“The tale of Razznik and the Cursed Seven is a peculiar one, filled with heartbreak, betrayal, love, and fear. This is a tale of a man who fought against the natural order of the world, incurring countless enemies along the way. To date, no one truly knows what drove him to endlessly pursue such heights despite the pain and torment.
However, perhaps the world should have taken notice when Razznik, in his first year, displayed an indomitable, possibly insane will to achieve a goal most considered impossible.
Razznik, like you, Zuri, was a Summoned from another world. There isn’t much difference in the way Summoned operate between now and back then. In both eras, Summoned relied commonly relied on levels to grow stronger and then banked on attaining stronger classes to ultimately open the gap between themselves and other Summoned.
Razznik, however, was the first to truly challenge that notion. The young man locked himself in the city for a year, training under different teachers from various schools to push his body’s stats to their ultimate limit. Furthermore, he exploited a loophole in the Summoned’s innate nature to help him achieve this goal.
You see, unlike now, back then, Summoned, by default, were granted Aethir’s Blessing, a spell that allowed them to be revived after being killed. However, the one caveat was that Summoned would lose a level after death and be penalized. The penalty was a loss in both the stats gained from leveling and 10% of all stats accumulated outside leveling.
It was a strict penalty that forced the Summoned to treat death with respect, but Razznik saw it as an opportunity. The crazy man committed suicide by monster whenever he crossed level 1. This, in turn, meant he lost 10% of all the hardwork he’d done. But he did not give up.
Due to losing so many stats each time he died, it took him a whole year to finally accumulate 99 stats in every combat and magic field. However, he was not just a stat-padded idiot. Far from it. Having undergone intense, focused training from dozens of instructors, Razznik’s weapon and magic skills attained nigh-perfection.
In an age where most Summoned relied on flashy skills and help from the gods when battling, Razznik was the first to rely on pure personal skill in battle. On the day he finally left that city, perhaps, aside from his instructors, no one knew that a monster had been unleashed upon the world.
Following Razznik’s rise to infamy, many questioned the instructors, wondering whether they didn’t see any signs. However, no matter who was asked, they all replied the same way, “I just wanted to see how far he could go.” Indeed, despite the Instructors’ blood, sweat and tears, none of them had managed to complete the feat Razznik challenged.
Razznik’s [Vajra Body] was the first and last of its kind. We do not know the exact details, but it soon proved its strength in Razznik’s second year in Zytra. This is the tale of the first Cursed, Zeing Ashqoj, born to the unholy union of dwarf and giant.
During Razznik’s second year, a race of giants were running amok across the continent, plundering, fighting, and pillaging everything in sight. Countless armies were raised to combat the locusts, but all were vanquished.
To make matters worse, the stronger warriors couldn’t provide help because the region, like this one, was level-locked to 200 and below. Anyone above level 200 would find their strength severely restricted upon entering that land. As a result, no warrior dared entered the region for fear of losing their lives in such a frustrating manner.
Pushed to the edge of their limits, the surrounding nations issued a contract to the Adventurers’ Guild, seeking help.
A mouth-watering reward enticed hundreds of mercenaries, both Summoned and Residents alike, to challenge the giants. Unfortunately, it all proved fruitless as the adventurers also fell one after another. Luckily, the giants stopped pillaging for a few days to host a tournament—a tournament hosted every ten years to pick their new leader. The winner would get a chance to challenge the current leader. If they won, then they took over the crown of King of the Giants.
Strangely enough, any member of any race was allowed to compete. Unfortunately, the giants proved why they were the apex warriors. Roughly 98% of the mercenaries and warriors were eliminated in the first few rounds, ensuring the competition was mostly between the giants.
However, to the shock of those watching, two men slaughtered their way through the tournament brackets with frightening ease. Yes, as you must have guessed, the men were Zeing Ashqoj (Zain Ash-Coi) and Razznik Y’Terlow (E-Ter-loe). Zeing was known amongst the mercenaries. He was the illegitimate son of the giant’s king and a dwarf woman. He had spent his entire life training in dangerous situations, all to slay his father in a one-on-one fight.
Zeing was known, but Razznik, not so much. This unknown teenager revealed himself to be a dangerous death god. Unlike other contestants, none of the giants who fought him escaped with their lives. A single slash of his sword was all it took to reacquaint the giants with the circle. Eventually, most giants quit once they encountered him, choosing life over meaningless death.
Eventually, Zeing and Razznik met each one another as finalists. Zeing tried to convince Razznik to give up, claiming he would ensure he got double what the Adventurer’s Guild paid. Zeing even went as far as promising to abdicate the throne to Razznik following his vengeance.
Unfortunately, Razznik was not moved in the slightest. The crazy man’s only desire was to battle stronger opponents, and the Giant’s King was the strongest in the region. As a result of their impasse, they were forced to fight.
I was not there to witness it, but from what I have heard, the battle was breathtaking. In this world, there is no man more skilled with manipulating earth than Zeing, but Razznik, even then, was simply a bulldozer of a man. Through sheer brute force alone, he smashed through Zeing’s constructs, until BAM! He finally beat Zeing.
Strangely, however, Razznik chose to spare Zeing’s life. At the time, many wondered why, but in retrospect, it is quite clear. Because Razznik not only defeated him but also stole his vengeance, Zeing constantly hounded the young man for a rematch. Each time they fought, Razznik would always emerge victorious, if only by a small margin. Due to that slim margin, Zeing regularly turned up after improving his skills and strength.
Still, Razznik defeated him by that slight margin.
It was not until much, much later, after Razznik had left Zeing behind in his quest for power, that the dwarf realized Razznik had been using him as a training dummy. Whenever Zeing appeared, Razznik would use him to test out new moves and skills. After all, Zeing was the only one strong enough to not immediately die after being bombarded by his skills.
Now, although Razznik left Zeing, it did not mean Zeing forgot Zeing. Keeping the warrior as his goal, Zeing trained like a man possessed, delving into forbidden zones and alternate dimensions to seek out methods to get stronger. Unfortunately, just when Zeing considered himself ready, news reached him that Razznik had fallen in battle.
The news devastated Zeing. If he did not defeat Razznik, then how was he supposed to avenge his mother? However, just when he was in the pits of his despair, Razznik returned to the world, not as a man, but as something more… something almost divine.
Zeing was the first of seven to form a karmic bond with Razznik, but he did not spend the most time alongside the man. That unfortunate privilege falls onto a young woman named ‘Niye of the Banur tribe.’
This ill-fated meeting is perhaps what truly pushed Razznik onto the path of destruction. Oh-ho-ho, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, however. Niye, the sweet little girl, is the second person whose fate was cosmically tied to Razznik’s.
This was during Razznik’s fourth year, I believe… By this time, the young warrior’s name had spread to every corner of the continent. Many guilds and organizations sought him out, either for recruitment or assassinations. But countless more had been destroyed by his own hands.
It was an unfortunate scenario. Razznik sought out strong people to battle. However, those powerful enough to battle Razznik usually had an organization, army, militia, or country backing them. These individuals, who were deemed too important to lose to a mad man’s thirst for battle, were heavily protected.
Which was quite a fruitless endeavor because Razznik just cut his way through any blockade with impunity until he got his challenge. Before long, the man’s body count was akin to those left behind by armies. Several Residents protested and cried out to Aethir, begging her to strip him of his blessings so they could kill him once and for all.
Unfortunately, Aethir refused to take back her blessing. At least, until Razznik did something truly reprehensible. However, her priests, in a moment of brilliance, chose to use Razznik’s greatest vice against him.
The priests partnered with the Adventurer’s Guild and agreed to send Razznik to battle the most dangerous monsters across the realms. Razznik, predictably, agreed to carry out these dangerous missions without wasting a thought on the possibility it was a trap.
If it was one, all he had to do was tear through it.
While Razznik accomplished these missions, he came across a gorge in a secret dimension. It housed a powerful demon that had been terrorizing the locals. Unfortunately, it was nigh impossible to pass through. The gorge possessed numerous cursed souls that appeared and disappeared at random. Furthermore, whoever was touched by these souls would instantly perish.
The Great Razznik died three times attempting to cross that gorge. He finally gave up after the third try. However, his pride would not let him give up the mission entirely. Instead, he devoted weeks scouring across the continent, searching for any possible solution.
Naturally, the continent was thrilled because, during this period, Razznik did not seek out anyone for a challenge. It indeed appeared like the priests had finally found a way to rid them of the Razznik problem.
Unfortunately, just as the continent was in a celebratory mood, Razznik came across a small town called Banur. Passers-by rumored the small town housed a fortune teller. She wasn’t a perfect fortune teller. She couldn’t control her abilities, but all of her prophecies had come true. This information intrigued the wandering warrior, Razznik, who decided to take a look for himself.
However, he did not expect what he eventually found.
The so-called fortune teller was not a heavily decorated old lady with a magic ball but a small, impoverished little girl. The little girl, whom Razznik later learned was called Niye, was dressed in rags and had her limbs chained to a post to prevent her from running. No one knows why, but this triggered something in Razznik. For the first time ever, he took an interest in someone else.
Without asking any questions, he cut the chains that bound Niye and then walked out of the town. Some tried to stop him, but that resulted in the entire town getting massacred. It is said that he spilled enough blood to form a pond.
This event marked the first time Razznik ‘crossed the line.’ It also was the first time Aethir began to consider the young man a problem that needed to be fixed.
All that had nothing to do with Razznik, however. After cooling down, the young man took Niye to a forest and sat her down for a serious talk. After a mixture of coercion and bribery—Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but she has a frighteningly sweet tooth—Niye finally began to talk.
Razznik soon learned that Niye was a rare beastkin called a ‘kiwox,’ a weird mix between Kiwu and Kafus. The kiwu tribe was a rare winged beastkin tribe. Appearance-wise, they looked just like humans, except with the addition of cute one-meter wings that grew out of the backs.
Although the kiwu could not fly, many wealthy nobles loved to hang their wings as rare collections. Niye’s previous village was attacked when she was still a baby, and her father, the last of his kind, was killed for his wings.
Niye’s mother fled the village with Niye but was heavily injured in the process. She died of blood loss soon after Niye was safely delivered to the next village. Niye grew up under the care of a homeless, old, blind kafu in Banur. The poor woman did her best, but raising a child was not easy – especially when she had to beg for herself too.
Luckily, the old woman, Uka, raised Niye with care until she was 10. This was where things started to get bad. At the age of 10, Niye had her first vision – a robbery turned accidental murder of the man who lived down the street.
Niye, the naïve child she was, tried to warn the man, but he brushed her off. Unfortunately, he turned up dead later that night. At first, people attributed it to a coincidence. But when Niye predicted more and more disasters and deaths, they began to believe it was a curse.
The situation was further incensed by a sham priest who claimed they needed to beat the ‘demons’ out of Niye. Only then could the prophecies be averted. The clueless, scared populace went along with the crazy plan, but strangely it seemed to work.
Two people who were scheduled to die didn’t. Later, they found out it was because they were beating Niye when they should have been walking back home, which prevented them from getting trampled by an out of control carriage.
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Also, around this time, Niye’s kiwox features began to grow prominent. Initially, she took her father’s human form and nothing else. But as she grew older, her tail and ears began to grow out. And as they say, when it rains, it pours. Niye lost her freedom as she was forcefully turned into a fortune teller by the collective village. Even worse, it did not take long before a few passing nobles began to take an interest in her.
Sensing the danger, Niye asked Uka for help. Luckily, Uka had a charmed leg brace that allowed her to change her appearance. Niye used this charm to mask her true identity. Unfortunately, Uka passed away soon after, leaving Niye in the sham priest’s hands and the mindless village.
However, with one swipe of his sword, Razznik cut her free from all that. Perhaps, as a result of her excitement, she suddenly received a vision of Razznik’s future.
Niye’s vision has historically always had a tell-tale reaction. When she was a child and unable to control her powers, her visions manifested during violent seizures. Her eyes would turn white, and she would foam at the mouth. Nasty business, it was. Do not fret. She is much better now. With training, she has learned to control the backlash.
Back then, however, this was not the case. Due to the severity of Razznik’s vision, and the powers involved, little Niye was comatose for three days. During this period, Razznik took care of her in a hideout he’d made in the mountains. When Niye awoke from her slumber, Razznik demanded the prophecy from her.
Niye, still naïve and yet to realize the destructive power of prophecies, revealed the truth. She had seen Razznik laying on a blood-soaked mountain. Dozens of swords were embedded in his chest as he angrily glared at a host of angels and a woman whom Niye could not make out. Niye’s terrible backlash started when this woman came into view, which revealed the kind of power she had.
However, this was not all. As a result of the backlash, Niye’s powers crashed, and as a result, she witnessed dozens of futures regarding Razznik. Unfortunately, they all ended with him dying in one way or another, but that woman remained constant throughout. It wasn’t until the last vision that something changed. In this one, she saw Razznik, still bloody but standing atop a world on fire. His hands gripped his blade as he stared at an ocean of blood ahead and said, “Thankfully, I broke through.”
Razznik fell into thought as he listened to Niye’s vision. It did not take him long to make out who had the power, resources, and time to kill him so thoroughly that he had no chance of winning. Razznik did not fear any beings in this world, but even he knew there was a class he could never reach. Yes, the gods. Only the gods could corner him to death.
So, did that mean Aethir was out to get him? Maybe not now. Maybe, sometime in the future, but without a doubt, she would eventually come for him.
No one knows how Razznik felt about this revelation. But what we do know is that he took Niye under his wing following that vision. He spent months personally training and honing her predictive skills until she could control them by heart. As for the training itself, oooh, the less said, the better. All you have to know is that no one who trains under Razznik does so without losing at least a layer of skin.
Thankfully, Niye’s torture and hardwork paid off. Following her training, Razznik used her help to pass through the gorge. Since they knew each beam’s path beforehand, Razznik’s agility allowed them to slip through unscathed. Following which, he then slaughtered the demon hiding within with ease.
Razznik returned to the Adventurer’s guild with his bounty, but he did not receive the welcoming gesture he expected. Instead, the guild’s atmosphere seemed to be one of stunned disappointment. It seemed they never expected him to survive that task. Razznik, however, ignored the atmosphere as he continued to accept the increasingly tougher tasks handed out.
Some of the tasks were absolutely insane. One in particular actually involved willingly entering a chaotic dimension on the brink of collapse. Blackholes and explosions occurred without warning, instantly killing any caught within. No sane adventurer would have accepted these tasks, but Razznik, with the help of Niye, easily cleared these death traps.
Eventually, through investigation, the priests and the Adventurers’ Guild discovered Niye’s secret. Almost immediately, they hired assassins to eliminate her in hopes of ridding Razznik of this cheat. Unfortunately, Niye’s visions revealed her own assassination.
Razznik, enraged by the gall of these assassins, not only killed them but also tortured the location of their headquarters out of them. Within days, the Assassins’ Guild ceased to exist on the continent, a lake of blood taking their place. Razznik did not stop there, though. Oh no. He would not have been known as the Destroyer if he was one to stop at the appropriate time.
No, Razznik tortured the truth out of the Guildmaster before killing him. When he realized it was a plot by higherups in Aethir’s temple, the Empire, and the Adventurer’s Guild, he fearlessly demanded the parties responsible deliver their heads to him.
Looking back now, the leaders of the establishments should have listened. Sure, they would have lost a lot of face, but it was much better than the eventual outcome.
As expected, the organizations chose not to hand the colluders over. Razznik, in return, single-handedly attacked each one. He only had one goal: the death of those responsible. However, as it was with these organizations, thousands of soldiers were tasked with blocking his path. Razznik, unfortunately, showed no mercy to these men and women.
Rivers of blood flowed through the capital, temple, and guild as Razznik slaughtered his way to the culprits. Ignoring the bodies that amounted to the tens of thousands, the mad man only stopped the carnage after executing the culprits.
This event marked Razznik’s first open rebellion against an Empire. However, despite the Empire’s rage, they could not so easily destroy Razznik. This was because Razznik made it a point to stay in level-locked regions as he leveled. This ensured that he would not meet anyone over 100 levels above him.
Niye, however, foresaw a future in which half the world had perished to Razznik’s blade. Whenever an official provoked him, he would do anything to enact his punishment, regardless of how many people risked their lives to stop him. It did not matter if it was a king. The high position only meant more sacrifices.
When she saw this horrific future, Niye abandoned Razznik and then turned herself into the Empire. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to her, the Empire used her surrender as a pretext to lure Razznik into an ambush in a non-level-locked region.
Within the field, armies comprised of soldiers and adventurers, both Resident and Summoned, surrounded Razznik, pleased at the chance to finally expunge and capture this devil. The plan was that following his death, they would capture him at the temple he respawned.
Razznik, however, seemed to have anticipated this. Just when it seemed like the coalition had succeeded, a terrible figure appeared next to him .
A grotesque mask, an aura that choked the light out of the sun, and a magnificent cape that danced in the evening breeze. It was none other than the Demon King!
The Demon King, whose territory had been under constant attack from the hume alliance, relished the opportunity for vengeance. He summoned an army of his own, which then descended upon the coalition.
It was terrible. Between the demons and Razznik, not a single coalition member managed to escape. Over five hundred thousand men and women lost their lives that day. A number that shook the very foundations of the earth. Following this heavy loss, the Empire, Guild, and Temple hastily signed a treaty with Razznik, promising great riches in return for forgiveness. However, they would not allow Niye to return to his side for her own safety.
Razznik refused their gesture and would have gone to full out war had Niye not come out herself to denounce him. She revealed that she wanted nothing to do with him as she could no longer bear being responsible for so many deaths. She demanded that he stay far away from her and never show his face again.
No one knows how Razznik felt, but just as she asked, he sheathed his sword and then withdrew his army. Just like that, despite starting a mountain of death, he easily retreated without a word. This was one of the reasons no one could pinpoint what mattered to Razznik. One second, you might think he was attached to something, but the next, he would abandon that same thing without a moment’s hesitation.
One can only wonder what kind of past he had to end up this way. But, regardless, that is the tale of the Razznik and the second of the Cursed Seven.
The third and fourth of the Cursed seven are a pair of brothers named Barthul and Cathek. If Razznik’s fate with Niye kickstarted the Calamity’s destruction, his fate with these brothers cemented that destiny and made it inevitable.
The unfortunate meeting between Razznik and the kafu brothers occurred in his tenth year in this world. After giving up Niye to the Empire, Razznik decided to go off on his own to counter the destiny she foresaw. The warrior scoured several dimensions and ancient texts until he learned of a being known as the ‘Realm Goddess.’ This being, otherwise known as the ‘Goddess of Levels’, was in charge of the level-locked areas on the continent.
Razznik, upon encountering the texts on this being, immediately understood what the prophecy meant. The thing the future him broke through was ‘levels.’ Without the level cap, nothing prevented him from becoming strong enough to one day defeat a god.
Unbeknownst to Razznik, however, Aethir, with Ferulic’s help, kept tabs on his movement through the realms. When she realized he had finally stumbled upon something that could threaten her, she devised an ingenious plot. She knew it was only a matter of time before Razznik found the goddess’ location, so she smartly got ahead of the crisis.
Razznik was handed a mission by the temple to slay a village of demons planning on attacking neighboring cities. Initially, Razznik refused, but he eventually agreed when he was promised a foe who would grant him a worthy battle. The truth was that, after encountering the level limit, Razznik had found it difficult to find worthy adversaries. The promise of a good fight was enough to get him to do most things.
Razznik, clueless about the temple’s real purpose, went ahead and slaughtered the village while searching for the supposed enemy. He did encounter the foe eventually, a shape-shifting kafu with the ability to turn into a chimera. Without bothering to exchange words, Razznik engaged the chimera in a realm-shaking battle.
The chimera tried her best and did push Razznik to the edge . B ut eventually, like so many others before, she succumbed to the man’s relentless rage and strength. As she bled out, already resigned to fate, she questioned the reason for Razznik’s desire to kill her.
With the battle concluded, Razznik freely exposed the truth. He accepted a task from Aethir’s temple to kill demons. He took the assignment because he was promised a decent fight. Luckily, she did not disappoint him.
Strangely, however, upon hearing the admission, the chimera burst out laughing, her eyes a mixture of rage and amusement. She then revealed to Razznik that he had been played by Aethir. She, the chimera, was actually Juno, the goddess of levels. Through her death, Razznik had just ensured that the level limit would never be broken.
Razznik was understandably outraged and immediately attempted to heal Juno, but it was too late. His ki and mana were too corrosive. Not even he had enough life force to revive her. Now, this next part, no one found out until after the Calamity. Initially, we thought Juno died there, but it turns out, Razznik promised to revive her if she removed the level restriction.
Juno, perhaps out of the rage of being betrayed by Aethir, agreed with the added condition that Razznik train her children till they were strong enough to survive on their own. Razznik agreed to the deal. Though we don’t know how, following her lifting of the restriction, he preserved her until post-Calamity.
We guessed Juno was still alive when the level restrictions suddenly reappeared in the world one day. Although, to date, no one has actually seen her. So, we do not know if she’s even alive or if Razznik somehow gained her powers.
Either way, Razznik kept his word and trained the brothers to be real forces of nature on the continent. Now, as I previously said, his methods were… iffy; some might even call them abusive. Wait, no. Most would call his methods abusive. But, regardless, they were very effective. In the span of a few months, Barthul and Cathek transformed from whiny brats to absolute powerhouses.
Unfortunately, when Razznik was confident they could take care of themselves, he unceremoniously abandoned them, presumably to return to his unending quest to gain strength.
Oh. Yes. Before I forget. There was a significant turning point within this saga. When Razznik returned to report his mission, he was met with severe opposition by the temple. Upon realizing that the level-limiter had been lifted, they knew this might be their last chance to take him down.
Razznik, however, slaughtered the entire city in retaliation.
Unfortunately, this action finally granted Aethir the justification needed to revoke her blessing from Razznik. See, the thing was, Summoned , to a large extent, were regarded as necessary chaotic elements of the world. As a result, she could not revoke a blessing without extreme offense.
When Razznik was at war with the continent, he almost came close to crossing the line, but Niye’s surrender and subsequent rebuff put an end to that war. She had seen the future and knew that Aethir was pushing Razznik to commit enough atrocities to justify removing her blessing.
In the end, despite her best efforts, Razznik ended up crossing the line. He lost Aethir’s blessing, and with it, his immortality. If there ever was a time to slay Razznik, perhaps this was it. However, just when everyone was excited, Razznik suddenly disappeared from the public view.
Unfortunately, Razznik then surfaced in a wisben city built solely for the sake of protecting and worshipping the World Tree Yggdrasil.
Words cannot describe the vast greatness and beauty of Yggdrasil. The tree’s branches pierced through multiple dimensions, sprouting life wherever it touched. A single leaf from the tree was enough to heal any injury, no matter how serious.
Yggdrasil was the holiest thing in existence . It s limitless power even allowed gods to descend into the mortal plane for days, if not weeks at a time —n othing like now, when a god’s descent could crumble the world in but a few moments.
Sadly, Yggdrasil was doomed to become a legend following the entwined relationship between Razznik and the fifth and sixth members of the Cursed Seven… Myself Anya, and a child named Marusan.