can stop, and if it pierces a target's flesh, they have a fifty-fifty shot of dying instantly or being healed. As for the other part about a god's Ego, Rain's only vaguely familiar with the term, though it doesn't seem relevant to the Relic's function. 

An Ego is more or less the vessel of a powerful being's soul, at least according to what humanity has learned in the past few decades. After Marked become Champions and acquire godly abilities, called Talents, they use something called Ichor to power those Talents. They also form an Ego to contain and channel that Ichor. The greater one's Ego is, the more Ichor they can possess, and the more powerful of Talents they can employ. Ichor can also be used directly for physical augmentation. 

Fel have Egos as well, and they become physical objects after they're slain. An Ego can be removed from the corpse of a Fel and absorbed by a Marked to become stronger, but it only helps if the Fel has Tyranny comparable to or greater than the Marked's Prestige. That's the limit of what Rain knows about them. 

That said...if this weapon was forged from a dead god's Ego, which one died to make it? The people of Earth have long learned that all the gods associated with the Echo are dead now...everything supernatural happening on Earth is just a remnant of their influence. The Fate Shard's description raises an interesting question, though – are all God Relics made from dead gods? That would certainly explain why there are so few...there are only seven known gods to make them from. 

'As for the dagger itself, though...even if it only kills something half the time, can't you just stab them a few times until they die? God Relic or not, that seems suspiciously overpowered. Maybe there's a tradeoff, like you can only stab an enemy once, or the dagger breaks after its first kill.'

Rain knows that, while sturdy, Relics can definitely be destroyed. If they take too much damage while summoned, for example. If they're dismissed before breaking, they can restore themselves over time, but maybe the dagger is different. It could be a one-off weapon. At the very least, he'd be surprised if there was zero trade off. 

'Didn't it have an effect, too?'

Remembering the other flashing attribute from the item summary, Rain quickly moves to access the effect description, Vital Wager. As new runes appear on the wall, his expression darkens considerably. 

"Figures..."

Vital Wager

To place another into the hand of Fate, one must be weighed equally in Fate's spare hand. Should the target die by the dagger's strike, the wielder will be healed afterward. Conversely, should Fate spare the target, the wielder will die instead, before the target is healed.

Rain grits his teeth as he mulls over the effect of the Relic. The God weapon offers an incredible opportunity to level the playing field against a more powerful enemy, but it does so in the truest sense. If he turns it on a foe, one of them will definitely die, and it's just as likely to be him. 

'Yeah, I'll pass on those odds, thank you.'

Rain can't help but feel a dark sort of satisfaction over having his suspicions about the seemingly overpowered Relic realized. He's starting to sense a theme with his patron deity – nothing comes without a cost. This Relic also makes him even more confused about who that deity might be. How did he get both a Relic that was created by Death, and one that seems so intimately related to Fate? 

With such questions swirling in his mind, Rain summons the Relic into his hand to observe it closer. As soon as the mist solidifies into a dagger, an oppressive, suffocating aura floods the room around Rain. It's as though the very fabric of existence has become frail...temporary.

Swallowing nervously and forcing himself to look closer at the dagger, he notes that its design is rather simple. The handle seems as if it's made of sinister, white bone, and blends seamlessly into a glassy, textured black blade that reminds him of obsidian. Entranced by the eerie reflection of the blade, he moves his fingers to rub along its surface.

In doing so, another thought occurs to him that makes his face pale. He slowly moves the dagger away from himself, and dismisses it. Only after it has been entirely gone for several seconds does he allow himself a deep breath. 

'If all that thing needs to do is pierce flesh to guarantee the death of the target or the owner, then isn't accidentally cutting myself with it a sure death sentence?' 

Rain shudders at the thought of how casually he was handling the fearsome weapon. Standing up, as if trying to outrun the specter of death on his shoulder, he lets out a nervous sigh and glances around the room once more. 

"Well, it sucks that I don't have a real weapon, but I don't see any point in putting this off any longer...my situation won't get better on its own." 

It's time for him to finally venture into the Labyrinth.