Chapter 188: Gathering Storm

“I have to admit, these disguises came out better than I expected,” Celeste said as she flared out her wings and inspected her feathers.“Do you think they’re good enough to trick a hellhound? We’re hoping the demons themselves will be too drunk to notice since no angel has ever tried this before, but what about their summoned creatures?” Harvey asked.

“We should be fine with these aura masks,” Cash replied.

“We just can’t use any of our skills. They’ll see right through them the moment either of us starts channeling any essence,” Celeste added.

“Speaking of skills, I wanted to talk to you guys before I head over to the Loom,” Tyler interjected.

“You hit Level 35 already?” Steve asked, unable to hide the hint of jealousy beneath his surprise.

“37,” Tyler corrected, looking pleased with himself.

“I really should’ve evolved,” Steve grumbled.

“Too late to go back now. If we manage to pull this off, you’ll have plenty of time to waste in angel school getting those last few Profession levels,” Harvey consoled.

Cash and Celeste both seemed annoyed at their faithful integration program being called a waste of time, but neither spoke up after seeing how little it had done for their own war efforts. In the grand scheme of things, both angels were still incredibly young. Heaven had led integration campaigns for millennia, but every angel here was actually participating in one for the first time. It was easy to assume your grand plans were infallible when you were safe on your home planet, but it was hard to deny when those plans started cracking under the weight of competing ideals.

“I think we should talk about your new Imprint before you decide on any skills,” Harvey said.

“Good idea,” Cash added. “We didn’t want to bother you while you recovered, but now that you’re up and about, we should go over some things. Getting enough levels and legacy aspects at once to knock yourself out is almost unheard of.”

“I did it too,” Harvey interjected.

“Of course you did,” Celeste sighed.

“How are you feeling?” Cash asked.

“Not great,” Tyler replied. “Everything hurts, but I can tell I’m improving. I keep feeling these tingling sensations like damaged nerves are stitching themselves back together.”

“Just your body? Or are you feeling it in your weave too?” Cash asked.

“Both, I guess? Probably my weave more than anything.”

“That makes sense, my healing skills are much better at repairing physical wounds than spiritual ones,” Cash noted.

“You don’t have access to the Weave screen, though, right?” Harvey asked.

“I don’t even know what that is,” Tyler replied.

Celeste turned to Harvey with a disgusted look on her face. “How do you know what that is?”

“What can I say? I’m a daredevil,” Harvey replied nonchalantly. “Try pulling it up. It’s just like your Status screen.”

Tyler’s eyes glazed over as he stared into space, searching through screens the rest couldn’t see. “Nope. Can’t find it.”

“That’s good. Normally, you can’t access the Weave screen until you’ve anointed it enough to ascend your Weave to E-Grade, but you can see it early if you’re stupid enough to shatter it,” Cash replied.

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault!” Harvey complained.

“Something tells me it was,” Celeste scoffed. “The important thing is you haven’t crippled yourself. You should be close to normal by the time we make our move on the lieutenant.”

“Awesome. Since we know I’m not screwed, can we get back to my Imprint? I’ve got my first F-Grade skill waiting for me,” Tyler urged.

“Sorry,” Harvey replied. “Show us what you got!”

A screen appeared in front of them, showing that the tattoo of silvery-red lightning bolts had added strands of light blue dancing erratically down the heart of the bolts. It reminded him of the Fulgur Phoenixes, making Harvey wonder if they had somehow managed to influence his brother’s legacy. He didn’t think watching a fight was enough to fundamentally change someone to the point it affected their legacy, but what did he know?



Imprint | Gathering Storm:

A champion doesn't swing at every pitch. He studies his opponent, waiting for the perfect moment before knocking it out of the park. Having built your legacy battling foes far stronger than yourself, you have learned that victory belongs not to the first strike, but to the decisive one. Like a gathering storm, every action builds your potential until the moment comes to unleash it with the speed and inevitability of a lightning strike.



“This changed a lot compared to Unstoppable Force,” Harvey remarked.

“It did,” Cash mused. “I’d expect that if this were a Mark you’d gained months ago, but you barely got it a few days ago. The fact you evolved it at all is almost concerning.”

Tyler wrung his hands nervously, collapsing into the couch where Steve and Harvey came to sit beside him. Cash and Celeste each sat in one of the plush armchairs that didn’t quite fit their wings before looking at him with concern.

"I don't think I understood how weak I was until today. Seeing something as powerful as War up close showed me I can’t keep charging into every fight.” Tyler looked back and forth between the others, the face of a boy begging his father to let him fight replaced by somber responsibility. “Until today, I always knew one of you could pull me out if things got out of hand. You all seemed invincible to me. I thought if I kept fighting, eventually I’d be invincible too. But then I watched War almost kill both of you, and I panicked.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The more he spoke, the more Harvey wondered how Tyler had come out the other side with an Imprint instead of a Stain.

“You didn’t look panicked to me,” Steve said. “You fought those Helltaurs harder than anyone.”

“Instinct, I guess,” Tyler said. “It wasn’t until I saw those Phoenixes kill Famine in one fell swoop that I realized I don't need to be invincible. They aren't. They just make every strike count.

Cash looked amazed, "You turned one realization into a hybrid Personality and Resonance Imprint? That's... absurd."

“That actually gives me a great idea for your skill,” Harvey interjected, his mind working overtime as a sea of random dots started connecting in his head. “Your skillset so far is pretty essence efficient, right? My friend Hannah’s was the same, other than one skill that let her dump all the momentum she’d built into one explosive attack.”

“Like what?” Tyler asked.

“It’s literally an arrow that explodes,” Harvey explained, his eyes lighting up as he remembered the jaw-dropping power she’d levied even back in G-Grade. “Anyways, right now you’re building up all this momentum with Relentless Assault that boosts your stats, right? What if you could pour all that momentum into one massive attack?”

“A lightning strike,” Cash added. “So it synergizes with your new Resonance Imprint.”

“Isn’t that the same as the holy burst from Fast Break?” Tyler asked.

“Don’t limit yourself to what was possible back on Earth,” Celeste rebuked. “It’s normal for newly integrated Ascendants to stick to what was physically possible before, but there’s nothing stopping you from shooting lightning like the Fulgur Phoenixes as long as you have the experience and knowledge to build a cohesive system with the Loom. They charge their power from the storm clouds and the friction of their feathers. You charge yours with the momentum of your attacks.”

“Really?” Tyler asked.

“Really,” Harvey encouraged. “That’s something I’ve struggled with too, breaking away from Earthly conventions. It’s taken a lot of effort to break my old habits from working at an engineering firm, but now I can animate my gun and let it shoot on its own.”

[Is that what’s happening?] Julius chuckled.

Tyler mulled it over for a minute before leaping to his feet. “Alright! Let’s go make my lightning powers!”

“Wait! You guys aren’t leaving yet, are you?” Cassandra asked. “I was hoping we could eat dinner together before you go.”

“We’ll be back,” Harvey said as he followed his brother towards the door. “Just a quick pit-stop over at the church.”

Steve gave Cassandra a peck on the cheek before following his sons.

“We’ll be back before that timer goes off,” Cash said, pointing at the microwave. “Thank you again for all your hospitality, Mrs. Thorne.”

“Wait,” Celeste blurted, grabbing Cash’s arm. “Maybe we should stay.”

“What? Why?” Cash replied.

Instead of responding, she gave him a pointed look and flared out her wings, feathers as black as Lucifer himself.

“Oh, right,” Cash murmured.

Harvey thought it might be a good chance to test their disguises, but eventually agreed to carry on without them. The three men ran over to the church, finding it bustling with activity as neighbors whose homes had been destroyed were setting up camp inside various classrooms. Luckily, the angels were keeping the chapel clear, so they didn’t have any problem getting to the Loom.

“You ready?” Harvey asked, but got no response as his brother lunged for the crystal ball. “And… he’s gone.”

“You’re the one who told him he could shoot lightning bolts,” Steve chuckled.

Rainbow smoke enveloped Tyler, and he got to work picking out the perfect memories for his new skill. The first ingredient to join the mix was his Gathering Storm Imprint, setting the tone for the resonances and concepts he wanted the System to use. The second was the sight of Famine, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, dying to a single burst of concentrated Fulgur Phoenix lightning.

[I’d love to see him one-shot a monster like that.]

[Speaking of not happening anytime soon…] Julius wavered.

[So now you can read my thoughts too?]

[Me too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m content with being the voice inside your head, but it feels nice to get out and about every once in a while.]

Tyler continued testing various memories, trying to build upon the foundation set by his Imprint and the Fulgur Phoenixes. The first to make the cut was one Harvey hadn’t seen firsthand since he was too busy fighting his own Helltaur to watch Tyler and Steve deal with theirs. Harvey watched him defending their home, moving with speed and precision only possible after charging up his Reckless Assault skill over the long battle beforehand. Their dad was doing his best to intercept the minotaur’s attacks, but he eventually realized it was superfluous. Tyler darted back and forth with Fast Break, dodging swing after swing while hammering the burly creature with his baseball bat. Tiny explosions covered its flesh in burns and bruises until Tyler’s gathering Strength was enough to knock the minotaur off its feet. In that moment, a big finisher like the skill he wanted to create would’ve let him end the fight in one fell swoop, but all the Tyler in the vision could do was keep bashing the bull man’s head while Steve got to work with his conjured sword.

“He’s good,” Harvey nodded approvingly.

“You both are,” Steve smiled. “Just out of view is my other son blasting holes in a demon with his magic shotgun.”

“It’s not really magical. Not yet. I need to inscribe it once we get back home,” Harvey laughed. “You’ve done great too, Dad.”

“I could’ve done more if I’d evolved.”

“You made a choice,” Harvey encouraged. “A reasonable, well-thought-out choice. You’re right to hold onto the potential that having a Profession gives you. I did.”

The next memory to make the cut showed Tyler strapped to Sweetie the bull’s horn, batting away Mortarhorn bombs and turning their own weapons against them. Harvey didn’t see how exactly that was going to fit his new skill – other than breaking Earthly conventions and embracing true magic – but he trusted the Loom’s judgement. Without it weighing in on potential skills through the glow it surrounded them with, he doubted many of Earth’s humans would ever end up with a cohesive skillset.

The final memory surprised him. Harvey watched himself and Celeste struggling to fend off War from Tyler’s perspective. It had been one of his toughest fights, but it looked even more desperate without knowing all the tricks Harvey had up his sleeve. He’d always known his little brother looked up to him, but in that moment, whatever facade Tyler had built up around Harvey must have shattered.

Harvey couldn’t feel Tyler’s emotions in that moment, but he knew his brother well enough to know that he’d wanted nothing more than to charge right in and help them. But he also knew that if he had, he’d probably be dead.

Next time, he’d make sure he had a skill so strong even War couldn’t ignore it.

With a nod, the Imprint and visions sank into the Loom. Blue, Silver, and White thread cascaded down, weaving into the shape of a six-winged phoenix with bolts of electricity arcing across its feathers. Unlike most of the sigils he’d seen that lazily floated towards their host, this one shot through the air like a bullet, hitting Tyler right in his chest. Harvey watched him grimace in pain, his fingers death-gripping the crystal ball as his exhausted weave remolded itself around his new skill. Eventually, the light subsided, and the smoke receded, exposing him to the outside world.

“You ok?” Steve asked when he saw his son's pained expression.

“I’ll be fine, just give me a minute,” Tyler croaked as a screen appeared for them to read.



Fulmination | F-Grade | Rare:

Lightning has devastated and astounded humanity for millennia, but for all its wondrous power, it is not one reserved only for the gods. Every bolt is the explosive fulmination of a gathering storm—a detonation of all that came before it in a single cataclysmic burst. Combine the Momentum accumulated through Relentless Assault with your essence to unleash a powerful lightning strike capable of traveling great distances. All momentum must be consumed by each use, and the power contained within the bolt scales with your Momentum, Strength, and Willpower.