Riell laughed at Ethan’s response, unable to help herself. “Did watching me remind you of our own fight?” she teased. Ethan didn’t respond, choosing instead to continue on his way through the cave.

Dharen felt the edges of his mouth quirk up slightly. He knew very well how frustrating fighting Riell could be. There was always the sensation that, if only a single hit landed properly, the battle could be won. And that was true; however, Ethan lacked the Agility to fully capitalize on his opportunities. Making things worse, he lacked the speed to avoid her Disorienting Touch, throwing him into a world of Uncertainty. The battle between the two warriors had turned into a long and drawn out affair, with Riell having great difficulty damaging Ethan significantly and Ethan unable to return her blows.

Dharen knew full well that Riell suffered reduced Vitality due to her Seed’s attribute affinities. But for opponents such as Dharen and Ethan, who both suffered from an unfortunately diminished Luck, a battle while inside Riell’s Field was oftentimes an exercise in frustration.

He had heard from the others about the rivalry between the two warriors. Though, rivalry didn’t feel like the right term when it was so one-sided.

Ethan was a powerful warrior in his own right - frighteningly so, even. He had a level of determination that was difficult to comprehend, an intensity that was mountainous. Whereas many men might falter under the difficulty of the Boons that he had been bestowed, he never did.

Dharen, along with Riell and the two brothers, followed along from behind as Ethan stalked forward. The darkness pushed in from around them, a formidable enemy in its own right. Within its shadowy embrace, dangerous Feyul lurked about. Despite that, Dharen knew that there was no real cause for concern. Though the quest notice that they had undertaken was classified at the same level as the mission to defeat Keljier, his allies this time were significantly more powerful. Himself included.

Ethan continued on into the darkness, uncaring of the dangers. And, just as Dharen had expected, two Feyul tails impaled him. They ripped through his flesh with ease, eliciting a scream from the man. The force of the dual strikes lifted him off of his feet; the only thing that prevented him from careening through the air were the spikes that had pierced their way through his midsection.

Still screaming in agony, his hands began to emanate a crimson miasma. He ripped the spiked tails from his chest, blood pouring out from the now-open wounds in a deluge. He fell back to the floor as the sounds of his screams echoed through the cave, and soon three more Feyul had appeared in response to the noise.

Still, Dharen and the others simply watched.

With Ethan appearing so grievously injured, a Feyul rushed in. It swiped viciously, scoring another deep wound and savaging Ethan’s chest further. Ethan let out a howl of anguish in response, before throwing a punch at the offending monster. His fist connected, flesh meeting scale - and scale became naught but dust.

The Feyul toppled to the cave floor, a fist-sized hole having erupted in a line through its body. Ethan straightened, his devastating wounds gone as if they were never there.

He stalked forward once more towards the nearby Feyul, hands at his sides as if inviting them to strike. And strike they did. Showing a modicum of intelligence, the Feyul changed tactics. In a rapid series of coordinated attacks, they managed to tear Ethan’s arms off one after another. Listening to the man’s screams of agony, Dharen winced. There has to be something wrong with him, to be willing to fight like this, he thought to himself - not for the first time. The creatures, already close, advanced further. Now, less cautious now due to their quarry’s poor state, they pushed for the kill.

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The first neared, slashing at his exposed throat. In that moment, the crimson miasma appeared once more. This time, it coated Ethan’s forehead as he brought it down in a reckless headbutt. It connected with the incoming claws, shattering them and forming them into shrapnel that flew out and pierced the tough scales of the gathered Feyul. Just as before, Ethan’s mangled body returned to a pristine state. His sleeves, unfortunately, did not.

Dharen noted with some disgust that his dismembered arms remained in a lake of blood on the floor.

Though he had seen similar feats from the man before, there were just some things that were hard to get used to. Ethan’s abilities, coupled with his likely insanity, were one of those. The man possessed a Seed of Retribution, and his abilities were heavily focused on returning the damage that he had received. Despite its clear power, Dharen was not sure that he would be happy to have the man’s abilities, himself. Very few sane men would.

The Boon that empowered his attacks was known as The Hand of Retribution. A bit of a misnomer, to be sure, considering that Dharen had witnessed the man use innumerable different body parts to perform the ability. From what he understood, it allowed Ethan to absorb and store half of all damage that he should have taken. He was then able to release the sum of the stored damage from a chosen impact point at a later point. However, it had one major drawback. In return for the defensive and offensive capabilities that the ability created, he suffered through twice the amount of pain.

But it was in its synergy with one of his other abilities that The Hand of Retribution truly shone. The most important of those was Soothing Vengeance. When Soothing Vengeance was activated, he was restored for the amount of damage that he dealt to an entity that had harmed him. Thus, his miraculous ability to heal.

With abilities such as these, Dharen had found it a little hard to believe that Riell had managed to defeat him. The man was nearly unkillable, as long as he was able to deal a blow. Unfortunately for him, Riell was too unpredictable. The moment that he had been afflicted with her Disorienting Touch, the battle had been decided. Still, Riell reported that Ethan’s increased Vitality and Endurance had caused the fight to extend for an unreasonably long time, nearly causing her to cede the battle out of exhaustion.

That was not the case in this battle. The Feyul, though powerful, were much more predictable than Riell. And so, Ethan suffered grievous wounds one after another, striking down an enemy in turn each time.

First, he was stabbed through the throat with a Feyul tail. That one hurt Dharen to watch, as blood bubbled and frothed around the wound. He yanked sharply at the tail impaling his throat, pulling the Feyul closer. As it neared, he ripped the spiked tail from his throat and sent a crimson-shaded foot careening into the Feyul’s throat. Without being bolstered by a ridiculous Vitality similar to Ethan’s, the beast collapsed.

The remaining two Feyul circled Ethan warily, uncertainty shading their steps. With his enemies faltering, he rushed towards the nearest beast. It lashed out reflexively with its tail, cutting Ethan with a glancing blow across his shoulder. He jerked slightly with the hit, before Thrusting his other hand, he jammed a finger coated with crimson miasma through the creature’s eye.

Rejuvenated once more, he followed up by pulling a dagger from its sheath and stabbing it through the remaining eye. He whirled around to face the final remaining Feyul, only to find that it had already fled.

Ethan raised one of his newly-formed hands, scratching his head lightly. “I feel a little better, now. That was a close one,” he laughed.

His expression sobered. “But why didn’t you guys catch the last one?”

The others just stared.

“Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?” Held questioned.

Ethan only shrugged in response.