Sam looked at the landscape, "Yeah, it hasn't changed much in the last few hundred years." he thought he had fuzzy memories about being in this area. It seemed even better than he remembered." so, do you really think we can find it?"

"yeah, pretty. This place isn't too big." Sam turned to face his mother; she had quite frankly decided to come with him. he had informed her that he hadn't needed any help doing this, cleaning up his actions." I'm still coming with you; you traveled with your dad. It's my turn."

So when the weekend came, they got on a plan; Sam had made sure his teacher would send him any work he needed." while school wasn't that important, he didn't feel like falling behind much." arriving, Sam had been hit by bits of memory, feeling like he's walked these streets before.

'of course, I probably have,' he started, letting his feet carry him down the street and into the valley. Where a village, from what he could tell, was pretty young, in the way villages could be. Probably younger than him, walking through the street he just walked. Trying to pin down any memories.

"Nothing coming up," were they in the wrong place? But this felt right; maybe the new buildings were messing with him; they kept talking around, waking in a few tourist spots, getting some gelato. It was excellent, and they were having a bit of fun if his mother wasn't recounting the story of how she and Natal met.

If you boiled the story down to its barest bones, it went like this, they had both been in a kind of tournament to earn some cash. They got matched up and beat each other. They kept running into each other over the course of said torment, talking, being friends, and accidentally going out on a date.

They officially started dating a few weeks after the torment. Mainly because they were both injured in said torment, but once they recovered, they started dating, and things took off from there. It would be years before Sam's feral ass came into the picture.

Another story she liked to repeat. She was trying to tell it now, but the same was determined to stop her. "seriously, it's embarrassing to hear that story?" she put on a knowing smirk. "but it's so cute; how easy you got bribed like some stray cats."

"hey!" an acutely stray cat protested, leading their kittens down the street. "I doubt that kid is any near that feral."

"I say that because he did hiss and claw at us."

"in my defense, I had been in the forest for a while." Sam cut in," It had been...great, I doubt the timeline." he just knew he had seen more than one full moon. Either that meant months or more than a year, he wasn't sure. "I know I like that weird blue and green fruit."

"which was poisonous," his mother pointed out." Sam rolled his eyes. It was just a little poison. "anyway, we have to continue our search." the mother cat asked what they were looking for while stopping one of her kittens from walking away.

"I was here a few hundred years ago and tried to find some books I stole." but it looks so different that it's messing with my mind a bit. Do you know any good natural landmarks?"

"There, the sword pinning the arm of the thing," she gave them directions and, after thanking her. they went to see the arm. An exciting thing that tickled the back of the young lord's mind,' So what are you betting?' he asked the helper.

'I do not make bets, but if I had to guess. It is possible you fought the thing or were it,' the helper said after running a quick search with other access to the world wide web. Finding references to the sword. From the carbon dating, they believed it was from around the same period their lord was in the area.

Walking into the area where the sword sat, Sam noticed the damage. Not new but old. He first wondered why no one had cleaned it up. but then his senses picked on the energy lingering in the wounds. It was demonic, destructive energy.

More so, it was his, "I can't remember the last time I used this trick." it also made him very nervous; that trick was potent. Damage that could not be healed, be hidden. Following the destruction, they made their way to the other side, where a large rock stood. On it a single edge clever; it is a beautiful and brutal work of art, and without leaking off it, it makes your hair stand on end.

this blade was untouched by the weather, the only damage seemed to be from the arm it was pinning to the wall. The arm was pitch black, five fingers with unnatural long mails, and there was a hole in the wall. from a missed stab, Sam remembered.

'well, shit, this really is the area,' huffing, Sam looked away from the arm. before memories and tears could really swell up. But his memory of the location was a bit clearer.' If that was the same rock there, then my little cave should be.." he broke out into a run. topping at about thirty miles before they stopped before a small opening to fit a squirrel.

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"what trick got you in here?" she asked. Sam smiled a bit, remembering the use of the ghost hour. which at higher levels let him phase." but we won't be doing that," he carved out a rune, powering it up to widen the opening enough they could go down the fifteen-foot hole to a much larger opening.

"oh, you carved out quite a little space for yourself," she tried not to think too much about the bones. "why are there no bugs down here." Sam pointed to a cut into the ground that radiated demon energy enough to scare away any form of life. Even the microorganisms. This is one of the reasons bones weren't as rotten as they should be.

"Man, these are all fossils. I do not like that." crawling around them, Sam headed deeper into the cave." why? Makes you feel old?"

"uncomfortable so," Sam crawled forward, pushing through the bones to the actual point where he lived. It was a bit wider, with a better number of dry leaves sitting on the ground. Sitting next to it was a pile of books, a huge pile of books more than Sam thought he stole." Man, I read a lot," they stopped to make sure the books were fine. Not having rotten too much thanks to nothing living existing in this space.

Sam thought that would be the end of it, besides a few other things, like the beating black heart SamSam had speared on a rock. That didn't impede its beating. or the just sense of wrong that came out of it." Sam looked at it for a moment before turning to his mother." could you take everything I have to break this." as he spoke, his nails were already turning black, power flowing up his arms.

"Okay!" she didn't question his judgment, a rune lighting up under her feet, giving her the speed to leave the cave in a few moments. Not a moment later, the ground shook, and she could hear some very violent cursing before more tremors started going through the earth." ah, that bad." she pulled out her phone, making a call right before Sam was blasting out of the ground.

"I hate this so much." he grumbled, rolling up his ribbon a bit," For the record, I took this thing from what might have been a murder or suicide cult." he turned towards the hole as this thing crawled out, it was humanoid in the way he had two leg and two arms. Minimally, at times, new limbs grew and fell off as the abomination moved towards them.

"Oh, absolutely not," the earth cracked as she moved dropped, kicking the thing back into the hole; she landed in a twirl and pulled out explosives, which were quickly dropped down the hole. "that going to buy us a moment," Sam said raising his hand to the sky as the explosives went off.

The earth shook, sinking as the detonation caved in the small cave; Sam sighed, feeling a bit upset about that. "I could fix it. Are the mana burns worth it?" he decided yes, they were as the shard of night fell from the sky. "I lived there for a very long time; I don't want to let it go."

it took some time for the abomination to climb to the surface, "let me handle this," Sam told his mother. "are you sure?" he nodded, and immediately seven arms blocked a downward slash. pulling his blade back. He lashed out, his leg snaking around the arms, "Gross!" the head split in two, Sam's attack missed, and all he got for it was a foul goop on his shoes.

'I know the only vital this thing has is the abomination of a heart-shaped artifact. But it's moving,' he tried to narrow down its location, but he could sense it moving around in the semi-liquid body. even as he slashed and kicked. "this isn't working!" Sam grumbled to himself, pumping out more destructive power.

the air itself howled as he slashed upward, serving serval arms. Only for the abomination to grow more arms in their place, growing under his breath. Sam tried to keep himself under control. his temper and the demon thoughts, 'I can burn through the energy it using for its regeneration, but-"

the creature stopped its passive defense and went on offense. Its attack was so easily telegraphed that Sam simply blocked it to test its strength. It knocked him backways, twin trenches in the ground from where he dug his feet in. "okay, physical force is matched by the force that threw him to the surface," the explosion of energy had been impressive.

"but it didn't leave a mark," toes digging into the ground. He rushed at the abomination. It gave a soundless roar, pulling back its left arm and swinging forward. sam felt the draft as he leaped over the strike and abomination entirely.

Passing over its head, he spun, swinging his weapon through its head; landing, he jumped back. Avoided a backhanded swing from 12 arms, stepping forward, he swung at the joints, cutting through several arms before the strike grew too weak. "this thing is a pain," it had been too long since he had such a fight.

The next ten minutes Sam spent dancing around its clumsy and straightforward attacks, slashing and cutting through its body. Watching as it retreated again and again. "you're learning," the raven commented, avoiding a sloppy combo. "I'd almost be impressed by the speed."

Snapping his finger, he caused all the cuts and stabs to light up," If I wasn't so disgusted by your presence." sensing that life was in danger, it rushed at him. sam only widens his stance, throwing his sword into the air. ribbon trailing in the slight breeze, it drew the abomination's attention.

"aH!" A shiver went up Sam's spine as he drove his face into the abominations." knocking the head back, he planted his foot in its chest and pushed with all he had. 'it will take a bit more," The glowing sword marks were growing, swallowing.

sam understood the limits of regeneration. The biggest thing was that it couldn't work if there was nothing left. "demon hour, devouring." he ran his black nails over his blade. "it takes too long to really die, though." enraged, the abomination charged at him, going closer same slashed at the legs.

The abomination fell over, and Sam stomped on its back, pinning it for a moment it took to lash over serval cuts across its back. They begin glowing soon after he jumps away, the abomination turning its whole head around to try and bite him.

landing a few meters away, Sam considered his next move,' I'm pretty sure the devouring will end it. as long as it doesn't pull something out of its ass or someone comes to save it...shiT!' Sam realized he had no idea what the state of the cult he stole the heart-shaped artifact from; he didn't know if they still existed or had been whipped out. the second thought was arrogant and greedy people who would just see a powerful magic weapon and nothing else.

stretching out his Senses, Sam felt some powerful presence coming toward the battlefield," Oh great. this day getting even more interesting." looking at the abomination, he considered his next move, as he caught a fist and threw it over his shoulder. Sending it more than 4 meters.

"we've got company!" drawing two runes with both hands, one battle rune to send a wave of crescent blades at the abomination. While the other was another battle rune, but more suited for long-range attacks. "alright, let's see who you fuckers are!" with a motion, a beam no wider than two fingers was fired off.

Sam watched as his attack was detected, not that he made any attempt to hide it. And watch the group part to let it pass by. "Mmm, they're not slow," tilting his hand down, he commanded the blades to dig into the feet of the abomination, pinning it for another blade to come up and cut into its torso.

"wait," his mother said, rushing into the battlefield," I think there the reinforcement meant I called." Sam blinked before turning toward her, arms still raised to move." you called reinforcement?"

"yeah, we found something strange, and you seemed genuinely worried about it. I think that call for reinforcement." Sam opened his mouth and then closed it; friendly reinforcement wasn't a bad idea. 'fell back into an old habit,' Sam realized." thank you, I think they'll be of great help." his first thought was having the secure the perimeter. but then he saw the submachine gun one of them had.

"Hey, can you keep this thing busy?" Sam shouted out, a rune behind his back just in case. the machine gun user looked at Sam and then the abomination before running their hands through her hair." am I getting paid enough for this?" she commented, watching the abomination tear off its own feet to try and attack. Sam didn't move until it was right next to him.

Flipping forward, he shot his heel into its chin right in time to hear a trigger click!