His blade cracked the corpse’s arm as the weakling screamed and the innocent staggered backward. *Flicker*
*Flicker*
*Flicker*
Kal gasped as his chest exploded with agony as the demon’s fist slammed into his chest. Blood sprayed from his mouth and torn chest but suddenly his head was clear despite the pain.
Health:
1093/5140
Stamina:
913/8380
Wrath:
7345
The memories still flickered through his mind but suddenly they were less of a concern, it would end soon. Kal would have sighed in relief if it weren't for his shattered ribs. Kal instead dragged his gaze up to the face of his attacker, its skull still writhed and flashed red but he managed to focus enough to see its condition.
Its skull was covered in dozens of fractures and Kal could see the demon’s mana pouring out of it like a broken barrel. Kal doubted he was the one to do the damage but either way, it was clear the demon was hurting, just not as much as they were.
Ander was standing next to Nyx, a horrified look on his face but despite that the boy was pulling on Nyx’s collar trying to drag her away, “Brave kid…”
The Shadow Lord hadn’t stopped moving while Kal’s attention wandered. It moved again, surging toward him slower than before but not by much. Kal raised his arms and took the strike hard with Flesh of Iron, his arms still broke if not as badly as last time but at least he was just pelted into the ground.
Kal didn’t make a sound as he bounced off the ground and his arms began to heal. The pain seemed distant now, less relevant. He managed to avoid the follow-up strike rolling along the ground but took a kick to the chest that cracked the ground and embedded him in the side of a metal wall.
Health:
654/5140
Stamina:
213/8380
Wrath:
3123
Exterminator’s Regards was held tightly in his right hand throughout but he couldn’t bring it to bear with any kind of reliability. This was a fight he couldn’t win. Surviving would be a luxury but even that he had little hope for.
It would be an end…If only they could escape…
Warning: You have been targeted by a summoning ritual conducted by [Elendria Farstep | Warden of the Ways 126 | Elf]
Due to the medium of tracking being the mana of Core-Bound Follower [Dalen Kreet | Alchemist of the Wrathful 52 | Human] it has been conditionally allowed to acquire your location.
Do you accept the summoning?: Yes/No
Kal would have laughed at the irony if he could spare the effort. Of course, his chance for freedom would arrive as he was about to die. But how could risk bringing the demon back with
him? It would just kill him then move on to the rest no-
A ripple in the air in front of him told him the tear was almost about to open on its own. His eyes fell onto the space mana oozing from it and like the anchor images flashed through his mind to jumble with the horrors of his memories.
A manor aflame. A girl with long brown hair beaten and bruised, her thin form chained to the wall of a dark cell. A large framed man hunched over, his arms bound in black manacles, behind him stood a man in brilliant black and gold plate mail.
Kal’s anger returned with each image. Quotz had been telling the truth. His family had been taken. As his anger grew once more the images of that place returned anew, a tear fell from his eye but he ground his teeth as he tore himself from the metal wall.
Death was not an option. Not while his family was still imprisoned. Kal spat a mouth full of dark blood onto the ground as he accepted the notification. The Shadow Lord was already moving into its next bone-shattering strike but the instant Kal accepted the notification the space in front of him tore itself apart.
The Shadow Lord barely had time to react as the tear appeared in the space it occupied. Its arm twisted strangely moving with the space around the tear before being completely torn off by the now-open portal. The demon let out a deep hiss of pain before tumbling into the tear.
Kal would have been relieved if he didn’t know where the tear was going, “Ander! Through tear now!”
The boy jumped at Kal’s command but hesitated, “What about Nyx?”
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Kal grunted as a few more of his ribs snapped back into place, “I’ve got her,” Kal limped over to Nyx who was fading in and out of consciousness. Kal winced at the burns covering her back and her broken legs.
He picked her up carefully, “Let’s go.”
Kal made sure Ander entered the tear first just in case it was designed to close the moment he entered before stepping through himself.
Kal had grown used to the strange sensation of traveling through tears and this was no different. A passage of infinite shades of light and dark spread out all around him, his mind lurched as the twisting of his perceptions but the feeling was at least a reprieve from the memories.
Though he couldn’t see them Kal could still sense Nyx and Ander connected to him through the channels of will that had kept them alive over the last week. He could also still sense the dominating presence of the Shadow Lord but it felt strangely distant and as Kal's notification log appeared in front of him he understood why.
Warning: An entity bound to an active anchor of a different shell variant is present within this passage. They will appear at the appropriate anchor upon exit.
The news was a relief for the short term but Kal felt a pang of guilt knowing that it would be wreaking havoc somewhere else.
Kal took a deep breath, letting his regeneration slowly repair his body. He wouldn’t be fully healed on arrival but he would at least be able to breathe properly. Things were about to change. A sudden anxiety rushed over him as he felt their journey through the tear coming to a close.
Soon he would be back with Dalen and the others. Things would be different now and Kal knew in his heart that things wouldn’t be any easier. But at least he would see the sun again.
----------------------------------------
Lisette scowled as the alchemist twitched and spasmed on the ground, blood pooling around him, “Stupid fool.”
Her true target The Warden had escaped, vanishing just an instant before Lisette’s blade found her heart, and worse yet she managed to take the healer with her. Disgusted Lisette turned to the rest of the room as her allies killed the enemy space mages while they were still trapped in the casting of the ritual.
Only five of the originally twenty-five space mages still remained standing, each of them devout followers of her god. Their part is yet to be played.
“Complete the alterations now! Alansu!” Lisette spat her commands while scanning for Alansu.
The mind mage stepped out from a passage, her face irritatingly proud despite her failure, “My people are in place, of course. I will play my part, Lisette.”
“And the cleansing?” Lisette asked.
Alansu smirked, “The defense array has been inverted for containment, obviously. There is now nothing standing between Dhinir’s followers and the filth inside the walls.”
“Good! No, get in position! We will prepare for your failure,” Lisette turned back to the tear, “If he cannot be controlled he will be sealed.”
The space mages finished their changes to the ritual, realigning the array to another purpose. Golden chains of mana sprung to life around the dome snaking around the central platform in preparation for what was next.
The tear shuddered and the dome shook as a presence filled the room. Lisette flinched beneath its weight, “He comes, prepare yourselves!”
The tear flashed and a boy with short brown hair, covered in dirt stumbled through. His eyes widened as they landed on Jaliete and the alchemist’s bodies, “Hold! It isn’t him!” Lisette darted in and snatched the boy away from the tear, throwing him clear.
He cried out as he tumbled and hit the wall hard. Lisette doubted it killed him but she didn’t really care, he was in the way. She could kill her brother from Uton’s cause she could kill a stupid brat.
The tear shifted again and this time there was no mistaking the intensifying presence of The Freak. The man stepped through the gate, his body covered in deep gashes and bruises but he stood tall regardless.
[Kalum Lesta | Slayer of Fate 74 | Human]
For the shortest of instances, a smile flashed across his face but as his eyes darted around the room it vanished. Then his gaze landed on the alchemist. A shiver ran down Lisette’s spine as the room darkened and his eyes flashed crimson.
The weaker mages around the room paled, some began to shake violently, their eyes white with terror. Even Alansu was pale but she whispered something under her breath and the space mages steadied.
“Kalum Lesta! You will enter our custody and return with us to the capital to be brought before the pantheon!”
The Freak stared at her, his eyes burning with anger but he didn’t respond. Instead, he bent down, slowly to place the injured woman on the ground beside the closing tear.
Lisette sneered at the pathetic man. He looked imposing but she had no doubt it was simple illusion skills at play. To think they would waste such a powerful scroll on a weakling like this… “You will answer me, freak!”
The Freak’s gaze returned to her, “You will heal him… Now!”
“Ha! No Freak… you will return with us and the rest will die. A cleansing is already underway. Soon they will all be dead like they deserve for defying the pantheon! If you don’t come with us your family will meet the same-” Lisette choked slightly as the weight resting on her shoulders slammed onto her even harder than before as a notification flashed before her eyes.
Warning: You have been marked for death by [Kalum Lesta | Slayer of Fate 74]
“No… They won’t…”
Lisette staggered backward, “Now do it now!”
Alansu nodded and raised the Divine Scroll of Mental Acuity as she chanted, “You are mine! Thrall Keeper’s Dominance!”
----------------------------------------
Kal’s soul exploded into a raging inferno as he saw the pooling around Dalen’s pale still form and at the same time the mind mage’s skill activated sending a thread of mind mana toward him. Kal’s will hardened to sever the skill before it struck but as the two forces collided his will broke against it. Before he could try again the thread had already cleared the distance between them and sunk into his mind.
Terrible pain rattled through Kal’s entire body as his head snapped back and his mind thrummed as he felt the mind mage’s will begin to consume him. Kal roared as his soul flared even further, no he would not be controlled, never again!
Kal staggered backward, his back grazing the closing portal as tried with all his will to resist the skill. His will should have dwarfed the mage’s but still, his vision flickered as words entered his mind, “You are mine Kalum… Join me…”
The pink-purple-colored mind mana sunk into his mind slowly but indomitable, nothing he did slowed it in the least and soon he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything at all. His gaze flickered across the room as the bastards sneered at him.
Kal had no choice. He had to use it but if he did would it ever end? Kal’s eyes flickered around the room as the world began to close around his mind, the whispers sinking deeper. His eyes fell across the forms of his fallen friends. Melisia lay crumpled in a pool of her own blood in just as bad a state as Dalen.
Kal made his decision and the pain thrumming through his mind dulled as his anger shattered the weakness of his shell. If they would die.
So should the rest.
Slayer’s Apathy settled over Kal’s mind and the world around him became the desolate gray as should have been all along. The threads of mind mana detonated with a flash of crimson fire but The Slayer’s mind was elsewhere. If it was to bring about the end, it would need the tools to do so.