The ground exploded beneath him as he moved, propelled by his wrath-infused strength and reinforced by his flesh of iron each step covered dozens of feet. The first lord aspect attacked but Kal shattered its closing fangs with the back of his hand while he slashed deep into the monster's mouth and jaw almost hacking it completely free as cracks spread from the wound before leaping away to the next target.
The second stupid demon did as these ones always seemed to try at first and tried to snap him up by the torso. This one was far weaker than its creator so Kal didn’t bother blocking its attempt, seeing their apparent weakness to blunt force he simply hammered both of his fists down on top of its skull with all his might as its fangs failed to penetrate his flesh.
Iron met stone and the stone failed as teeth and scales shattered under his blow sending the demon to the ground. Limp but alive. The most useful state as his wrath continued to climb. Kal had hoped to enrage the aspects by maiming them but apparently they either didn’t care about the pain or they simply didn’t feel it.
The first had recovered enough to attack again and the Bestial Lord had begun to prepare for another invisible lance so Kal jumped away from the downed monster and lept between the remaining spire as the lance was fired. It was annoying since it gave time for the aspects to fully recover but Kal wasn’t going to let it keep firing like this.
Mid leap between spires Kal spun and through the sword in his left hand with a crack. The Bestial Lord, still firing its heat attack had expected the attack, and the first aspect wasn’t in a position to defend it as it followed after him over the spires.
The sword struck true and pierced the Bestial Lord’s throat to the hilt causing the demon’s attack to abruptly end as it choked on its own black blood for a moment before starting to claw at its own throat attempting to remove the sword.
Kal landed on the next spire and leaped back the way he came towards the first aspect. It almost seemed distracted as he easily managed to pierce its eye with Exterminator’s Regards and bring his fist down on its skull this time causing it to shatter as they fell down to land beside the second.
You have slain [Lesser Lord Aspect | Conjured Entity 80] bonus experience awarded due to slaying a higher-level entity.
Level up!
[Entities Marked: Bestial Lord, Enraged | Lesser Lord Aspect, Hostile]
Health:
2013/3030
Stamina:
2076/6440
Wrath:
24
Slightly annoyed at the death of the monster Kal was forced to drop Wrath Incarnate as his wrath plummeted even faster the moment his wrath generation dropped. It was interesting but annoying that he had gained experience and not wrath from killing the thing.
He could not help but be impressed by the Flesh of Iron as he turned away from the second aspect, still trying to pull its skull back together.
These things were strong, but not strong enough. With his body so resilient the damage was almost laughable. Its stamina use was pretty expensive but nowhere near the cost of Wrath Incarnate.
“Apparently I should have gotten an endurance scaling ability sooner…” Kal wondered as he moved towards the Bestial Lord while it still tried to dislodge the sword. There would be no more invisible death coming from it any longer.
The Bestial Lord glared at him with obvious hatred with its fiery eyes, the popped one having apparently regenerated during his fight with the aspects. Even now Kal could see that though the sword was still in place the wound had completely stopped bleeding and almost looked fused in place.
Kal summoned another sword from his amulet and moved for the demon’s throat. He was back to using Wrath Incarnate in bursts and annoyingly he had to admit his apathetic self while using Slayer’s Apathy was far better at using his skills quickly.
Without his attribute amplification, he was significantly weaker than the Bestial Lord but he was still far more agile and resilient so he allowed himself to be hit if it meant driving his sword home. It first spun to try and burn him with its tail strike but Kal ducked and hacked down with his sword as it passed cutting deeply but not quite severing the dangerous appendage before he rolled beneath a snap of the demon's maw and buried his blade just beneath the first.
More black blood poured and sizzled on the still red-hot ground as Kal tore the sword free and hacked down on the retaliatory claw. The blade again surprised him with its cutting power as it sliced deep into the demon’s paw severing one of its toes completely and leaving another hanging by only its flesh.
The demon roared and threw itself to the ground to crush him but Kal had already anticipated the stupid animal-like attack and stepped out from beneath it before burying his blade once more to the hilt and carving a disemboweling line across the side of his belly just below the ribs.
It roared again this time clearly in agony. Despite its discomfort, Kal could already see the damned thing regenerating so before it could regain its feet he jumped onto its back and slammed his blade home into the Bestial Lord’s spine. Its hind legs died and the demon whimpered-
“Wait, it's whimpering?”
Kal suddenly felt a bit guilty. The whole fight had seemed almost too easy but then again killing the Bestial Lord was originally just a quest, not this extended event or Trial of the Slayer. It was just a stupid beast like the garghounds. But why did it suddenly bother him so much?
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“All of them?” Fyborh’s voice rang in his mind.
Kal jumped down from the demon and walked over to its head but then he paused as he noticed his Slayer’s Intent display change.
[Entities Marked: Bestial Lord, Content | Lesser Lord Aspect, Error]
“What the fuck?!” Kal muttered glancing between the demon and its conjured monster,” What in the pitts is content supposed to mean?”
The only things he had seen his Slayer’s Intent say were hostile, enraged, death rage, and feared not content.
“So what?! You want to die!” For some reason seeing that word pissed him off. The Bestial Lord once so aggressive now simply laid there, its eyes closed, “What the fuck!” He seethed more than he had since that day in camp with the prophet. Kal looked to his soul expecting to be raging alongside him but instead, it seemed to only rise to match his own anger.
Something was wrong about all this but he didn’t have time to waste. He needed to get this trial over and done with so he could figure out how to end the storm. Kal raised his sword and prepared to pierce the demon’s brain while it lay there, careless of its fate.
“Careless of its fate…”
“Fate…”
Of course, that's when the demon chose to open its eyes and look at him, all traces of hatred and anger gone.
“For fuck’s sake,” It was a demon an abyssal spawn he knew that but there was something else. Something he wasn’t seeing but his soul was.
Frowning Kal kept his sword ready but activated his mana sight and now that the demon’s killing intent was gone it appeared almost pale to his sight but abyssal mana wasn’t what he was looking for so he filtered everything out except the one he needed to see.
At the demon’s core glowed a bright silver light only dimly marred by a sickly purple-red that clung to the silver like a film of thin oil atop the water. His stomach twisted upon seeing but not in the same way that the butcher's had. This felt like a corruption of something pure.
Kal focused again on the silver light that still burned below the corruption and found himself peering deeper like what he experienced with the stones of mana acuity. Tiny specks of light flickered below the surface of the spark, each of them drawing his eyes as images flashed into his mind.
A burning sky stretched out before her eyes as tears in reality brought forth their greatest enemy-
White-gold towers shattered as forces far beyond the people of Kartha clashed-
Tears fell down her face as her friends each began to fall and the fabric of her home twisted and warped to be consumed by the enemy. Soon she would one of those things-
Hope. Their protector has come to guide them in their fallen world-
He fights alone, abandoned by his kin. Each day his power is drained to sustain us and to fight the enemy… He is dying-
…Why?
Kal staggered back and cut off his mana sight, “Gods, you were from the original Kartha!” Kal’s head burned but he ignored it as his mind raced through the consequences of what he had just learned.
He had learned the basics of the Abyssal Horizon from Mira back in her bunker but she hadn’t said anything about people becoming demons. The butcher had mentioned that he would be given a new shell. Was this something similar? Were those killed after Kartha was consumed by the abyssal horizon repurposed? Kal frowned at the memory of the butcher’s stitched-together face.
Kal didn’t know but how could he? He had only just discovered that his birthright was just his soul and that he could perceive them with his mana affinities. That alone had more than enough existential questions than he needed right now but if souls were mana what stopped them from being taken?
“I don’t have time for this,” Kal growled. He was suddenly suspicious of the entire quest chain that had led to this point. Had the system wanted him to learn this? What had seemed like a normal monster-slaying quest like the ones he had heard about back home had become a series of back-to-back revelations about a dead god and the people of this world.
Kal was distracted from his seething by a notification.
Title Acquired: Fate Diviner [Mythic]
Fate Diviner [Mythic]
You have peered into the soul memory of one bound by the chosen fate of another universe. Will you tread the path others have made or forge your own? +10% Intellect, Perception, Wisdom, Will
He couldn’t complain about getting a title like that but it all but confirmed his suspicions. Frowning drew back his sword and looked into the demon’s eye, “I’m sorry that you have been given this fate. Maybe you will be reborn like the others, maybe not but I can’t waste any more time.”
The Bestial Lord closed its eyes and Kal pierced its brain with a clean strike. The demon’s regeneration had slowed to a crawl and after a few moments, he received the kill notification.
You have slain [Bestial Lord | Abyssal Spawn 99] bonus experience awarded due to slaying a higher leveled entity.
Mutilation bonus added to total x 7
Level up!
Level up!
Health:
2013/3100
Stamina:
1136/6600
Wrath:
2588
Kal withdrew his sword and went to wipe it down before sheathing it but instead, he found it clean so he shrugged as he put it away and looked up at the storm as more notifications continued to fill his log.
Sanctioned Event: Trial of the Slayer I Complete!
You have proven your worth… May you walk across the cosmos and forge your own path.
Rewards:
Mythic Skill
Due to your anomalous class and unique resource direct system intervention is required to grant this reward. Warning grievous bodily harm is likely.
Both the Mythic Skill and Extra Class Upgrade Benefit will be integrated together.
Rare Chest x 2
Extra Class Upgrade Benefit
Due to your anomalous class and unique resource direct system intervention is required to grant this reward. Warning grievous bodily harm is likely.
Both the Mythic Skill and Extra Class Upgrade Benefit will be integrated together.
Please select one to be processed first…
Warning: Event area will become insecure once all rewards have been acquired.
Kal sighed, preparing himself to take the first reward, “Let’s see if Fyborh was right.”