The shadow fiend knight’s human face watched Kal as he entered. It was a woman no older than Nyx or Melisia but tiny details made looking at its face surreal. It was devoid of expression and instead of eyes shadows or dark smoke slowly leaked from them. The skin color wasn’t quite right either, it was gray with white lips and the shades slowly revolved. Its lips darkened while its face lightened before returning to normal.
[Shadow Fiend Knight | Abyssal Spawn 100]
Kal could feel the demon's strength all too well. It wasn’t nearly as strong as Vorayx but apparently reaching tier two did wonders for your attributes.
“Great Disciple, I am at a loss as to why you would wish to see me,” The knight’s mouth barely moved as it spoke and there was nothing resembling the voice of a woman when it spoke.
Kal moved closer, giving space to Nyx and Ander as they followed behind. The fear aura was clearly less effective on this demon but the oddity of the spectres entering the room still seemed to put the demon off balance as its shadow-filled eyes moved across both of them.
“I require the locations of the anchors,” Kal said bluntly.
The knight stared blankly at him for several seconds before speaking, “You smell of human Great Disciple… Why is that?”
“Shit!” Kal grunted internally and by reflex his sights all activated as one.
The light of his burning eyes filled the room making the demon flinch slightly at the unexpected sight and Kal was lucky it did as he saw two threads moving towards him with his mana sight and Eyes of the Slayer.
----------------------------------------
Ilankzat scowled at the disciple who dared interrupt her work. Worse yet it came reeking of human filth. Something was off about this disciple. Most would have simply taken the information and killed everything in its wake.
Its aura was potent but nothing close enough to affect her, “You smell of human Great Disciple… Why is that?”
As she spoke Ilankzat activated her Planar Awareness skill and scanned-
Red and gold light scorched her eyes and she flinched as her shadow retreated into her armor. When she could see again, beneath the hood of the Lesser Cloak of Shadows burned two red and gold orbs. Fear tore through Ilankzat's shadow shell as horrible pain burned through her shell’s skull and two notifications appeared.
Warning: Your skill Planar Awareness has been sundered and cannot be used again for 6 minutes.
Warning: You have been marked for death by [???????|???????].
The fear she had felt before felt like nothing compared to what bombarded her now. Ilankzat gasped in agony and fear before falling onto her hands and knees. She should not have questioned a Great Disciple.
“I beg you Great One! Please spare me!
----------------------------------------
Kal was trying his best not to gasp for breath as his heart pounded in his chest. It had all happened so fast the instant he saw the demon’s skill he put all of his mental strength into burying a blade of will into the demon’s eyes.
He had hoped it would cut the skill off but he had not expected it to actually damage the skill. Then in preparation for a fight, he had activated Slayer’s Intent. His wrath began to climb dangerously high but he didn’t deactivate straight away.
“Locations! Now!” Kal spat as both his stress and wrath merged to add heat to his words.
The demon practically teleported to the other side of the room and tore a small drawer completely off its rails to quickly retrieve a small glass disk. She kneeled deeply and presented it to him on both armored palms, ”Please Great One. It is yours.”
Kal didn’t take it from her hand instead he went for more intimidation and reached for it with a tendril of will. If it worked for pages maybe it would work here. It was difficult but he managed it. The disk left the demon’s hand and hung in the air in front of Kal before it vanished into his dimensional storage.
“You will forget my presence here, shadow. Ensure your lesser demons do the same,” Kal spun and made for the door before pausing, “The palekin is mine. Concerns?”
The knight drove its face into the ground, “No Great One! Of course not!”
Kal didn’t respond and left.
His chest burned as he tried to walk quickly without looking out of place. He reached into his pocket, “Nyx grab the goblin thing. We need to leave now!”
“Of course! Wait, What's wrong?” Nyx asked, concerned.
“Never mind that just do it please!”
Nyx didn’t respond but as they walked past the goblin she snatched it up by the wrist. At first, it looked like it was going to pick a fight but when it saw what was holding it the goblin gave in immediately.
Kal deactivated Slayer’s Intent the moment he exited the building and looked at his status.
Health:
4190
Stamina:
7960
Wrath:
10402
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His eyes widened when he saw just how high his wrath was. At least now he knew he could go over but the burning pain in his chest didn’t feel like it was a good thing. Every second his wrath continued to fall due to keeping Nyx and Ander’s cloaks active but even so, he felt the pain increase. He needed to vent his wrath now but he didn’t dare do it in the middle of the compound.
The pain was intense but that soon became the least of his worries. His body stiffened and his vision flashed red and white as it began to cycle on its own. Red auras filled his vision everywhere he looked and when they flickered away in its place were the pale white lights of corrupted souls.
Every step was a battle of wills. His soul and body urged to turn and kill. Kill them all. His gaze fell across Nyx and Ander, his mana sight piercing the shield covering their cores to reveal their pearlescent souls…shrouded in lies… corpses-
Kal chomped down on his tongue and the shock of the pain and a sudden drop of wrath as he activated Wrathful Regeneration snapped him from his… no, his soul's dark thoughts.
With his mind back under control, Kal didn’t waste any time and left the tower and compound behind. Kal only stopped once they had broken line of sight with the compound and the legions of demons. The moment he could he drew one of the karthian knives and buried it in his thigh while he began infusing a slab of hydra meat.
Activating Wrathful Regeneration caused his wrath to plummet and Kal let out a sigh of relief despite the sickening effect of infusing his vital energy into the meat.
Health:
2165/4190
Stamina:
7960
Wrath:
10102
Health:
4190/4190
Stamina:
7960
Wrath:
2100
Kal could feel the message stone vibrating in his pocket but he ignored it until the pain in his chest began to lessen and he took a slow breath.
“Kalum!? Are you ok?! Why did you do that?!” Nyx yelled through the stone.
Kal winced, “Yeah, I’m fine. It was just my wrath. I had to use a skill that generates it quickly, too quickly apparently,” Kal said aloud so Ander could hear as well. The kid was probably panicking after watching Kal stab himself.
“What do you mean generate too quickly? How could that be a bad thing? Wait, wrath?” Nyx asked, first confusion then intrigue dominating her voice.
Kal sighed, “I didn’t tell you this before but I don’t have normal mana anymore. It's something else. The abyssal mana I take from you I convert to wrath which my body can handle. The problem is that as my wrath continues to increase I have to use it somehow otherwise… Nevermind.”
“You lose control? Like on The Fractured Path?” Nyx said, apparently putting it all together.
Kal nodded, “If you mean Fyborh’s Path then yes but I don’t know to what extent. There I broke one of my skills by going over my stamina max in wrath… Never mind the specifics but I no longer have that limit at least not in the same way. It would actually be a good thing but I lost my best way to manage my wrath when I fought Vorayx and burned you.”
“We can both feel it. Your wrath is clear to both Ander and me,” Nyx said calmly, “I am sorry that we are a burden to you. Our very presence angers you-”
“No, it doesn’t!” Kal snapped, ”I just… Damn it. Ignore whatever it is you are sensing it’s a lie. My birthright isn’t me.”
Kal was about to say more when he heard the sound of bare feet slapping stone and when he looked he saw the goblin running away. It began to cackle as it reached around the hundred-foot mark.
The sight of a half-naked creature legging it down the hill shattered the stress of the conversion and Kal laughed aloud as he saw the goblin trip and tumble down a pile of rocks. He had forgotten about the creature in the rush.
Kal put the knife and meat away, “I’m serious, any anger you sense from me is not directed at you. We can talk about this later. We have a goblin to catch and anchors to investigate.”
Nyx’s wraith nodded but she didn’t speak and simply followed behind with Ander. Catching up to the goblin creature was easy. They didn’t even need to jog, the goblin clearly hadn’t put any points in endurance as it had fallen in a heap only another dozen feet beyond where it had tripped.
[Keek-Doo | Junk Builder 58 | Goblin-Palekin]
Keek-do puffed and stared up into the sky as it tried to catch its breath.
“Keek-do. Can you understand me?” Kal asked.
The goblin stared blankly at him before raising one hand, flipping him the bird with its stubby middle, and started cackling again.
Kal chuckled. He probably would have done the same if he thought he was talking to a demon. With a quick glance at his surroundings, Kal lowered the hood of his Lesser Cloak of Shadows revealing his face.
Keek-Doo’s eyes widened and he scrambled backward, ”What the fuck! You’re a human?! And you are fucking mana user?!”
Kal raised an eyebrow, ”Yep, but I’m asking the questions. What language are you speaking?”
Keek-Doo’s eyes narrowed, “What a stupid question… Galactic Standard obviously but you already know that.”
“No, I didn't have a skill for languages. How are you alive here?” Kal asked.
Keek-Doo climbed to his feet and shrugged, “If you don’t got a core. Mana corruption can’t hurt ya.”
“You haven’t got a core? I find that hard to believe. I saw you smoothing the metal of that building with some kind of skill.”
The goblin shrugged, “Believe what you want mana-freak. Now unless you plan on keeping me around I’m outta here,” Keek-Doo spun on his heels and started strolling off.
“What a strange guy… Hang on. Where are you going? There are demons everywhere.” Kal said but he didn’t try to stop him.
“Eh, I have some metal to collect before I can start my war,” Keek-Doo said then the little weirdo started whistling.
“I have friends trying to bring me back to my world. You can come with us if you want.”
“Thanks but no thanks human. I’ve got a war to wage!” He cackled again and went on his way.
Kal looked between Nyx and Ander, “Were either of you expecting that?”
The two wraiths shook their heads and Kal sighed. Alright let's go find somewhere safe to give you two a break from the cloak then we can figure out how this thing works. Kal pulled the glass disc from his dimensional storage and inspected it for the first time.
Monocle of Post-Scrying [Rare]
This monocle can be used to view a set number of locations that have been inscribed into it. The images and locations seen through this monocle appear as they were at the time of inscription.
Slots Used: 2/5
Warning: Due to the presence of a potent anti-scrying effect you cannot inscribe a new location until you have left the anti-scrying effect’s source.