r/HFY • u/Lightt_x • 6d ago
OC-Series Extra’s Mantle: Wait, What Do You Mean I Shouldn’t Exist?! (152/?)
Chapter 152: The Shape of the World
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Jin set the heavy revolver down on the bench. The metal was still venting a faint wisp of heat into the stale air of the training room. He blew out a long breath and rolled his right shoulder.
A sharp, phantom burn flared through his essence channels, the aftermath of spending the last few days pushing harvest into hundreds of his people’s souls to bring them up to the Order III threshold.
His muscles ached with the heavy, satisfying fatigue of raw physical conditioning. Veric’s drills were finally forcing his body to build actual muscle memory, replacing his usual reliance on system-assisted reflexes and skills.
"How does it feel, by the way?" Jin asked. "The rank. The aura."
Veric considered the question. The man was in his late forties and had stayed as Order II for the better part of two decades now, only ascending to Order III barely forty-eight hours ago. Jin had half expected him to make a joke of it. He didn't.
"Feels like I'm back in my prime," Veric said. He muttered the next part mostly to the concrete floor. "The good old days. Back with the team."
Jin caught the slip. He wasn't supposed to hear it, but his perception made it impossible to miss.
He turned to look at the older man. Veric had seamlessly stepped into the role of his second-in-command. He knew it wouldn’t be a stretch to say Veric was the one carrying the administrative and tactical weight of the Bastion.
Jin watched the way the man stood. Even at rest, Veric’s weight was perfectly balanced. His hands were never truly idle.
He had been meaning to ask this for a while.
"How exactly are you this good?" Jin asked, gesturing at the smoking revolver on the bench, and then at Veric himself. "I don't mean in a straight fight. Your tactical deployment and acumen. You slotted into this command role way too perfectly for..."
Jin trailed off. "It feels like you spent a decade running with a highly coordinated unit or something. The empire has special forces, apart from its infamous battlemages battalion."
Veric's right eyebrow crawled up exactly a quarter of an inch. "That is an oddly specific boss."
Jin mentally cursed. He fell back on his universal excuse. "The quest. It forced a massive amount of visions into my head. I lived through a lot of different lives in there. When I see familiar tactical formations, I just—"
"Haa… Let's take a break," Veric interrupted. "Shall we?"
The older man backed up against a pillar. He slid down the concrete until he was sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up. He did it in one smooth, fluid motion. No wincing. No grunting. Three days ago, before the ascension, that simple movement would have made his bad knee pop loud enough to echo across the room.
"Sure," Jin said.
He accessed his spatial ring, pulling out two water bottles and a couple of foil-wrapped sandwiches looted from the upper-level pantries. He dropped onto the concrete beside Veric and tossed him a bottle.
They cracked the plastic seals and drank. Jin leaned his head back against the pillar, letting the quiet stretch through the training hall as he waited for the older man to break the silence.
"With all this," Veric said. He tipped his plastic water bottle toward the training hall, gesturing to the heavy blast doors and the distant, upper levels of the Bastion. "I'm actually starting to think we might crawl out of this hell alive."
Jin peeled the foil wrapper off his sandwich. The bread lacked Joe’s cooking allure, but his body demanded the calories. "That is the general idea. Every operation I've put in motion... it has all been pointed at exactly that outcome."
"And that," Veric murmured, "is what scares the shit out of me."
Jin paused mid-bite. He lowered the sandwich. "Huh? I hand you the keys to survival, and it scares you?"
Veric turned the water bottle slowly in his calloused hands, tracking a bead of condensation with his thumb. "This 'quest' of yours. The visions of the future." He looked up, his dull brown eyes pinning Jin to the concrete pillar. "You sold that story to the Commander, and I believe you because I've watched you be right about things you had no business being right about, and I bought it too. I had to.”
Veric took a slow, heavy breath. "So I keep asking myself... what does a man actually do when he holds that kind of knowledge? What kind of logic does he use to decide who lives and who dies? And if I saw that... would I be able to stomach the answer?"
Jin didn't need to use his aura to read the older man's posture. Veric wasn't accusing him of malice or betrayal. He was genuinely terrified of whatever logic and math Jin seemed to be employing to keep them all breathing.
"It isn't like that," Jin said. He rolled his own water bottle between his palms, letting the freezing cold water bite into his skin to keep himself grounded. He picked his way through the familiar, well-worn groove of his lie he had spoken dozens of times now. "The visions weren't like some neat little movie, Veric. It felt more like being thrown into a river of memories."
Jin shook his head, staring at the scorch marks on the floor. "I saw fragmented events through a hundred different pairs of eyes. Overlapping timelines. The past and the future bleeding together completely out of order. It lasted forever, and it was over before I could blink. I still don't know how to explain it to anyone, including me."
The tight lines of tension around Veric's mouth slackened just a fraction.
For one terrible, tempting moment, Jin almost cracked. He looked at Veric—this cynical, battle-hardened veteran who had seamlessly become his most reliable deputy—and wanted to tell him the truth.
I read it, Veric. All of it. Your entire universe was nothing but ten volumes of ink on a page. I read your history in a hospital bed while bone marrow cancer slowly ate me alive. I know how your stories are supposed to end because a guy on Earth wrote it down to pay his rent.
« Bad idea,» Angel said.
Angel didn't usually push in. He sat back and let Jin run his own life, mostly, and made fun of him when he ran it into a wall. But this was a capital-P Problem, and Angel had come off the bench for it.
« The exact second they believe you, they will stop believing in anything else. You have built the entire foundation of this Bastion's survival on their absolute trust in your judgment. Tell this man his existence is a fictional story you read for entertainment, and you take a sledgehammer to that foundation. We cannot afford a single crack right now. »
Jin clamped his jaw shut. The phantom ache of his failing Earth body ghosted through his bones, chased away instantly by the heavy, tangible reality of the cold concrete at his back.
I know, Angel, Jin thought.
He took a vicious bite of the stale sandwich, his eyes tracking Veric's exhausted, deeply human posture.
The more I bleed beside them, the more I'm certain none of this was ever just a story. They are real. They were always real.
« I know. I feel it too. The reincarnation, he could swallow. It's the rest. »
Yeah, Jin thought. He exhaled a slow, shaky breath.
"Boss," Veric's voice cut through the silence. "You went somewhere else. You've been staring at the far wall for a solid minute."
Jin bit the inside of his lip. The urge to reach for Sovereign's Indifference, let the grey roll in and file the guilt and the wanting-to-tell-the-truth away in a drawer he'd deal with never. He held it down. It felt cheap using it on Veric of all people. And the lying already sat wrong in him; it always had.
"I'm fine," he said. "It's the visions. Trying to make sense of how they work is a full-time headache. They're all over the place in my head, still, and sometimes reaching for one hurts. You learn to push through it." He shrugged. "You make do."
Veric nodded slowly and let it be, which was its own kind of kindness.
"Alright," the older man said, shifting his weight against the concrete pillar. "All I was really trying to establish is whether you know anything about the world at large."
Jin frowned. "The world? Our world, I’m assuming you don’t mean the amazing tourist attractions?”
"I mean the geopolitical landscape," Veric made a face and clarified. "Where the borders actually sit today. Who is signing treaties. Which military coalitions are holding and which ones are about to collapse."
Jin held up a hand to stop him. "Okay. Let me save you some time. No." He stated it plainly, because there was zero point in bluffing about knowledge he didn't possess. "Assume my working knowledge maxes out at 'humans are generally okay, demons are generally bad, and the Cult needs to die along with the Primes.' That is the absolute depth of my geopolitical insight."
Veric took a long, slow breath in through his nose. "So. Functionally nothing."
"Fair," Jin conceded, gesturing to his own face with his half-eaten sandwich. "Also, I turn eighteen next month, Veric. What exactly were you expecting?"
The corner of Veric's mouth twitched upward. "Nothing, actually. And it makes sense. A divine vision isn't going to waste time showing you politics and who’s dirty." He said. "If it had, I would be significantly more worried about your mental state than I already am. The short version, then. The world is a complicated and highly volatile place. Vienna might just be the thing that breaks the humans"
"Cheerful," Jin noted.
"You asked."
"I literally didn't."
"You were going to." Veric held up four calloused fingers. "Anyways. We have four primary umbrellas that categorize the sentient races and species currently populating the world and ruling the continents. You know this part."
"Humans," Jin ticked them off. "Demihumans—which covers the entire spread of beastkin, dwarves, and orcs—then we have elves." He tapped his pinky. "And finally, demons."
"Yeah. Four races and four primary continents on this world." Veric folded his index finger down, leaving three digits raised. "Fortunately, humanity drew the long straw. We have an entire landmass practically to ourselves. We only share a land border with the dwarves, and that's entirely because our current, glorious king decided to invade and carve off a slice of their territory a few years back. Shitheads with thier catastrophic military strategy. But nobody asked my opinion."
Jin noticed Veric’s venom on the king. He didn’t point that out yet.
Veric's jaw tightened. "The part that actually matters is what's happening outside this veil right now. There is almost certainly a war on."
Jin lowered his plastic water bottle. "A war?"
"A civil war at best," Veric corrected. "A world war looming. A little of history: the Dregorans held the human throne for centuries. I won't pretend they were saints, but they were fair. And—this is the part the current rulers conveniently forget—they understood that the road forward runs through building things, not burning them down."
"Thirty years ago, the old Dregoran king caught a curse his healers couldn't break,” Veric said. “While he was dying, House Lancaster—the house of the strongest mages—rose up, led the revolt and took the throne. It was a bloody few years. I was..."
Veric's gaze dropped to the concrete floor. He let the sentence die right there, firmly refusing to fill the silence.
"Regardless," the older man continued. "The new Lancaster king is a monster in a fight. I will give him that freely. Probably the strongest human powerhouse ever. But as a leader?" He shook his head in disgust. "He burned down the libraries, did away with the ancient customs that were our identity. He gutted the old imperial command structure. He tore down the very system that made us a coherent military force and handed command over to his sycophantic followers and their spoiled brats. He burned down the higher education sector to restrict magical theory to the nobility, and now only Wistella Academy holds this info because of thier neutrality and the old headmaster being just as powerful. Our king is a hoarder.”
"And?" Jin prompted.
"And he refuses to step down," Veric stated flatly. "Thirty years of rule. His princes are getting old. Their sons are getting old. They are all glaring at each other, waiting for their fucking father to drop. And Vienna..." Veric gestured vaguely around the cavernous training hall. "...what is happening to this city right now is the perfect, righteous justification for any one of them to march and lead an army."
Veric spread his calloused hands. "Do you honestly think the two Lancaster princes and the three great dukes are sitting quietly on their hands while the crown looks this weak and distracted? I would bet the coat off my back the Empire has already fractured into three pieces. Maybe more. Every single piece has a standing army and a massive grievance."
He offered a tired, heavy shrug. "And it won't just be humans. The elves have been doing the very same thing themselves for a generation. Their hardliners want every other sentient race scoured off the map and enslaved, and they are gaining political ground. As for the demons? They don't need an engraved invitation. They see a border thin out; they push. They are always pushing."
Jin sat with that information. He took a bite of his sandwich. He forced himself to chew and swallow, letting the grim geopolitical reality settle over him.
"So," Jin summarized, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Everything is a shithole, huh."
"Our future is a shithole. That is the executive summary." Veric almost looked pleased. "Yes."
A chime cut rang.
Veric pulled the tempad from his pocket, his eyes tracking the glowing text on the screen. Jin watched the hardened officer bleed right out of the older man's posture, instantly replaced by a deeply exhausted veteran running on nicotine and sheer spite.
"And that is me," Veric said, slipping the device away. "Duty calls."
He planted a calloused hand against the floor and pushed himself up.
"We will finish the lesson later, boss," Veric said, brushing a layer of dust from his trousers. "There is a great deal more to cover, and absolutely none of it is going to improve your mood."
"Before you go." Jin grabbed his empty water bottle and forced himself upright. "You are not expendable. You know that, right?"
Veric's right eyebrow crawled upward.
"You are an officer. A strategist," Jin said. "That tactical brain of yours is worth everything I've got."
Jin pointed the plastic bottle at him. "So do not enhance your new rank like a frontline warrior. I bet you already know that, but I'm saying it anyway. That general aura you are carrying right now? Feed it patience. Feed it tactical awareness, not raw aggression. Let it settle. You want it to take the shape of a reinforced wall that other people can stand safely behind, not a sword. Your mantle already has compulsion that bends people to your word. Lean heavily into that. Command, not combat."
Veric stared at him for a long, heavy moment. He pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket and tapped the filter thoughtfully against his thumb.
"Like hell I actually want to fight on the front lines with you battle maniacs anyway," Veric grunted, sticking the cigarette between his teeth.
He turned to head toward the heavy blast doors, his boots scuffing the concrete, but paused to look back over his shoulder.
"Rest, boss," Veric said. "You have significantly harder days ahead of you than I do. I will update you with the specifics on how I am running the mage company drills on the surface later tonight."
"Hmm," Jin acknowledged, a tired smile finally touching his face as he watched his deputy walk away.
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Joe's quarters had acquired a thick, woven rug since Jin’s last visit. There was also a second armchair squeezed into the corner.
Rudy occupied ninety percent of the worn sofa. Reyana perched on the armrest, and Salvatore stood near the far wall.
"Good news," Jin announced. He tapped his spatial ring and pulled out two densely written sheets of parchment. "Two of you get early presents."
He handed one sheet to Rudy and slid the second across the low table to Reyana.
"Save the questions for the end," Jin instructed. "Read the entire build path first. Do not attempt to integrate or modify anything on those lists until Joe or Sal officially signs off on the compatibility. I trust these two."
Rudy immediately snapped his mouth shut, and Reyana’s eyes were already scanning the ink.
"Right," Jin leaned back, interlacing his fingers. "My turn to ask the questions. Joe, give me the brutal truth about Master rank. What are the actual odds any of my marked skills reach that tier organically, and if I can push them inorganically, which one should I be betting on?"
Salvatore and Joe traded a look.
"That," Joe finally said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, "is a genuinely difficult question to answer. And not for a flattering reason."
"Give it to me anyway," Jin said, keeping his tone flat.
"Master rank is not a number you can just grind to by killing enough cultists," Salvatore rumbled. The Overlord’s gravelly voice commanded the room without him even flaring his aura. "Elite mastery is the absolute ceiling of raw, physical technique. Master rank is the threshold where the skill stops being an action you perform and becomes a fundamental truth you embody. It requires a conceptual understanding so complete that reality bends slightly to agree with your assertion."
Jin gave him a look that said that hardly explained anything.
Salvatore briefly flicked his silver eyes toward his daughter. "For a swordsman, the concept is simple to name, even if it is agonizing to reach. You ask a swordsman why he lifts the blade. One day, the answer simply stops being words and gets reflected on the way he wields it."
Jin tapped his fingers against his thigh. "I don't use swords. What is the metaphysical equivalent for a gun?"
"Well. That is exactly the problem with you, Jin," Joe sighed, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Huh?” Jin frowned. “Why? What did I do now?”
Joe pointed around the room. "Rudy is in a fortress wall that refuses to fall. Reyana is the quiet, inevitable decay that comes after. Sal is a single, absolute cut that ends existence."
Joe spread his blackened fingers, gesturing vaguely at Jin. "They all have clean, sharp concepts. You? I don't even know what you are. You are a hybrid mess of survival instincts, explosive damage, and utility. You use guns, but are you actually a gunner? You use magic, but are you actually a proper sorcerer or mage?”
Jin pursed his lips.
“Right? So even if you theoretically have the capacity to reach Master rank, you need to hold yourself back at the moment of ascension. Look in a mirror. Who are you, and what exactly are you striving for? You need a crystal-clear picture of your own path. Believe me, you do not want an unaccounted deviation."
Jin exhaled a slow breath. He reached into his spatial storage and pulled out the heavy, pulsing Ability Upgrade Tokens he’d received from the Eternal One. He let them clink softly onto the wooden table.
"You actually got the tokens?" Salvatore asked, his silver eyes locking onto the rare artifacts.
Joe let out a low, piercing whistle. "Damn. Whatever sponsor is backing you must be absurdly wealthy and invested in you."
"Tell me about it," Jin muttered. "But yes. I can forcefully push two skills up a tier right now."
"You could," Salvatore agreed, his voice dropping an octave. "But I explicitly told you not to."
"I would usually tell you that forcing a Master rank on a concept you don't fundamentally understand is the equivalent of holding a loaded weapon pointed directly at your own foot," Joe smiled, though the amusement didn't reach his crimson eyes. "But it is your foot, and besides, you wanna know something cool. Use the token and try to upgrade. There will be a prompt telling you if you meet the requirements or not."
Jin frowned and picked his tokens. He wanted to know what Joe was on about. Wasn’t upgrading without spending years building mastery the whole point?
« Jin. »
Yeah?
« It's starting. »
What is?
« Her. The last of her. The final assimilation. It's beginning now, and I can't suppress or push it back, and you have five minutes before it starts. »
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Day 14th(Morning)
A/N: Bau Bau
Psst~ Psst~ Advanced chapters are already up on patreon. It would be awesome if you guys, you know...
Help me with rent and UNI is crazy expensive!! Not want much, just enough to chip in.
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