`How many demons have I killed` Jameson thought as he carved another pound of flesh in half. It was definitely in the thousands, perhaps even the tens of thousands.
He was forced to wander how the demons could afford such losses. They must reproduce as fast a ants to keep up those numbers.
He had heard that they were spawned from eggs. Was it from the clergy he heard that, or another Noble, he didn’t know but it gave him a moment of interest in the endless slaughtering fest that was a wave.
It was hard, and a mistake would cost him. But death wasn’t something he was to afraid off. He had no family left and it was going to stay that way, revenge was something he had pretty much completed so why did he hold onto his life. Why did he fight so hard?
`Spite` Jameson guessed, if he died that would end the scheme of his enemies and seal their victory. At least if he was alive he had the hope of a different outcome.
Jameson looked over the river again and saw the flames had been snuffed out. They likely had done hours ago; he just wasn’t focusing on that.
At least he couldn’t die for his friend. He had long felt the grief over loosing a fellow friend in war and he wasn’t going to put Malum through that just because he could not bother fighting.
That would be poor of him. An action his blessed mother would never forgive him for.
So he fought on. For the sake his enemies and his friends.
Finally, the last hour had come. Jameson looked at the sun and smiled as his eyes reeled back from looking at the ball of fire.
His dad was a believer of the Sun God, and he had read many books that his father had bought and kept in the library.
They described the Sun God as the source of all life, and benefactor of all of humanity. Jameson thanked the Sun for its light bit the fact it hurt to look at told him that the God wasn’t as kind as others.
Darkness did hurt to look at, neither did the earth.
True believers would have you know it’s because the Sun God is to powerful, but Jameson didn’t believe that. Otherwise it would have ruled for longer than half of the day.
He looked over to see his friend. Blood covered the man and he looked like a red and brown haze as he dashed around the battlefield.
Malum was doing better than last time. His movement remained fast and strong whilst last time Jameson saw how he slowed down to save on energy.
His friend had clearly experienced great growth over their month off and Jameson still wandered how he did it. One day he was fine and the next he was more toned. He thought about different drugs which were said to hold such effects but with his friend being alchemist he would know better than to take those.
He would ask him later. For now, he slashed, pierced and stabbed his way through the horde.
At last the sun reached its peak and Jameson felt a wave of relief flood through his bones. Every wave still threatened his life, and a wave completed marked the start of another fruitful month.
He didn’t waste time and rushed to see if his friend had yet again fallen asleep. Running down the river he found the last land bridge and crossed before running back up stream.
Several discoloured corpses littered the ground but it wasn’t human bodies, instead he saw a standing figure standing on the field. Blood dripped from his clothes and sword and the radiating sun against the crimson red made for the quite the image.
Jameson was even tempted to get a painter to save the image.
Alas he looked closer and saw Malums eyes barely open. Jameson walked closer before he saw several muscles on Malum contract.
The once steady blade shot forwards towards Jameson and barely had time to pull up his sword as the blade clashed against his.
“Malum!” Jameson shouted.
He saw as the mans eyes went from half closed to open and clear. And he muttered a question.
“Jameson?”
“Yes that’s me. Now we need to go back to rest so let’s get a move on.”
He patted Malum on the back and began to walk back to the Outpost. Malum took a second to realise where exactly he was and what time it was before he rushed back with a smile on his face.
`Its already over?` thought Malum as he was walking back.
He looked up at the sun again and yet again saw the sun at its peak. The last time he checked it as coming nightfall and then everything had been a bit of a blur.
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It took a second to get use to his lack of Intuition but after he did it was just a question of endurance. He moved his hand and squeezed his own muscles.
Last time such an action would have caused pain but now all he felt was strength. The body enhancement was far more miraculous then the book mention and he even started to wonder if it really was only to Apprentice. If he had gains like this every time he drank the potion then how strong were the upper tiers.
Not wasn’t even mentioning his new Martial Art.
He couldn’t’ stop smiling. The silly grin on his face just couldn’t disappear and after receiving the news that Harris and Darris had both survived.
The five continued on their way back and Carl continued the interrogation onto the two’s love life. Malum wondered if he would ever get bored of the topic but looking at Carl intrigued face he doubted that day would ever come.
Jameson and Malum therefore went a bit ahead as they wanted to get away from the conversation and it also meant that sleep would come sooner.
Not much was said but Jameson did ask a few questions to Malum that he had been thinking about. The fire turned out to act as not only a lightsource but also as a moment of respite from the endless killing.
He asked a few more that had come across his mind and Malum asked a few that he had thought about.
He asked about his sword style, to which Jameson answered that it was the one taught in his academy. Nobles couldn’t exactly apprenticeship each other’s so instead they set up academies which taught them everything from manners to the matters of land management.
Jameson offered Malum the same style to which he learned but interestingly his friend decided against it. `Is he trying to make his own style, perhaps build upon the one he received as a recruit.`
If he succeeded then Jameson had nothing short of a genius as a friend. He offered one last time and after another dismissal he decided to not bring it up again.
If he came later to change his decision then he would be more than happy to give it to him. Really, he should have done it earlier but he forgot sometimes that recruits got mediocre techniques not the higher tier ones he received at his school.
They talked about little else and soon arrived at their location. The human world was bright and green but Malum and Jameson were far to tired to take in the view.
At the Outpost, Jameson left Malum to go and report to his superior and that left Malum to wonder back into his tent.
He wasn’t as tired as he was last time but he still felt like he had ran a marathon. The amount of potion he had drank as well would mean he would need to hold off on taking so many in the next few days. Taking to many at once could upset the human system and the best way for it to clear itself was rest and excretion.
He went to the outhouse, then to the showers and then finally entered his bed. A successful wave meant he was closer to his goal of Nobility all he had left was a couple more tens of thousands of points. At least he could use the time to grow stronger.
Malum and Jameson soon returned back to the city of Roosevelt. As the city churned ore into iron, Jameson focused on his Barony whilst Malum focused on his body.
Until the waves were no longer of a threat to him, a strong body would keep him safe and that would gave him the opportunity to focus on his mind later.
Creating another potion wasn’t to hard, he already had the ingredients needed but this time he ensured that the waste created in the process was far easier to clean up.
In a tub made of wood, he drank the potion and soon fell into agony. Perhaps because it was his second time, it didn’t hurt to much and neither did his body release so much waste.
After a cleaning up and doing a few tests he found the results had diminished in comparison to before. Considering how strong he would have been if they remained constant, it made sense but Malum heart was still disappointed.
As Malum processed his gains, he and Jameson still ate the golden eggs every night and so Malum learned more of what Jameson was doing. His friend had come out of that wave strangely motivated and found he was more active and happy then he usually was.
He spoke about plans to turn his House around and the two schemed ways he could try and take back what had been stolen from him.
The two thought of several schemes over their several drinks and the more alcohol that entered their system, the stranger these strategies became.
“I’ll seduce the Duke’s daughter and with their support my enemies will not even know what hit them.”
“Sure, how are you going to seduce the Duke’s daughter?”
“My charm of course! Can you not see my devilish looks, my impeccable manners and my fantastic taste of food.”
Malum could only really agree with the last one but he still showed his friend some support with a big thumbs up. Perhaps he would have said something if he wasn’t eating a heavenly egg.
Jameson laid his hands back down and laughed a little.
“I know Malum. I know it’s pointless...”
Oh no, Malum regretted not saying anything as the drunkard had clearly not seen his thumbs up or his big smile.
Sadly, he still had an egg in his mouth!
“You know I’ve already gone through everything. My mother did everything she could when I was a younger. It seems I am doomed to die in the battlefield.”
Finally Malum swallowed the egg, “Oi you little miser! Nothing is ever hopeless. You will find a way to get revenge on your enemies because you’ll never give up on looking. Now you repeat after me, I will find my answer, I will get my Revenge!!!”
Jameson looked at him and smiled, “Fine, I will find my answer and I will get my revenge.”
“Say it with more heart man!”
“I will find my answer, I will get my revenge!”
“MORE!”
“I WILL FIND MY ANSWER, I WILL GET MY REVENGE!!!”
Jameson felt nothing but euphoric as he said those words. Hope ran through his body and for once ins several years he felt alive again.
He saw the inn around him give him several stars and even worse was the incoming owner of the inn.
Jameson quickly sat down and put on a nonchalant expression. He even sipped on his bear.
“You gunna have to keep it down eye lads. Good to see soldiers enjoying themselves though, most just lounge around in misery. Have a good one eye, and keep it down.”
The man walked off and Malum and Jameson smiled. They thought that perhaps their precious egg eating was going to be cut short but thankfully the man seemed sympathetic to soldiers.
They finished what was on their plate and left the inn. Malum was still fairly ludic but Jameson was off his head.
Malum could hear him slowly mutter, “I will find my answer, I will get my revenge.” He lulled the sentence like it was a lullaby but it still brought a smile to Malums face.
Considering his situation, he wasn’t surprised Jameson wasn’t exactly in the best place mentally. With a sick Uncle he understood the subject a bit more than others but he still wouldn’t call himself an expert.
People needed goals. As he grew up he finally began to understand why his Uncle had stressed the need for his own revenge.
Would Malum be able to suffer through the pain of body enhancement if he wasn’t motivated, if death hadn’t scared him so much?
He needed his friend to find this goal and it wasn’t hard to find an easy one. Of course there was a way for Jameson to get back his house. There was answer to everything, one just needed to look hard enough.
For his own goal he would keep on training and when resting he would think about creating new alchemy potions. Before he did the though, his bed was calling to him, and sleep was just around the corner.