Chapter 263
Metal boots and greaves were secured and tight. Messenger snapped on like a second skin and Jackal flashed into his hand as the crowds roared, and he tossed the spare spatial sack he’d borrowed off to the side just before the high priest called for the fight to start.
Barriers all around the arena went up and the drums echoed around them.
Despite being here to improve himself and follow up on his shortcomings, there was certainly a large part of Riven that wanted to prove all of them wrong. To show them that he wasn’t as unskilled as Gluttony and Lillith seemed to think he was, but then again he knew that line of thought was arrogant. He’d had little to no training, was self-taught in magic, so he pushed his pride aside and assumed one of the few stances that’d been taught to him by his ex-thrall Luke. His red eyes narrowed, and he stared out at the demon in front of him.
“I hear you’re pretty strong.” Riven stated, raising his weapon as his body exploded with Hell’s Armor and Blessing of the Crow - the latter of which having been influenced by his Path of Red and Black. His body roiled with flame and unholy energies, and rivers of blood flowed across the long blade of his spear-staff. “I won’t be using any summons or minions. I hope you have a lot to show me.”
Amano, for his part, bowed low at the waist in a sign of respect before swinging his silver battle axe around with practiced ease in a defensive stance. The thick silver plate armor along his body glinted under the fireballs illuminating the arena, and he smiled. “It is an honor to fight Gluttony’s Chosen - for the entertainment of the great maw and the great general Lillith herself. Please forgive me for what transpires next, and know that I am more than willing to give pointers after it is done - but I will not be holding back. Lillith has informed me that they will not let either of us die no matter what happens, and that I am free to truly try and kill you.”
Riven hesitated, then nodded just once. “I wouldn’t expect you to hold back. Let’s not keep them waiting.”
The fight was on.
He tore open a black rift in space, and in the next millisecond Riven’s swing blurred in a downward arc into Amano’s back. The demon’s axe was there in an instant in a shower of sparks as gray and black chaos energy swept up around him to block - sending a blast of energy that threw Riven backwards through the air in an uncontrolled spiral before a follow up slash of Amano’s weapon sent an arc of dark lightning like a crescent wave.
Riven managed to discharge a black lightning bolt of his own that counteracted the crescent, and the colliding powers tore a crater into the stone ground fifty feet deep that sent debris spraying into the air.
Riven finished his uncontrolled spin and landed on his two feet, then got up and dusted his pauldron of - cracking his shoulder.
Amano on the other hand put his hands on his hips and laughed as the crowd cheered. “Vampire! I am impressed! For a level 200 F-grade to block my attack like that is noteworthy. However, I am aware that you have a warlock class. Is that correct?”
Riven lifted his head and nodded from across the crater as the dust cleared amidst still-falling stone rubble. “That’s right. Warlock Devastator.”
“Ah!” Amano nodded appreciatively. “So that is why your physical strikes hit so hard. I see… The passive bonus to physical damage, infused with magic.”
* Class: Warlock Devastator, Devastator Class Trait (physical strikes are imbued with unholy damage equal to 1% of damage being done at full mana capacity)
Riven smirked. “I’m surprised you-”
The vampire prince didn’t get to finish his sentence as Amano slammed a spiked fist into his face. The demon had moved so fast that Riven had barely even seen it coming, and he’d not been able to react in time.
Riven’s body crashed into the stone floor beneath them and bounced off the floor from the impact, only for his head to be smashed back into the stone yet again. His vision went black for an instant, as Messenger’s armor rang loudly in his ears while Amano’s attacks picked up speed. Fist strike after fist strike crashed into Riven like a machine gun with the power of cannons behind each hit slamming him square in the face, again creating a crater underneath the two combatants as the back of Riven’s helmet dug further and further into the ground.
“FIRST LESSON OF YOUR TRAINING, VAMPIRE!” Amano yelled over the crashing stone as Riven went in and out of consciousness, while his vampiric healing went into overdrive to keep him awake. “EVEN IF YOU HAVE A CLASS PARTIALLY ORIENTED TO CLOSE COMBAT AS A MAGE, YOUR FOCUS IS STILL IN MAGIC AND MANA! YOU SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON YOUR STRENGTHS, AND UTILIZING YOUR STATS APPROPRIATELY! YOU’RE ALREADY AT A LEVEL DISADVANTAGE, AND MY CHAOS GUARDIAN CLASS WHEN PITTED AGAINST YOUR HYBRID WARLOCK CLASS ISN’T A GOOD MATCH TO FIGHT ME IN CLOSE QUARTERS!”
Riven had a moment of clarity amidst a forced spray of blood from his mouth when Amano slammed a fist into his chest, then Riven exploded with hellfire as he put more and more of his mana into Hell’s Armor.
The demon flipped out of the newest crater they’d created and picked up his axe again with a twirl and a laugh, then activated a martial art that turned his skin into ebony stone just before the entire stadium lit up with flame.
The ground shook with a secondary explosion and the stone floor underneath Riven melted away before being shredded in a groundbreaking thunderclap of power that blinded the onlookers. The barrier remained firm however, and the roars of the crowd grew louder as the light faded away to give sight to the two still-standing combatants.
Riven was angrily glaring out from underneath his helmet, vision spinning, an inferno covered with additional black metal plates from his body modification; hovering over a sea of molten rock that bubbled and churned.
Amano’s body on the other hand was completely untouched while he stood in the lava, not even a scratch on his pristine silver armor to be noted, and his skin remained a hard ebony while calling out to Riven with a raised hand. “There it is! This is what I was told I would see! This is the power I was told of!”
He nodded approvingly as Riven floated down, landing two-feet deep into the liquid molten rock while starting to walk towards Amano - spitting blood.
“As a warlock devastator, you have the option of utilizing close quarters fighting. But that option should only be used sparingly. In a scenario where you fight an opponent of equal or stronger standing than you who is geared towards classes such as berserkers, paladins, knights, guardians, or warriors - they will have a distinct stat advantage.” Amano jabbed a thumb into his silver-covered chest. “I have almost no points in intelligence, willpower, or faith at all. That black lightning you saw was derived from stamina, a martial art, and I’m a purely physical combatant. My race also provides me with more baseline stats than the mortals you are used to, the ones you killed back on your home planet, so your pureblood vampire race doesn’t give you an advantage there either. Even with your Hell’s Armor and Blessing of the Crow spells, and even with your percentage based class trait to enhance your physical strikes, it would be in your best interest to keep me at a distance when able. That way, you are able to capitalize on your strengths while not allowing me to utilize my own. I’ll say it one more time: when fighting opponents of greater or equal strength, your close quarters combat should be as limited as possible to take advantage of your own magic-based stats - that means stop walking towards me.”
Riven snapped his head left, eyes wide as a trail of azure blue light trailed Amano’s axe and snapped a horn off of his left pauldron with a clean cut. Again, the minotaur-gargoyle hybrid had moved so quickly that Riven could barely tell he’d done it before the attack was already landing.
But it’d been a bait.
Riven’s aura soared to an extreme, freezing everything around him including Amano’s feet as the molten rock quickly cooled and caused him to stick in place. Spires of crimson shot into the sky, and turned back, before crashing down on Amano’s position.
The demon’s eyes widened, and an approving smile crept across his face when Riven’s arm snapped up - coated in writhing blood mana.
Pouring as much energy into the ‘snipe’ infused blood lance, he let the long spear of red loose with a crackle of black sparks.
The attack met just as the spires came down, and-
CRASH
Riven’s vision spun, and he found himself embedded into the floor again - leaving a two-hundred meter line of torn bedrock in his wake as he came to an abrupt stop. Debris and lava had been flung into the air in his passing, and a stinging, painful sensation resonated through his right shoulder. Looking over, he saw that his own armor had been cut completely through - and that he was now missing his entire right arm with a stump in its place.
Standing over him, and with Riven’s arm in his hand, was a wickedly grinning demon with his wings flared out to either side. Tauntingly, he bent over Riven and showed his teeth. “Come, come, we can’t be letting the crowds go without a better show than-UMPH!”
Riven smashed his foot into the cocky demon’s crotch so fast that it created a sonic boom, and only barely managed to create a rift underneath his body before the enraged demon cleaved his weapon into the ground where Riven had been a second later.
Riven shot up high, blood streaming out of his stump-arm as a spray of wretched snares bloomed overhead to entangle the demon far below.
The snares hit nothing but air as Amano blurred, and Riven’s eyes barely followed him as he burst from the ground in a spray of lava and smashed Riven so hard into the ceiling that even the barrier surrounding the arena flickered.
Riven gasped, feeling his spine crunch and his lower body go limp . Looking down, he saw the axe had cut through his waist just below where Messenger ended and his steel leggings began. The blade was lodged there, keeping him stuck to the ceiling, and before Amano could land the follow-up punch to his skull - Riven twisted.
Screaming in pain and literally tearing his upper body off the useless set of lower legs, he sent a pulse of power out from his hand to propel him back towards the ground. Simultaneously he summoned a cloud of storm razors in a rush of spinning, crackling red and black blades while falling through the air with no legs and only one arm.
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The storm of red collided with Amano in a shower of sparks as he somehow glued his feet to the ceiling, moving with a speed that allowed him to deflect each and every one of the hundreds and then thousands of discs that crashed into his position. His axe spun, weaved and blurred - cutting through, smashing and redirecting each and every one of the storm razors for nearly ten seconds before identifying Riven’s position again mid-fall and launching himself towards the vampire.
“NEFAJIA CRECUS BLOOD NOVA!”
BOOM
Riven saw the giant orb of destructive blood crash directly into the demon right before Amano’s figure tore out of it. A shit-eating grin was still plastered on Amano’s face, wings flared out to either side, and a large axe raised as he let out a shout of his own - though Riven couldn’t hear what he said due to the ringing in his ears.
The axe connected, but the vertical maw along Messenger’s armor opened to snap down on the attack right upon impact. Deep tendrils of darkness started reaching out from the armor during their flight to wrap around Amano’s arm, but the demon yanked back - exploding in green light - then somehow propelled himself out of Messenger’s grip to fly skywards.
“METEOR STRIKE!”
The demon’s axe flared with hellfire, and with a scream - he flung the weapon in a spinning arc that torpedoed like a homing missile directly into Riven’s already mutilated body.
Despite Riven’s resistance to flame given his Hell’s Armor, the prowess of the attack was more than enough to crack through his armor and cleave his chest in two - before erupting into flame and imbedding Riven over a hundred feet into the ground with another sonic boom.
***
Riven woke up with a gasp, heart thudding rapidly in his chest as he looked around. He could hear the cheers of the crowd in the distance and the sound of applause, as two of his minions huddled around him while he lay on a soft bed in a small stone room. Two other attendants dressed in black and purple clergy robes were also there, a cthulu-like man and a large imp, both of which bowed and left immediately upon seeing him wake.
“Feeling better?” Fay asked with a worried smile, using a wet washcloth to wipe at Riven’s forehead. Her pretty features were furrowed in concern, and she shared a glance with Athela who wore a very similar look upon her own face.
He looked down at his body, pulling off a thin sheet of fabric, and was surprised to see that his limbs were all intact. However, he could see new but already fading scars now present where he’d lost his lower body and one arm not too long ago. There was even a pink area down his test that looked like it’d been his with a lightning strike by the way the tissue had healed, but those pink lines were very slowly vanishing right before his eyes as well.
“Are Messenger and Jackal alright?” Riven asked, grunting as he tried to sit up - but he quickly fell back to a laying position when he felt a sharp twinge of pain in his lower spine. Then he abruptly felt Gluttony’s presence shift inside his body, working with his vampiric heritage to repair the damage that’d not yet been fixed.
“Yes, they’re fine!” Athela pushed him back down at a more rapid rate and held her hand on his chest with a kind and caring smile. “Kicking that guy in the crotch probably wasn’t the best idea. He got really mad after that and stopped going easy on you.”
Fay saw the scowl of annoyance on Riven’s features and started to giggle, raising a hand to her lips. “Yes, that was actually quite funny. I’m not sure if you heard it during your fight, but the entire crowd erupted in laughter - especially when he became so enraged.”
Riven rolled his eyes and got as comfortable as he could in the bed, feeling a sense of fatigue wash over him. “Well where ARE Messenger and Jackal?”
“Being looked over by some of the best smiths here for repairs. Messenger got it especially bad.” Athela stated promptly. “The back of the helmet is dented after Amano smashed your face into the ground so many times, one of the pauldrons is seriously damaged, and the entire front where that maw is was obliterated. Jackal only had a small dent in the blade.”
Fay cleared her throat.
“Amano was using a relic-armor, some family heirloom from the fourth-era wars against the heavens that has been passed down for generations in his clan to their rising E and D grade prodigies. It’s certainly on par with your own equipment.” Fay said with a thoughtful glance out the hall where the two clergy had disappeared. “I was surprised that Messenger actually broke though. Thankfully as long as the spirit is intact, your armor won’t actually die. And we have a lot of the materials needed for repairing sin-afflicted items in the Abyss, so it’s easy to do so here.”
The sound of large pounding feet echoing through the halls over the screams and shouts of the arena caused Riven to turn his head, and he smiled as Azmoth and Genua made an appearance with Lillith in the back.
Genua gave a small bow, but otherwise stayed silent and submissive as she stepped to the side to allow Azmoth through.
“You not fight bad.” Azmoth immediately said, kneeling down to the bedside to get closer to Riven’s eye-level. He took a large bite out of a slab of meat in one hand, chewed, then swallowed with a satisfied grunt. “Amano very strong and in E-grade. You get better and beat him eventually.”
Riven raised an eyebrow from where he lay, then turned his gaze on Lillith - who was smiling down at him with an amused expression while the yellow flower around one of her horns turned in his direction. “I got my ass thoroughly kicked. Honestly, I’d thought I’d at least put up a fight… but Amano was just toying with me early on. Even though he said he wouldn’t go easy on me.”
Thinking about it, Riven hadn't been beaten that badly... ever? Even when he'd been starting out and very weak, after first learning his basic spells in Chalgathi's trials and had nearly died to that bald cultist... It had been close, but he'd won. Here, being pitted against one of the best E-grades the unholy pillar had to offer, it certainly put into perspective that there were far bigger fish out there than himself even at his own level.
Amano had taken a blood nova head on without even blinking. That was one of Riven's strongest direct strikes.
“He was toying with you - until you kicked him, that is.” Lillith winked, then laughed. “He didn’t want to make you look too bad, but going for a cheap shot like that - all bets were off.”
“I go back and watch other fights now with Gentry, Allie and Retesh. And Fimrindle, he weird but ok, and they talking to other reapers now. Lillith pitting different clans against each other to entertain crowd and it interesting to watch. Get better soon.” Azmoth rose up, ruffled Genua’s hair to her obvious irritation, and then walked out while chomping down on more of the meat in his hands.
Riven took Athela’s hand when she reached for his, intertwining his fingers, and watched the young brutalisk go. “Who’s Retesh?”
“Retesh Vorath.” Fay said, shooting Athela a slightly jealous glare and reaching for Riven’s other hand so she’d be holding one too. “The lich from Panu. He’s the one who came with Lillith and Allie when you were first introduced to Amano not long ago.”
“From Panu? The guy from the world quest? What the hell is he doing here?”
Fay gestured to Lillith with her eyes. “I believe it was decided that Retesh has some promise, and Lillith provided him with a ticket. Is that correct, esteemed one?”
“It is.” Lillith said, creating a chair from solid shadow and sitting on it cross-legged while folding her arms. “The dog shows a small amount of promise, and he arrived in your lands not long after I brought Allie back out of the underdark asking for our help. It appears that Elysium is giving our opposition many boons and bonuses to increase their chances of survival and success, and has given Restesh and his undead empire across the ocean from Umbra quite a bit of trouble. I believe you know the name Judith Marcina?”
“The previous number 1 spot.” Riven acknowledged.
Lillith nodded. “She’s allied with many of the sea-faring peoples now, and has hired many off-world mercenaries from various holy orders that are more than happy to send entire generations of their offspring to their deaths - in an attempt to get you killed. And to kill as many of the banished as they can. Even if one of us dies, that’s a future powerhouse snuffed out early that their elders won’t have to deal with later on. To them, killing even one of us is worth the thousands of their young that will perish.”
The archdemoness snorted in derision with a shake of her head, her seven crowned horns shimmering unnaturally in the light. “They’re desperate to kill as many of the banished as they can before we grow our strength back, and are amassing an invasion force to clear out Retesh’s undead cities before mounting an attack on Umbra itself. In fact, we almost lost one of the banished to their number already when nephilim attempted to finish Retesh off just as he made land. The nephilim were killed by the hundreds, and Judith escaped, but when I say it was close…”
Lillith’s face darkened further with a frown. “It was incredibly close. We had to put Namath, the demon in question, into a stasis ritual to save his life. It was a stark reminder to all of us banished that though we may have the skills and knowledge of the ancients, we are still not as infallible or immortal as we once thought. Even we sometimes fall victim to overconfidence, so do not take the lessons of humility that we are trying to impress upon you lightly, Riven. Overconfidence can easily get any of us killed, it is a flimsy shield, and it is where legends go to die.”
Riven pondered her words, slowly mulling over what was to be done and the numerous questions he had on the subject. “So did Allie finish her world quest in the underdark then?”
“No. She evolved into an angel of death and lost her vampiric heritage, and was unable to absorb the currently semi-dead vampiric elder god. It will fall upon you or another pureblood on the planet to finish the quest, and three of the necromancers he went down there with her were killed in an attempt on her life. She almost died in her attempt, and would have if the ritual I’d stopped had been left alone. It was using siphoned souls of her followers to attack the very structure of her core apparatus.”
His breath caught in his throat as he thought about nearly losing Allie, and he had to quickly repress a surge of worry that flooded through him.
“I see. Thank you, for saving her then.”
Lillith gave a nod of confirmation. “Of course. I’ll be training her as well as you, I don’t intend to let either of you die. The vampiric precursors there will be prepared for our second attempt though, and I don’t think it’ll be as easy as the first time to make it to the temple where I found the elder god’s coffin. I wish I could have taken the coffin with me, but Elysium would not allow it. We’ll talk more about it later. Do you have any other pressing questions before I go over what you can improve upon?”
Riven thought for a moment, allowing Athela to get under the covers and snuggle up against him. “Who is running the Thane Necropolis in our absence? Gurth’Rok? Dr. Brass?”
“Tre’Zix of the Purple Claw, and Kathrine Vonsilla Crushada, the vampiric princess.” Lillith promptly replied. “Alongside a man named Crendir No-Name, an E-grade champion sent from The Blood Moon Requiem and a man that your General Viku spoke very highly of in our brief communication. The Blood Moon Requiem’s forces arrived just before I came to The Abyssal Descent, but Dungeon Negrada - though they are now able to reinforce your lands through Elysium’s new event pacts - have held off in sending reinforcements until their own wars in the hells are over with. Tre’Zix is leading the forces in Negrada’s Hellscapes to secure the dungeon lands quite quickly, while Kathrine remains in Brightsville with the assistance of Gurth’Rok and Dr. Brass to run your country for you. General Bruner is finishing his own job conquering lands surrounding Chicago, ones that I am told tried to assassinate you at one point and failed miserably in doing so.”
Lillith paused, tilting her head to the side to think. “40,000 Sarak slave soldiers from Vartesh have been sent, courtesy of House Wraithtide. 15,000 vampiric soldiers from House Wraithtide have arrived as well, with an additional 10,000 vampiric soldiers from The Blood Moon Requiem’s most elite factions and noble families that were all approved by the High Queen Nephridi. The man named Jeltuna, the Voice of the Sarak I believe you called him, is currently being trained for command of his kin by Kathrine. She tells me the chosen Sarak are being leveled on feral undead, and are being trained regularly in the heartland of your empire while being regularly harvested non-lethally for blood to feed some of the native vampires who’d come out of the underdark to beg for rations - as their thralls were all changed by the system into undead variants too. Humans from Chicago are being paid very well for voluntary blood donations too, while prisoners of war are being forced to give blood regularly to maintain the vampiric armies you’ve recently acquired. Meanwhile, Kathrine has sent Crendir No-Name to command a force of F-grade elites from The Blood Moon Requiem northwards. They intend to conquer the city-states and countries of Umbra that have not already pledged themselves to the Thane Necropolis as vassals. There are only a couple hold-outs that were turned into undead, and they’ll likely fall within the month if they cannot be bribed into submission. Unfortunately the forces from The Blood Moon Requiem cannot cross the sea to assist Retesh or his forces beyond Umbra for a year’s time, according to system parameters on the event quest, but he hopes that we can spare some of our other forces to aid his people before Judith commits genocide - or so he says. Did I miss anything?”
Lillith turned to Fay and Athela, who both hesitantly shook their heads no.
“Good.” Lillith nodded and uncrossed her arms to lean forward. “The details on what’s happening in Panu can wait beyond what I’ve already told you. For now, let’s go over what you can improve on - and what you did wrong in that fight against Amano. Then, we’ll pit you against a series of assassins to shore up your obvious lacking areas regarding stealthed opponents.”