Blinding light threw Kal from his feet as something hit him with bone-shattering force. Flesh of Iron activated an instant too late to save his ribs and left arm but by the time hit the opposite wall it was fully activated, and the wall broke instead of the rest of his body.

Black stone and debris were strewn everywhere, and black corrosive smoke filled the hall. Kal pulled himself from the wall and staggered forward. His vision and his legs moved lethargically for several moments while he reorientated himself. Nearby corpses- people screamed in shock and pain almost all of them were on the ground with an array of injuries from just simple gashes to impalements.

Kal’s gaze flickered between grayscale and the blood and smog of whatever had just happened.

“Jayne!” Kal said, his voice sounded strange and distant in his ringing ears. If she replied he didn’t hear it but as his gaze flickered back to the gray waste and writhing walls two corpses ran toward the gathered prisoners. Again, his entire world flickered, and he saw the massacre he had committed and the people he was about to add to the pile.

The smog cleared as a wave of stinking air came through a huge hole in the dark stone of the hall right where he had been standing. His vision flickered again and through walls and the remaining smoke, he saw hundreds of wounded and fading corpses. A small group of pathetic souls quivered in pain and confusion from whatever had just happened.

“End those within. Then wounded…”

Kal felt himself turn back to the screaming wounded choking on the caustic fumes that did nothing but tingle against his skin, but a cold shock crawled across his skin and into his muscles and bones.

Health:

1812/4910

Stamina:

2314/7530

Wrath:

0

Suddenly everything became clear. The flickering slowed but the walls continued to writhe. But most of all his thoughts once again became his own. He began to shake as he remembered the people he had just killed. Most deserved it. But some did not. The feeling of tearing prisoners limb from limb in their cells remained brutally clear in his mind’s eye and guilt threatened to overwhelm him.

“Oh, gods… Not again,” Kal whispered, but at the same moment, he noticed his eyes darting over the helpless people as they choked and spluttered while nasty injuries weakened them even further.

“Kill them all!”

The only thing that gave him a modicum of control was the sickening foreign mana sinking into his skills and core but even so, his will flickered.

Kal twitched and gagged as he felt the urge grip his mind and his will reach out toward them, “No!” He couldn’t be here. Every glimpse, every scent, and every sound the people around him made his body tense and his soul rage with such ferocity that it took everything he had just to remain still.

Even closing his eyes, the sound and smells were too much. He had to get away, “Wait! They’re trapped.”

His eyes flashed as Eyes of the Slayer activated and suddenly the hall was filled with golden light, only slightly marbled with crimson. Kal flinched as he saw Jayne through the smoke and wanted to call out to her, but his body tensed as if to chase her down and Kill it… Kal growled, forced his body still, and turned his gaze to what was binding the gasping prisoners.

An array was in place around each of the four different groups of chained prisoners and it shattered like glass sending fragments of pearlescent light in all directions before his will gripped the chains connecting them all together. The mana flooding in to drown his core flowed through the barely functional makeshift channel he made and in a flash of azure light the chains fell from weak and wounded wrists.

Kal stiffened as the room immediately filled with the light of activating skills. He saw Lelashian’s familiar face among the prisoners and she was staring back at him. They all were. Weak…Alive… Kal forced himself to look away as the walls shifted.

“It will end with them gone…”

“No! No more!”

Kal threw himself through the destroyed wall and into the outside air. It stunk of burned flesh and blood. His heart raced in time with his soul’s rage, the pain of his broken ribs anchored his thoughts as he landed in a small crater that was still hot enough to radiate through his feet.

Outside was just as bad as inside, the dead lay everywhere and all who survived were at the very least disabled by their injuries. The remains of two rough stone walls were strewn about in every direction, a strange wall of thorns and stone was shattered just as forcefully as the rest but still lay broken and burning from whatever had caused the explosion.

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“End them…”

Kal flinched and turned his head away from the fallen people to what was all around him. It was a city like Lelashian said but the explosion notwithstanding there was something wrong with the place. One entire side of the city was on fire and dark smoke hung in the air everywhere. The light of hundreds of mana bolts and various other offensive skills was visible against the smog. The feedback from his aura was more potent than he had ever experienced it and he knew that if he started killing the foreign mana restricting him would mean absolutely nothing. He could kill until nothing was left.

“Rend them like those who came before…”

“Kal!?” The voice made Kal’s head spin and his body stiffened again. He knew that voice.

[Dalen Kreet | Alchemist of the Wrathful 64 | Human]

Kal’s gaze found Dalen immediately. He was climbing to his feet with blood trickling from his ears and nose. He was covered in the dark burns Kal recognized as mana burns. Guilt rose up in his chest, but it was crushed with the relief he felt at seeing Dalen alive.

“You’re alive,” Kal said, his chest tight with the strain of keeping himself still.

Dalen staggered forward with a concerned smile on his face, “Yep, well you can thank Volan for that.”

Behind him others recovered from the explosion but first among them were two more Kal recognized. Leo moved past a group of fallen fighters and Melisia staggered to her feet while holding a glowing hand to her scalp.

Kal saw the color of his eyes change against the faces of his friends and he knew his aura was bearing down on them but all three of them stood easily.

Melisia took her hand away from her scalp and took a step closer, her face only palling slightly, “Are you ok Kalum?”

Kal wanted to scream as his body struggled against his will. Every part of him desperately wanted to step forward and tear them limb from limb. Kal buried his fist into his own broken ribs and growled in the moment of clarity, “No! You, you need to get away… Leave…”

Melisia frowned but nodded, “We understand. Nyx told us everything,” She took a step closer, and Kal’s body bent as if to throw himself forward.

“Don’t! Stay back! Run! Now”

“We can’t. Dhinir or Uton’s followers have inverted the city's defenses as they did in The Vault. We can’t leave,” Melisia explained without taking another step.

Kal saw it immediately. Far overhead he could see the roof of a dome that shined with azure light to his Eyes of the Slayer. It was far bigger than the one in the place Melisia called The Vault. It wouldn’t stop him.

Behind him Kal could feel the recovering prisoners moving toward the broken wall and their vicinity only made his control deteriorate faster. He had to leave now.

“Then…Then I’ll go. I can’t be here. I can’t control it. I did something to myself,” Kal turned to face away from Dalen and the others with every fiber of his will.

Dalen swore and limped forward, “Well then I fucking going with you!” Worry and outrage were mixed plainly on his face and his tone almost brought a smile to Kal’s face despite the strain of maintaining control.

“My sister is in there. I can’t-” Kal felt himself lash out as his concentration wavered. Before his mind caught up, he was standing over Leo, his hand clamping down on the man’s throat. Kal groaned and let Leo go. He recovered instantly but Kal saw the fear in the man’s eye and self-loathing filled. Even Dalen had backed away and his eyes were wide with shock.

“Gods… I’m sorry- I can’t…” Kal turned, his mind spinning but focusing when he saw the barrier again, “Find her Dalen. Please… I don’t matter.”

The first of the prisoners stepped out of the wall and armed Empire warriors exited side streets and others came from around the wall of the tower. Kal didn’t wait. He couldn’t wait. He threw everything into running toward the barrier. Dalen cursed somewhere far behind him and shouted something Kal only just made out over the pounding of his heart.

“Catch!” Kal sensed it more than he saw it but soaring through the air to pass near his right flew a large black blade that swung around him as his will caught effortlessly before bringing it to his open hand.

Kal panicked for an instant when the blade entered his hand but then a stillness entered his mind. The rage still threatened to dominate him but suddenly his goal became clear.

“West! When you're out, go west!” Dalen yelled, barely audible over the pounding of Kal’s heart and the fire in his mind but Kal nodded. Even as the gray began to encroach on his sight his goal remained clear.

He would get away.

—

Dalen cursed as the form of his friend darted through the burning streets of the Earae district. Kal moved with such speed and power that he quickly moved out of sight. Kal was free and they barely did anything to make it happen. He could have gotten away on his own.

“At least he knows we are still here,” Melisia said beside him, “He was clearly relieved in spite of his other emotions.

Dalen nodded, “We can catch up to him later. At least we will know where he will be.”

Leo was holding his throat but looked fine otherwise, “He is different from before. That I am sure of.”

Dalen didn’t argue but turned to the hole he had made in the tower, shivering slightly as the notification continued to fly past his eyes.

You have slain [Haron Feld | Fighter 54 | Human]

You have slain [Iual Opan | Archer 65 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to being a higher leveled entity

You have slain [Jammes Frank | Axeman 63 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to being a higher leveled entity

Level up!

You have slain [Lanlee Odal | Cleric 67 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to being a higher leveled entity

You have slain [Arone Rald | Hunter 61 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to being a higher leveled entity

…

..

.

Humans killed x 103

Level up! x 6

Dalen was still stunned by the carnage he had wrought with his bomb but before he made any more stupid decision like building a huge fucking bomb or letting Kal run off alone again Dalen scrolled through the list of dead.

You have slain [Kendrak Ivandark | Paladin of Dhinir 100 | Human] bonus experience awarded due to being a higher leveled entity

Dalen almost laughed when he saw the kill notification. Nearby, he caught a glimpse of a battered-looking Iladrian stagger to his feet and moved toward a crowd gathering outside the hole Dalen had made. The War Druid wrapped his arms around a bruised and battered-looking elf, no dryad.

[Lelashian Lifetouched | Hand of Life 89 | Elf-Dryad]

Dalen had never seen one before, but his gaze passed them both by as it fell on a dark-haired girl in dirty and torn academy clothes. Her eyes were looking off into the distance after Kal and tears streamed down her face.

[Jayne Lesta | Ice Sorcerer 35 | Human]