Kal flew through the streets of Serpent’s Rest, each step cracking the ground to propel him forward as fast as he could. He held on to his goal with everything he had but the desolate plane of gray was inevitable.
But with Exterminator’s Regards in hand even as the world became indistinct gray, he found his goal remained clear, “Sunder that which entraps you…”
The crimson light of corpses filled his vision, a force of weaklings and god-touched that needed to be purged. Kal roared as he charged toward them, and his aura crashed down onto them. Like all corpses, they flinched and fell before him and Exterminator’s Regards. Each severed spine and each cleft skull sent waves of energy through his body, urging him to continue.
More and more corpses exited burning streets, sending bolts of gold and green toward him. Those he could avoid with his speed and strange were severed by his furious will. The backlash of the severed skills blinded some and disabled others but always gave him time to move closer and tear them apart with fist and sword.
Kal killed as he ran, his goal always insight but his mind was unable to ignore the instincts that forced his hand. On one street, archers fired continuous volleys of powerful arrows. Flesh of Iron caused most to simply shatter against his armored skin but some glowed with power and pierced his skin to bounce off bone and pierce organs.
The injuries never slowed his charge however and he simply ignored the pain and killed those who were too slow to evade him. Kal’s dark blood mixed with the blood of the last slaughter all over his chest as he moved onward.
The smog above only thickened as more buildings fell to ruin under the flames all around him, accelerated by the crimson flames beginning to follow in his wake.
More and more god-touched corpses brought themselves before him and those who barred his way forward died beneath crimson flames and the limbs of the dying kin. Kal’s gaze wavered, flickering back to corpses left behind in the process of moving toward his goal but each time he roared with strain and rage before tearing his gaze back to the dome.
Leo watched Kalum charge into the distance, each of his steps covering far more ground than he could manage. The fear sinking into his soul from the man’s presence faded slowly as he got further away but previous feelings remained in place.
“Are you ok?” Melisia asked from his side, her face worried.
“Yes. I expected it. Though his behavior was different I could feel the same intent behind it,” Leo sighed, “I’m not sure which is more dangerous. This uncontrolled fury, or what we saw at the anchor.”
Leo didn’t mention the other emotions burning up in his heart. It was subtle but present since the moment they entered the city. He wanted to fight. He wanted to join Kal in endless slaughter. The urge had already made Leo push himself far more than he should have and even after recovering his mana with Dalen’s potions he could feel a deep fatigue building inside him.
Leo didn’t want to talk anymore and walked over to where the others were gathering to start moving.
“Hi, I know this is a crap time for introductions but I’m Dalen, a friend of your brother,” Dalen said to a familiar-looking girl with long dark hair and bright blue eyes.
[Jayne Lesta | Ice Sorcerer 35 | Human]
Leo didn’t need to use Identify to know who it was. Kalum’s sister looked distraught, and Leo had no trouble understanding why. It wasn’t every day you learned your brother was a monster.
Jayne’s eyes turned away from Kalum’s path and focused on Dalen for the first time and suddenly a scowl appeared on her face, “If you’re Kal’s friend why the fuck aren’t you going after him?! Don’t you see he is hurt?! He was crying! Kal never cries!”
Dalen looked gob smacked by Jayne’s sudden change in tone and stammered to get his next words out, “I know! I know! We are going to meet him later. I promise but right now we can’t be near him,” Dalen retrieved a health potion from his amulet and handed it to the man standing woozily next to Jayne.
[Rendal Tahnarl | Infiltrator 70 | Half-Elf]
He took it, grunting a quiet thanks before downing it in one practiced motion. The potion would take a few moments to have its effect on the man, but he immediately looked more alert.
Rendal lifted his head, “Thanks. Jayne, you can trust this lot. I have reports on their conduct over the last few months. So how about we have this lovely little chat later and get out of here before everything gets worse?”
Dalen clearly wanted to ask what Rendal meant but instead, he sighed, “Yeah, sounds like a plan. Iladrian, you ready to leave yet or what?!”
Nearby Leo spotted the War Druid and was surprised to see the elf hugging a young woman. Iladrian stepped away immediately and scowled at Dalen, “Yes, but you truly believe that thing will get us through the barrier? Following could be suicide.”
“No worse odds than your brilliant plan. If Kal says he can break it I believe him,” Dalen said, eyeing the War Druid.
The woman next to Iladrian spoke up and Leo only now realized that she was a dryad, “Father, Kalum Lesta was able to break out of a Third Tower Imprisonment and somehow had the resource control to regenerate while under its effects.”
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Leo doubted the others would have seen it, but Iladrian’s face changed. Leo couldn’t tell if it was fear or just surprise, but he was clearly moved by her statement.
Iladrian nodded, “Fine. We will plan accordingly. If he can breach the barrier the entire array should fall. We will not need to follow his path too closely but if we are to secure other survivors we must follow it regardless.”
Without another word the War Druid leaped into the air, shifting into a small owl mid-air, and began scanning the burning streets.
Dalen scowled at the man but didn’t comment before turning to Leo, “Come on. Let’s get these people out of here so we can ditch them and go find Kal.”
Leo couldn’t help but smirk at Dalen’s shamelessness but didn’t comment and began shouting commands. The surviving fighters and prisoners of the Third Tower didn’t argue with his commands and simply fell in behind him and the others as they turned back to Kalum’s path of destruction.
Crimson flame roared to life in the distance and even over the rest of the chaotic fighting happening in the city Leo could hear the screams of the terrified men as Kalum Lesta fell upon them. Thoughts of doing the same swam through Leo’s mind but he dismissed them as he ordered their forward march.
Their small but powerful force of Sceleti warriors and druids moved easily through the street in Kalum’s wake, only the prisoners and those they gathered along the way slowed them down. Iladrian soared overhead and like before hampered the efforts of closing Empire forces, but he also intermittently walled off streets to prevent rearward attacks.
That left Leo and their fighters with those who survived fighting Kalum. Dhinir barbarians and Uton sorcerers were left mere children in Kalum’s wake. Brutally mutilated remains were strewn about everywhere they looked and those that survived were either lethally maimed by sword or fist or left catatonic from what they had seen. 
Leo understood a part of that.
Eventually, even the mutilated corpses were hard to find as the crimson flame that burned his wake clung to the fallen until it was nothing but charred armor that remained. It was only after they reached the halfway mark to the nearest wall in Kalum’s wake that they met serious resistance but with Iladrian scouting avoiding the bulk of the forces was simple.
Leo was glad the War Druid was on their side for now.
Surprisingly, as their growing force moved through the streets Jayne Lesta remained close to the fighting despite the Infiltrator Rendal’s protests. Leo could see that every time they were forced to move down a side street and away from Kalum, she would curse with venom than even Dalen could summon.
As they were returning to Kalum’s path of destruction Iladrian crashed down to land beside them in his elf form, “There are hundreds yet at the edge of the barrier. Kalum Lesta is charging right for them!”
Dalen cursed from further back in their lines and Leo’s heart sank, “Quotz…”
Kal roared as he hacked his way through the last of the resistance before him. Corpses screamed and died as they should, their pathetic lives serving only to fuel his wrath. So many cowered in fear all around him that Wrath Incarnate surged through his body uncontested by the feeble mana of corpses.
Against these betrayer-touched filth, no weak voices cried out in his mind and his blade parted them like the immaterial things that they were. The world was gray and only the light of the stubborn corpses lit his way to his goal. There was no thought in Kal’s mind. There was only slaughter, there was only the need to reach what lay beyond those destined to end.
Exterminator’s Regards hummed in his fist while blade, tooth, and claw rent and gored those before him.
Humans killed x 301
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Kalum Lesta
Status
Class:
Slayer of Fate [Epic] [Anomalous]
Level:
80
Race:
Human?
Health:
1013/4990
Stamina:
981/7700
Wrath:
13023
Attributes
Strength:
963 -> 1588
Agility:
460 -> 759
Endurance:
770 -> 1270
Vitality:
499 -> 823
Intellect:
642 -> 1059
Perception:
524 -> 864
Will:
1414 -> 2333
Wisdom:
631 -> 1041
Available:
12
Available Skill Selection: 1
Power flowed through him as the dead gave him strength, but his slaughter spared no thought for his attributes, only for the next kill. A skill choice notification evoked a savage roar as he dismissed it and hacked a cleric in half. Its lifeblood splattering into Kal’s burning eyes.
Soon the god-touched corpses thinned, and Kal found his fiery gaze falling upon a large open gatehouse and the tall stone walls of the city. It was nothing but indistinct gray to his eyes but beyond that gate and before the barrier were the light of hundreds.
They were god-touched but not of Dominion and Death. They were something even more pathetic. They desperately battered at the barrier, their cries high and weak. The Cries of the Lost.
They had seen his slaughter and knew their time was next. Exterminator’s Regards burned crimson in his grasp and like every fiber of his being wanted to be used. To part the tide before him, part the filth from their fate.
His blade rose toward the sky as he summoned Flames of Wrath from within. His gaze fell back upon the first in line for death, Eyes of the Slayer shedding light across the gray of the soon-dead. Kal stared at the core of the first to die, to see the broken thing within. A circle of blue hung alone, lit only by the light of their soul. No skill channels flowed from the corpses-
The gray plane vanished in a rush of horror as Kal dropped his sword and gripped his temples. Crimson flame was already rushing toward the people before him. Hundreds of Men, women, and children were screaming all around him. They were trying to run but none were above level thirty, and all were common classes or lower.
“No! No!” Kal screamed as he forced the flames to die. His mind shook with pain and rage so potent he could breathe. His will acted on its own and caught Exterminator's Regards before it hit the dirt and was brought back to his hand, ready to be used.
Kal looked down at who he was about to kill through clear eyes.
[Willum Ghane | Null | Human]