Akmor’s body sloughed to the ground. Tony stood in his remains, a blackened brackish puddle of filth and metal. Any thoughts of scavenging armor from the slain Dread Knight quickly vanished from his mind as the viscera bubbled under his feet.
When he stepped out of it, Tony was greeted by a pop-up.
Your Summon Dreadblade talent has been restored. You have Dreadblade upgrades and modifications to review.
Legion
Level 5* Dreadblade (Enhanced, Enchanted)
Form: Bastard Sword - Heritage: Italian (Roman) - Tier: Uncommon
Bonuses: Derived - Phylactery: Advanced - Summon: Dynamic
Speed: 16 - Accuracy: 19 - Defense: 20 - Capacity: 28
Damage: 27 (48.6 2H) - Discharge: 32 - Range: 24
Enhancements - Honed Edge, Efficient Construction, Blade Balancing, Enhanced Physics
Enchantments - Intelligent, Elemental Burst (Fire), Spectral Anchoring, Bane (Divine), Defending, Elemental (Earth), Kinetic Momentum
Souls of Tolik, the Knave and Fetid Golem Experiment 12 have been processed. You have one Rare Enchantment to select and one Uncommon Enchantment to select.
Legion has absorbed the Soul of Akmor, the Black and will require (48 hours) to process.
[Slave Collar Restrictions] must be lifted before Dreadblade Modifications can be selected.
Tony was glad to see that his Summon Dreadblade talent came back right away, but much like his own pending level-ups, he wouldn’t be able to upgrade his weapon until he could remove the collar. All he needed to do was beat Rania and take the champion down and the collar was as good as gone… as long as Fatal Resolve came back right away…
Tony staggered as the ringside announcer, the garishly decorated Padinus, hoisted his arm into the air and shouted, “Victory to the Ascendant!”
The crowd exploded with cheer and applause that was swiftly silenced with the approach of both Serketzi and Pahadron. The two of them were a very mismatched pair. Serketzi was decorated in crimson hues and gold accents… more covered than usual as though she were preparing for battle. Pahadron was clad in white robes, accented with silver at the tips of their wings.
“You had me worried for a moment there, pet,” Serketzi cooed. Tony couldn’t tell if the concern in her voice was for show or not.
“How could you be concerned? This is Antonious King, strongest of the Ascendants… a clever and determined combatant. He wouldn’t lose to someone as mundane as Akmor,” Pahadron complimented.
Tony didn’t like this, not one bit. The compliment made him wary… untrusting… praise was not something he was used to.
“Akmor said you wanted to talk. So talk,” he spat at the seraph.
“As you wish,” Pahadron started, “Ignacious, King of the Gods, the Most High, wishes for your destruction, but I think you could be of use to the Cadre of Justice… and so I have come with an offer. Join us and you will be freed from this place. Refuse, and you will rot here for as long as we deem necessary for you to become inconsequential. Auren cannot deploy his fleet here without risking involvement in the conflict and he’s already fighting a war he can’t win. What I’m suggesting -“
“Enough!” Serketzi interrupted, her tails were raised and dripping with venom, “The Ascendant is my prisoner and I will not tolerate a guest bartering for his freedom without going through the proper channels. Any deal to be made for his release is to be done through me and me alone.”
A platoon of Padinus guards popped out of the sands of the arena like daisies and brandished their weapons at Pahadron, who remained eerily calm.
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“Oh Empress, you have little to do with this equation… at all. If the Ascendant wished it, he could have razed the entirety of your forces to the ground and I could do the same… much faster. Your little canes and whips are no concern of mine, they would not even reach my flesh, however, if I may direct your attention to the sky…” Pahadron said.
Tony hadn’t noticed that they had drawn their bow…
Arrows made of celestial light hung above every guard, every civilian, the announcer, and several hung above Serketzi, as though halted in their deadly arcs.
Tony gulped, despite the fact that none lingered over him.
“With a snap of my fingers, annihilation will decorate this arena. Harm me, a messenger from the gods, and my bolts will resume their paths in killing all of you.”
Serketzi’s tails lowered as did the weapons of her guards. Tony hadn’t seen the Empress backed into a corner so effectively… he couldn’t deny the satisfaction he felt in seeing the shoe on the other foot.
“I’m glad that you can see sense, Serketzi. Consider my offer, Antonious. I will return,” Pahadron said before all of the suspended arrows swirled together in a pillar of light that they vanished into.
“So - “ Tony started before Serketzi interrupted him… with her mouth against his. He froze.
Tony had a lot of feelings all at once, indignation, confusion, and… comfort. Part of him longed for the comfort of embrace after the weeks of fighting that he’d been subjected to, he did not understand Serketzi’s intimate reaction to the situation at all, and after all that she had taken from him, voluntary or otherwise, this display of intimacy was not something that he wanted… he thought…
Serketzi pulled back and looked Tony in the eyes. “He will not have you, you are mine.”
She turned on her heels, looked at the announcer, made a gesture, and sauntered out of the arena, seemingly unbothered. Tony was dragged back to the Fighter’s barracks, stupefied and numb until Jak hoisted him up onto his shoulders in front of a room of screaming brawlers.
What are they all so excited about? What did I do? He thought.
Jak set him down and ruffled his hair “Well done!” The large man shouted.
“What did I do?” Tony asked.
“You beat Akmor! The only other challenger for the championship… aside from yourself… and Rania…” Jak answered.
“Oh…” Tony answered.
“This is a big deal, An - Tony… Akmor… powerful as he was, only ever murdered his opponents and consumed them to manifest a more deadly and fearsome visage… you stood in his path and persevered. You should feel proud!”
Tony had a hard time feeling anything other than irritation, especially when the ‘Hamaskyr Withdrawals’ debuff reappeared under his status bars with a fresh three-day countdown.
“Yeah, yeah… real proud. I didn’t die and I’m still a prisoner. Go me,” Tony replied flatly, “I just want to go lay down. I’ll be in the infirmary.”
Tony pushed his way through the noisy crowd and into the hall that connected the barracks to the infirmary and slumped against the wall. He was tired… tired of fighting… tired of the odds stacking against him… tired of missing his dog… just tired. He jumped as his win fingers brushed against the metal of his collar.
He could roll the dice… see if he survived ripping the thing off. Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. Worst case he died and respawned in Serketzi’s chambers… would he respawn with it on, or would it be gone?
Tony pushed those thoughts away. He didn’t need them. He needed to rest and to shake the withdrawals that were addling his mind before he fought the champion. Rania, he was less concerned with.
A cold hand pressed into his shoulder and sent the feeling of tv static down his arm. When Tony looked up, he saw an indigo silhouette made of fragmented code looking down at him.
“Master…” it said.
“Legion?” Tony answered.
The entity nodded at him.
“We are glad that you saved us before we were all gone…” it said.
“Me too… as long as you don’t do that thing where you take over my body again… like back in the woods…” Tony said.
“We have no need to do so anymore, you have your own berserking talents now…” Legion answered.
“Oh…” Tony answered as his mind spun; thinking back that far made his head hurt.
”Master… we must leave this place…”
“I know Legion… I know. I’m working on it.”
Without another work, the silhouette vanished.
“Good talk buddy, glad you’re back,” Tony said to the empty air. He trudged the rest of the way to the infirmary, rounded the corner and flopped onto the first empty bed he found.