Kieran had not been polite at all.
While the Sacred Inheritor yammered on about whatever scandalous event she described, Kieran pulled her Chain with immense force. And without pausing, he grouped the Chains together and squeezed them tight.
Kieran's world all but erupted.
Because of their established link, the Sacred Inheritor was alarmed by the sudden and massive change in her feelings. The abrupt, unexpected influx of foreign emotions and locations made the Sacred Inheritor's mind drone and left her feeling disoriented.
Like a dead body stricken with rigor mortis, she froze in her current position.
Unlike their previous attempts, Kieran had done something somewhat irresponsible, but he was none the wiser. This was all uncharted territory for them.
There was also the added fact that Kieran felt impatient, slightly envious, and a smidge vindictive. The Sacred Inheritor's "transformation" should have been similar to his change into a Condemned Fiend, but it was several times milder.
'Call it… justice. Ah, how fitting. It happens to align with what I learned during this time.'
Kieran glanced at the Furthered Scales of Balance with a content smile, then returned to the pressing matter. What he did was essentially akin to opening several tabs on a browser, slowing a computer's computing power to a crawl. He wasn't sure if she could handle it, but she would have to.
'Eh, if she's worth her weight, she won't break, right?'
Without realizing it… Kieran had begun sounding like the Flame again, talking about breaking things. And a wicked glint appeared in his eyes as he thought about the Sacred Inheritor's current condition.
That wicked gleam became more pronounced until a moaning complaint came through the connection. It sounded strange and left Kieran feeling… violated.
"It's… it's filling me up. Stop… it's too much. I can't take it."
Those were not words anyone expected to hear, definitely not Kieran, who derived enjoyment from the Sacred Inheritor's suffering. She somehow managed to turn her suffering into a carnal stimulant.
'In the name of all that is… something, I rebuke this. Burn these unholy thoughts from my mind.'
The Flame appeared in a puff of sinister smoke, looking at Kieran with a critical eye. Its hollow sockets seemed much larger when lingering so closely.
"Did you ask that I burn things? What needs burning? Point me in the direction so that I may ruin it with my fiery ire."
Kieran grimaced.
What started as an attempt to call upon the other Inheritors gradually became an event with a growing audience. For the time being, he ignored the Flame's questions, which it continued to repeat while hovering near different areas of Kieran's Realm.
Eventually, the Sacred Inheritor's stress levels normalized, and she regained her uncouth demeanor, which had admittedly never left, given her response to the massive surge of foreign feelings.
"I feel so… full. I can feel a lot of things."
The Sacred Inheritor sounded fascinated by this discovery but also disturbingly satisfied. No matter how Kieran looked at it… this woman was bawdy and ribald, which he found a tad unusual for a woman. Those were traits generally found in the men he surrounded himself with.
The women were more demure or taciturn like Alice had been. Of course, there was the exception — Agatha, who teased him whenever the chance arose.
Yet he didn't mind her teasing. Perhaps it had something to do with how easy on the eyes she was… or maybe it was the fact she tended to instruct him following a good teasing. Her approach was often verily digestible.
"Would you mind being a bit more… descriptive with what you mean?"
The second those words escaped his mind, Kieran came to regret them, giving a preemptive and warranted grimace.
"I feel so full, like I'm bursting at the seams and about to overflow. I've never felt so full before… even after a night where I was sent to the moon and left dreaming."
'This risqué bitch… holy fuck! Get a grip!'
Kieran exhaled but ultimately listened to the Sacred Inheritor describe the sensation. If she focused enough, she could depict the other Inheritors and their surrounding with the same attention to detail she spared him.
It was a convenient ability, but as he expected, the Sacred Inheritor said nothing about the limits, nor did she give away any information that would suggest a weakness in her ability.
Though she was crude, she was also incredibly shrewd.
There was, however, a silver lining in her explanation that not even the Sacred Inheritor realized she gave away. To truly understand what she was saying, she would need to know more about the elements of a Master and what an Awakening entailed.
While she wasn't clueless, her knowledge of the step after the Advancing was pitiful compared to Kieran.
'Ah, and I barely know anything. If I'm dumb, she's dumber…'
Based on the information he extracted, the transformation she experienced was an expansion of Mind and Spirit, with a primary focus on tempering the Spirit. In contrast, Kieran's transformation sapped his Mind and greatly refined his Body.
His Spirit remained somewhat untouched, which left Kieran feeling the True Berserker — more correctly, Blood Fiend — was designed to be a purely physical Class.
That thought, however, begged a severe question: how did Scar Awaken if the Class was primarily attuned to the physical? Was he one of those Masters that attained a Partial Awakening?
'Surely not… right?'
Kieran felt his conjectures were wrong.
Scar's relationship with the Wykins, namely their Heiress, was solid, unlike the rest of humanity. Furthermore, Kieran felt the Myth enjoyed luxuries the public had no access to.
If Kieran's life was at stake, and he had to bet it all on choosing someone that Awakened via the Ancient Path, it would be one of the Myths. It was a hunch, but Kieran had learned to trust his instinct.
When it came to instincts, he was more beast than man.
"…So, what am I supposed to do? I have become the fulcrum of the connection, and I believe I can influence you if I try harder. But like… what do I do?"
Kieran glanced at the Anchor, remembering that it had unspoken limitations. Choosing his words carefully, he answered.
"First, I need you to enhance the effect of my pull, which I'm sure you're capable of. Otherwise, you wouldn't have reacted so strongly. Then, I want you to tell them to follow that pull. And… also, you too. Come to the mountains in the Land of Ruin's northeastern regions. I believe the end of the Trial lay there."
"Okay. So, tell them to get their asses over to a spooky mountain. And then I need to haul ass there as well. And… then we'll probably face a big bad guy and save the day?"
Kieran more or less agreed.
"Basically."
The Sacred Inheritor went through the motions of enhancing Kieran's call, and she carried the final message, but according to her, everyone received it differently. Fortunately, even the obdurate giant acquiesced and prepared for a journey to this purported mountain.
They had likely grown tired of being stuck in this strange place. And for that reason, their goals aligned.
Kieran, of course, left out a critical piece of information — the fact the mountain would attack their minds.
'Well, you know… you live, and you learn. Experience is another excellent teacher. So, let them experience.'
