In an instant, the demon was upon him and its clawed hand gripped him by the throat and tore him from the ground and out of the concentration array, “What are you doing? Ha! You think you can save them?” Blood poured from Kal’s throat as the demon’s grip tore barely healed cracks open before slamming him into the platform.
“I will see that each and every one of those pathetic creatures is slaughtered and sold to the gorefiend fleshkin after I see you dead!”
Kal ignored him as he continued his task. A flicker of movement caught his eye and looked to see that kid from earlier standing there watching in horror, “Damn it, stupid kid, get the fuck out of here.”
Everyone else had started to run but someone he recognized was darting towards him. He was shocked to see someone running against his fear aura but as she grabbed hold of the kid, yanking him off his feet before sprinting away his display appeared and began to shudder and deform before he was bombarded with notifications.
Warning: You are attempting to form a //ERROR// ```~~`~ond core within a shell already containing a core. If the second core is c//ERROR//??/~lete, shells below tier 5 will not survive the >~~``?? Wrath provided: 254897/256760 Kal’s body convulsed and his cores brightened as his wrath reached its limit. Vorayx pulled him from the ground before slamming down harder and piercing his chest with his clawed fist but Kal could barely register the pain as notifications continued automatically displaying themselves. Warning: Shell Death Imminent. //ERROR// //ERROR//~`~`~//?///ERROR// ////ERROR///~/??/?ERROR// Multiple Scrying attempts: { Canmis: Tier 5 Go//ERROR// s of Storms => Pantheon Divine Realm, Uto//ERROR// er 5 //ERROR// e Underworld => //ERROR// heon Divine Realm, Earae: Goddess of Abundance => Pantheon Divine Realm, Quotz: G//ERROR// dess of Logic => Personal Divine Realm, //ERROR// God of Tricks => Quotz’ Divine Realm, //ERROR// Tier 5 Abyssal Entity => Personal Abyssal Realm, Watcher: //ERROR// //ERROR// => //ERROR//4th Universe } Vorayx growled as his head rocked to the side and when he turned to look Kal saw an arrow strike his bone mask with surprising force. A chunk of bone broke free but Kal knew it wasn’t enough to put the demon down. Not in time. Wrath provided: 256757/256760 Kal stopped the flow of wrath to his second. Health: 1123/3930 Stamina: 3764/7400 Wrath: 0 Health: 1123/3930 Stamina: 3764/7400 Wrath: 4823 Kal glared into Vorayx’s eyes and roared so that the archer would hear him but the words were meant for them both, “You should run…” Health: 1123/3930 Stamina: 3764/7400 Wrath: 7399 *Crack!* Kal felt the instant his core cracked and the crimson flame of his soul exploded from his core, searing his flesh with its undying rage. Each crack spread across the surface of his core instantly and Wrath Incarnate grew dark as the crimson condensed within. Health: 1123/3930 Stamina: 3764/7400 Wrath: 10231 *Boom!* His core tore itself asunder in a detonation that shattered the platform beneath them and sent Vorayx to slam into a chunk of falling debris. He heard the screams of men and women behind him but suddenly that felt… right. The wrath Kal had felt for months seemed like nothing but the childish emotions of a pathetic corpse. His soul scourged his body and poured from the channels that once drew abyssal mana into his being now simply laid an easy path for his wrath to move through him. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. His wrath roared out of the channels and into the open air as he fell from the platform consuming the lesser mana of weak corpses, it was fit only to fuel his purpose. Health: ????/???? Stamina: ????/???? Wrath: 14212 Health: ????/???? Stamina: ????/???? Wrath: 23453 Health: ????/???? Stamina: ????/???? Wrath: 32132 The pathetic thing that dared to touch him froze as his gaze fell upon it. Birthright: Unleashed ---------------------------------------- Nyx dropped Ander to the ground and turned back towards the monstrous demon as it tore apart Kalum Lesta’s chest. Her arms shook as the full weight of his wrath bore down on her but her aim was true as she activated Sundering Shot and fired an arrow at the demon’s head. The arrow slammed into the demon’s head and a slight thrill ran through her as she expected it to fall dead like all others who had been struck by her most potent skill. Instead, its head barely moved as the arrow shattered on contact, barely cracking its bone-like mask. Kalum Lesta’s face was contorted in agony but even without his gaze landing on her she could feel his indomitable will. “You should run…” His command made her stagger back and almost trip over Ander as it roared across the platform. Dalen, Eliza, Leo, and Melisia had started running toward them but they were a lot slower than she was and they had barely crossed half the distance between them when something changed. Nyx and Ander gasped as the swirling vortex of dark mana suddenly twisted over their savior- *Boom!* Nyx was torn from her feet as a sphere of roiling fire detonated from Kalum Lesta’s chest. The platform beneath crumbled and she tumbled through the air along with a screaming Ander. By reflex, she activated Shadow’s Grace giving her the speed and maneuverability to react. She grabbed Ander by the arm as she fell and kicked off a piece of falling rubble. Below the breaking platform, Nyx fell into a messy tumble to break her fall, taking the brunt of the landing to protect Ander. The boy fell from her grip as she hit the ground and rolled several feet across the platform but a fearful cry told Nyx he survived while she staggered to her aching legs and looked back towards Kalum Lesta and the demon. The instant her eyes landed on His back she recoiled. Red light poured from his torn-apart chest like a furnace’s flame, everywhere it touched cracked and burned along with it. The dark mana that swirled around him like a storm began to shudder all around him, twisting away from his form. He stood perfectly still as the huge demon stood from the platform in front of him. Its bone-like armor was cracked in several places but healing quickly. Its face was still not visible but Nyx could see the demon’s eyes and knew it felt it too. [He who kills | ??/ERROR?- Before her eyes, Identify's results changed. [He who ~~~~~~~~~~~ ?/ERROR?/- Nyx tried to turn away but her body wouldn’t listen. Ander began to scream along with the others who had followed her. The demon staggered along with them but he straightened quickly, “No! Impossible-” Kalum Lesta’s head snapped to the side and the vortex of power above him froze for an instant before it began to change. From his chest and hands flames of crimson power roared from within and moved across the dark-purple mana like a grass fire, everything it touched being utterly consumed by fiery power leaking from His. Then he moved. And the storm of crimson hate followed. The demon barely had a chance to raise its arms as Kalum reached it, his body moving with disturbing grace as tendrils of crimson fire spread out from the now crimson vortex above him. Crimson claws burst from both of his hands as he clashed with the demon. The platform cracked along with the bone on the demon’s right arm. It was so fast Nyx barely had time to flinch as she was knocked from her feet as Kalum’s next strike drove the demon into the ground before a crimson tendril lanced down from the storm, cleaving through the platform less than ten feet away from her. Only when the platform began to shift and she felt herself begin to fall again did her legs finally obey her commands? She leaped away from the crumbling platform towards Ander and threw him over her shoulder even as her body continued to shake. She started to run but after only a few steps another tendrils slammed into the platform sending her off her feet tumbling through open air between platforms. She slammed into a third platform badly and her bow fell from her grip tumbling over the edge. Nyx ignored it. She had to run. Behind her, the sky churned with crimson fire and soon it began to spread across the platforms themselves while He who kills fought his enemy. ---------------------------------------- The ender bore his clawed fist into the corpse’s chest tearing flesh and bone away, while his wrath rushed over him burning all it touched. The corpse cried out and threw the ender clear before following with surprising speed for a corpse. The corpse’s claws pierced his torso but it was a worthless attempt as the ender ignored the injury letting the demon’s burst through his back before shattering the pathetic thing's elbow. The corpse roared but the ender ignored its futile cries and pivoted, breaking free of the arm and drew the blade of the guardian. He slashed a channel across the corpse’s chest as he leaped into the air to land on another platform as his wrath lashed out at space around him. He felt the presence of even lesser creatures than the one before him but their ends could wait. The corpse’s arm snapped back into place as it followed and slammed its fist down onto him. The ender raised his left arm and air around them shuddered as they clashed. His arm shattered from the force of the strike but it was only flesh. His shell spun to slash across the corpse's face between the cracks of the armor plating. One of its eyes burst before sizzling away as his wrath ate at it. As it screamed in rage its body swelled as it grew in strength. The ender’s body shattered as an empowered strike sent it through the air and into another platform. The ender’s broken body writhed as bones shifted back into place but even as his body failed wrath burned through every fiber of his form. His limbs snapped outward unnaturally pulling him up the edge of the platform to the top, only fully straightening as the corpse arrived. It would die. The corpse roared and charged towards him, each step sending cracks along the platform. The ender’s will lashed out and a lance of wrath slammed into the platform as they clashed the ender’s blade hacked into the corpse’s neck as his off arm was torn from its socket then completely free. Blood sprayed before turning to ash as more and more wrath leaked from the ender’s form. They landed and the ender’s blade carved through what was left of the corpse’s neck armor. The wound vanished almost as fast as it came but still, the corpse staggered back in despair. As it should. The corpse's soul flickered in his sight, a weak disgusting thing that needed to be purged. Its silver-white light was corrupted by the black and purple of abyssal mana. It would end. “How is this possible?…” The corpse cried as it continued to stagger backward, its bone armor suddenly beginning to pale and crack. The ender moved and buried his foot in the corpse’s chest. The bone armor shattered like glass and the corpse’s bones creaked as it flew backwards and onto their original platform. Screams of weaker things reached him from below as he followed. The corpse had already gotten to its feet but instead of meeting his attack head-on, it leaped away darting across the platform toward dozens of pathetic lights. His shell moved across the platform with a wave of crimson flame in his wake. Tendrils of power continued to emerge from his shattered core to reach into the sky to consume more and more of the lesser power. Each step scorched the ground and brought him closer to the pathetic light of the corpse. Screams of the weak grew louder as he approached but they meant nothing. His next step was brought to the corpse’s side and his blade hacked deep into its chest, tearing it from the ground with a spray of dark blood. The pathetic lights of the weak continued to flee as they should and his wrath surged along the platform after them.