—ORC KING—
I stared down at the unruly orcs below me, it was time to remind them who their true ruler was. They’ve had their fun, now they must clean up the mess they’ve made.
I bellowed, “I go out to battle a foreign enemy for all of your sakes, and when I return, I find you all squabbling like weaklings over rotting meat!”
I paused and then laughed.
“Hahahaha, excellent! I’d have expected nothing else from you!”
The smile fell off my face as I grew serious, “But, I am still alive and I am still your King. Now, kneel and swear your loyalty or challenge me for my title!”
There was silence and with a bored expression, I sighed.
“So it seems that none are-”
Suddenly, a spear of what looked to be black crystal whistled through the air, headed straight for me. With lightning fast reflexes, I swept my sword up, shattering the obsidian spear, frowning as the Sword protested sharply in my mind.
I asked, “What’s wrong?”
The Sword replied, “It’s too cold, far too cold!”
“What do you mean?”
I didn’t understand what the Sword was on about until a deep cold began to spread where the shards had touched my armor and skin. This cold was far beyond anything I’ve ever felt before, it was as if it was devouring warmth with a ferocious appetite. But as it wasn’t life-threatening, I ignored the cold sensation and directed my attention to the source of the obsidian spear, seeing an orc clad in obsidian armor. It glinted coldly in the sunlight, with a great axe held at his side. Seeing the axe, something triggered in my mind, tales of an orc who held the title of Invincible.
“Ah, you must be Yargul, the... ‘Invincible.’ I do wonder, can the Invincible stand against the Sword of Korbus?”
Yargul said, “If I do not prevail, I will die.”
I smiled.
“An excellent attitude! Yes, a shame the other orcs aren’t like you.”
Yargul then replied cryptically, “There are none like me.”
I shrugged, “If you think you’re special, you’re not.”
Once more, Yargul just said, “I am utterly unique, there are none like me.”
I smiled, “Then I’ll have to open your eyes for you don’t I.”
Yargul said, “It is fact, no matter what you do, you cannot change fact.”
I smiled even further.
“Once it was a fact that orckind could never be united into one great nation, I have made that fact a lie. And now, I shall disprove another fact.”
Yargul hefted his axe and pointed it at me.
“You can try.”
I raised my Sword, the blade shivering with excitement.
“I’m not alone.”
———
The two didn’t waste any more time, Yargul charging up the small hill of bodies while the Orc King looked down on him imperiously, ignoring the Sword which was slightly apprehensive about cutting through Yargul’s dark ice armor. He promised the Sword that it would feed well if it just served him enough to defeat Yargul, otherwise it wouldn’t be fed at all. Its hunger triumphed over its discomfort and the Sword hummed, ready for battle. It was just in time too, for Yargul had arrived, a great axe in one hand and a lance of dark ice in the other.
He attacked with the lance first, using all of his momentum and speed to thrust the lance, hoping that it would be too fast for the Orc King to dodge. But the Orc King didn’t need to dodge, the Sword of Korbus swung once more and shattered the dark ice lance with ease, although the Sword shivered uncomfortably because of the cold. The Orc King didn’t care, pushing through the shrapnel of impossibly cold black ice and swinging the Sword once more. The Sword of Korbus reacted eagerly, it wanted to get revenge against the orc which had caused it so much discomfort.
But as the blade bit into the dark ice armor, the Sword shrieked, the faux Absolute Ice trait of Yargul’s armor was still not something for a divine artifact to face without harm. Noticing this, the Orc King quickly retreated, Yargul grinning as a result. Perhaps Yargul could win this. However, the smile soon melted off his face as he took a step back, the Sword of Korbus radiating an aura of bloodlust so great that it shocked Yargul. The Sword was angry now, angry at both Yargul and the Orc King for making it endure such discomfort and pain. But as it couldn’t vent its anger on the Orc King, it directed all of its rage on Yargul, the dark ice responding by absorbing more heat and even some of the bloodlust radiating off of the Sword, allowing Yargul to regain his composure.
The Sword of Korbus was nearing its berserk stage, causing the Orc King to curse inwardly, he didn’t want it to go crazy on him now. But looking at Yargul, it seemed that he’d have no choice, Yargul’s strange armor was somehow too powerful for the Sword of Korbus to cut as is. So, the Orc King accepted the rage of the Sword of Korbus, making it his own, the Sword and the Orc King becoming one. Going berserk himself, the Orc King roared and charged to meet Yargul, Yargul responding by reinforcing his axe with dark ice, the axe and Sword meeting with shattering ice and the intense radiation of bloodlust.
The intense cold radiating off of the remaining ice allowed the axe to remain whole from the corrosive bloodlust of the berserk Sword, although it was beginning to sustain dents as the Orc King wildly chopped away at it, forcing Yargul to retreat in order to minimize the damage as best he could. Eventually, Yargul discarded his axe altogether, it was simply too unwieldy to deal with the Orc King’s attacks, relying on extra thick dark ice to blood the Orc King’s assault. Now facing the cold more directly, the Sword of Korbus began to falter, not even its berserk rage could allow it to ignore the absolute cold.
Thus began Yargul’s counterattack, spikes emerging from his armor which he would tear off, using as rudimentary spears and swords. These were ineffective compared to the Sword of Korbus but the shards made when they were shattered were slowly doing their work, freezing on contact with the armor and flesh of the Orc King. This, although irritating, was of no great consequence to the Orc King so he continued to defend, knowing that if he were to let even one of those blades hit him, he’d likely be dead in the next moment.
But he wasn’t the Orc King for nothing, his body had been honed by decades of combat, his life already longer than most orcs, partially because of his strength and the power of Korbus which lengthened his lifespan. For the Sword of Korbus fed off of blood, the vessel of energy, and as its wielder, the Orc King was able to use some of that energy to supplement his own. Of course, it wasn’t enough to give him immortal life, Korbus had no desire to have an immortal champion, he just desired a champion which would be able to entertain him.
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After all, no matter how good a snack is, if one is forced to eat it and it alone for eternity, one would become sick of the snack. So, with this great energy which resided in the Sword of Korbus, the Orc King finally decided to use some of his own magic, a strange aura beginning to radiate off of his body. At first, it was hardly noticeable because of the Sword’s aura but soon, it completely overshadowed the Sword, a formidable aura of... a King. This was Ruling Magic, obtained from the marrow of the last few Human Kings, although warped because of the orcish marrow that already existed before the ingestion of the new.
Now, combined with the brute authority of the orc, Ruling Magic was now able to even rule over the body, although this would cause a greater strain and the wielder of the magic. But this was a useful magic, for now, the Orc King could theoretically hold dominion over all creatures. With this, a dynasty of Orc Kings—no, Orc Emerors—could be created, a dynasty which will eventually come to rule over all of Agleon.
With this power, the Orc King commanded, “Cease your magic and kneel.”
Yargul faltered, the dark ice seeming to struggle before it melted, even though the ice had evolved, its foundation was still that of mortal magic and that meant it could be ruled over. But the additional command Yargul did not follow, the dark ice that had melded with his very bones were far different than the ones he had command over, these were more influenced by the power of the Surveyor and thus could manage to resist the command. Yargul, although at a great disadvantage with the lack of both weapon and magic, still intended to fight. He looked around and headed over to the axe he had discarded, taking a hold of it and turning to face the Orc King.
Yargul smiled as if he’d won some sort of victory.
“I told you, I’m one of a kind.”
The Orc King nodded.
“Yes, it seems your words are true, I will have to concede that. But, this does not change the fact that you will bend the knee, you will serve me.”
Yargul said, “This fight is not yet over, who knows, perhaps you will be kneeling before me.”
The Orc King chuckled.
“Such arrogance, now, time to see if your strength is enough to warrant it!”
The two then charged at one another, the axe and Sword clashing once more. However, Yargul was now at a great disadvantage, he could only block and not attack, for attacking would invite the Sword of Korbus into his exposed chest. If Yargul was to attack, he had to dedicate all of his strength into it, make it an attack the Orc King wouldn’t survive. But as this continued, the Sword nicked his arm, the Sword humming with delight at tasting Yargul’s delicious blood. That wasn’t all, Yargul also lost a fair chunk of his energy, if he sustained another strike from the Sword, he’d likely be pushed to the brink of exhaustion.
Panicked, Yargul finally decided that even if he were to die, he’d rather die by killing the Orc King. So he took his axe and spun, using the momentum to unleash a devastating attack. Unfortunately, he never had the chance as the Sword of Korbus slashed through the great axe, the axe head flying off as the handle remained in Yargul’s hand. Yargul immediately tried to stab with the shaft of the axe but stopped, the Sword of Korbus held at his throat. However, he still refused to drop the broken axe, unwilling to admit defeat. However, he was forced to accept reality and as such, Yargul began to entertain the thought that it may be better to be slain by the Orc King’s hand, there was no dishonor in dying by the hand of the strongest orc.
But as this thought entered his head, the Orc King spoke, “So, it seems that you are as cowardly as the rest of them.”
Yargul glared at the Orc King, demanding, “What do you mean?”
The Orc King lowered the Sword, much to the Sword’s disappointment.
“You will not live with your defeat, is that not cowardly?”
Yargul growled, “No, it is not cowardly! It is brave to face death rather than your dishonor!”
The Orc King shrugged.
“Sounds like you’re just running away from dishonor. Why not face it, be brave enough to face your dishonor, to bear it, and eventually, cleanse it. Would that not be far braver than to die here?”
Yargul was silent, he wanted to argue but he wasn’t able to find any fault in the Orc King’s words. Suddenly, resolve began to harden in his heart, it was cowardly to choose death rather than to live with dishonor, for to choose death was to run away and Yargul would never run away. That would be an even bigger dishonor, his name would be slandered and his title revoked. No... NO! That cannot be allowed.
Smiling as he saw Yargul’s resolve, the Orc King then extended a hand.
“Serve me and grow strong, perhaps strong enough to truly defeat me. All that I ask is that until the day comes that you decide to kill me, that you serve me with utter loyalty.”
Yargul thought about the Orc King’s offer, it was not the most unreasonable of terms. But his title of Invincible... well, there was no shame in having it broken by the Orc King himself. And even if the other orcs found it shameful, Yargul could just kill them. Finally, Yargul nodded and grudgingly took the hand of the Orc King. Upon taking the hand of the Orc King, Yargul was enveloped with a bloodred beam of light, the Blessing of Korbus was descending.
As Yargul had chosen life over death, Korbus had seen fit to extend to him a blessing that he only gives to warriors who have earned his respect. However, this blessing was only available for the living, not those who had given up their will to live. Many warriors had earned Korbus’s respect but not all of them would remain alive to enjoy it, thus they never received his blessing. To Korbus, those that received his blessings were the Priests of his religion—for lack of a better word—they who offered blood to him with every kill they made.
This was only possible after the blessing which was why Korbus gave blessings to the survivors, after all, they could not sacrifice blood to him if they were dead. In return, his blessing would allow his blessed Priests to draw on a small portion of his power, similar to how the Orc King was able to draw energy from the Sword of Korbus but not to such a great extent. It was a symbiotic relationship really, Korbus grew stronger with the more blood his Blessed sacrificed to him and in return, the blessed Priests of Korbus would be able to draw on a more powerful portion of his strength.
This was automatically felt by Yargul when the beam of light began to thin until it last resided on his forehead before disappearing altogether, leaving the Mark of the Blood Priest. It was a hollow circle with a four-pointed star at its center, giving off a soft bloodred glow. Yargul did feel power, but it was only a minimal amount, after all, Yargul had yet to actually sacrifice blood to Korbus. He has killed but that was before he received the Blessing.
But this was of no great deal, he’d have the chance to sacrifice blood to Korbus soon, for where there were orcs, battle was not far behind. But now, Yargul was unsure of what was going to happen next, he was now the servant of the Orc King, what duties would he have now? And, taking a look at the other orcs that were a part of his great army, Yargul did not dare to think that they were weaker. Perhaps if it was before the fight with the Orc King, he might’ve thought so. But his defeat brought clarity of his situation, the Orc King was oppressively strong, who’s to say that his servants aren’t also of a similar strength.
As Yargul was thinking this, the Orc King chuckled as he slapped Yargul on the shoulder.
“Excellent! You’ve also received Korbus’s blessing! But, don’t let this get you thinking you are superior, you are only one out of several hundred orcs who also possess that blessing. If you want to reach a level where you can kill me, you still have a long ways to go.”
Yargul nodded, “Yes, I am not foolish.”
The Orc King gave him a look and grudgingly, Yargul added, “Your majesty.”
The Orc King beamed.
“You know Yargul, I’ve got a good feeling about you. Perhaps you will be the one to surpass me.”
Yargul was silent, finally saying, “Hmm, if you think so... your majesty.”
With the fight complete, the Orc King directed his attention at the remaining orc armies who still haven’t kneeled.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Kneel before your King.”