Pausing at a second floor window and peering inside I saw a long empty hall with black carpeting. I tugged open the window and slipped inside carefully listening for the sound of approaching footsteps. Moments later I heard a man scream and plead, “Please, Lady Aralle I didn’t… I don’t know what is killing the Branded…”
That name was familiar.
I hurried down the hall to a pair of heavy double doors that the scream had come from. A growling and deep female voice spoke from the other side, “How long have you been our Captain of the Guard at the fortress, Gale?”
The sniveling man answered quickly amidst the cracking rumble of thunder, “Since the Day of Branding, m’lady.”
“Two minute warning, Mal.”
Taking a deep breath I opened the door slowly. The room was a long hall with a broad blazing fireplace at the far end. A long table with heavy white wooden chairs stood before it and before that a long red and gold carpet. A towering woman with a musculature that would put the greatest of professional bodybuilders to shame was standing in the center of the room. She had skin the color of amethyst and was wearing a long flowing robe. Her hair was midnight black like most Haithans and braided down to her waist. She had a pronounced scar on her left cheek and one of her eyes, the only one I could see, was milky white. At her feet a slender young male Haithan with plum colored skin was nursing a bruised eye and a bloody lip. He was wearing the armor of the guard but with festooned golden icons on his shoulderguards.
“Thirty seconds, Mal.”
The woman growled and stomped toward the man. The man spotted me and started to stutter, “M’lady there’s,” but was cut off when she kicked him in the side with a resounding crunch.
Somewhere far into the fortress there was a cry of alarm. The towering woman turned toward the wall and called out in a booming voice, “What the hell is that? Linares? Where are you?”
Sprinting from the hallway I charged the giant woman, activating Surging Blood to become a blur. The injured guard let out a strangled cry as Right and Left appeared in my hands and I jumped, soaring through the air. My knees collided with the woman’s knees and I drove both blades into her lower back. The giant woman let out a strangled cry and stumbled to the carpet. As Surge ended I kicked my heels and activated Blazing Boots, moving around to face her before casually slicing the wild eyed woman’s throat.
She let out a strangled gurgling cry as she staggered and then fell onto her face. The man was in mid snarl and while I had only seconds left on my Blazing Boots I charged him and kicked him in the face. I flicked my left hand weapon to grasp it by the blade and whipped it into his chest before he could recover.
Heavy footfalls echoed from the hall as a booming female voice called out, “Lady Aralle! Is everything alright?”
Hurrying to the door as Left returned to my hand, I pressed up against the wall as the doors I’d just entered flew open admitting a heavily armed woman with her blade drawn. She screamed, “Alarm! I need a medic!”
Rushing up to this new target, I drove my blades between the plates in her armor hearing her let out a strangled scream as voices behind me cried out in shock. As her blood gouted out over my bare arms I activated Crimson Dance and spun away from her toward the two terrified guards.
Less than five minutes later I emerged onto one of the parapets covered in the blood of several enemies that quickly soaked into my skin or washed away in the last scattered remnants of the storm. Several deep wounds on my side and back were closing rapidly due to my Blooded Buff. The tower shook with another heavy rumble and I looked over to a large-scale battle in full swing in the marshalling yard.
Thanks to the passing of the storm I could make out Sakurai impaling a leather clad mutant with massive scything claws on her sword while Valerie sliced into its ankle with her own blade. Nomura cackled as he finished some kind of summoning spell and brought a massive four eyed screeching bird into existence. The cultists screamed in terror as the bird flew in and grabbed one of them before flying off toward the walls and the moat beyond.
As I watched my allies clear the Marshaling yard, the doors to the barracks flew open and several guards rushed out to reinforce our foes. Behind them a woman in the robes of a priest screamed loud enough for me to hear, “In the name of House Cardienne I beseech thee Lady of Flame, cast your breath on these heathens!”
A column of flame burst downward and incinerated three of Mystal’s guards in a cascade of white fire. The two guards who remained were howling, their limbs missing where the fire had enveloped them. Distantly a great scream of anguish filled the city and the mist, and the two remaining guards fell away flowing at high speed toward a distant point.
“Mystal!,” roaring in concern, I rushed down the wall toward a nearby rope.
At that moment one of the smaller buildings near the gate shook violently. Its walls buckled as something massive bashed into it from the inside. Grabbing the rope that seemed intended to lift supplies or tools into the fortress I jumped from the wall and slid down the rain slick stone edifice before the creature could free itself.
My allies continued to cut down the few remaining guards as I hurtled toward the ground. I pulled the rope taut and ran along the wall to slow my descent as the small building exploded. A hulking shape was outlined in the dusty remnants left by its destruction.
The mist started to clear and the beast charged forth from the dust and debris toward my comrades. When its features were finally revealed Valerie screamed in rage and charged it. The monster was nearly four meters tall with broad shoulders. Its arms were massive and covered in brand scars and each limb was adorned with different tools instead of hands. One was a shield made of taut flesh and spines of bone and the other was a massive ossified broadsword with serrated spines. Its face was a beautiful Haithan woman with a brand scar on her left cheek and shorn inky black hair. Someone had taken care to carve the symbol of house Lafontaine into her bare mutilated chest.
“Branded High Noble
Level 32, Elite
Weakness: Piercing Damage
HP: 2100
MP: Unknown
Special Ability”
Jumping from the rope, I immediately fell into a run. A guard rushing to attack Nomura did not see me coming as I leaped toward him and landed on his back to drive Left and Right down into his clavicle on either side of his head. The man let out a guttural scream and tumbled into a heap as I rolled off him and sprinted toward Valerie. I ran past Sakurai and Nomura as they dispatched the last of their foes calling out an order as I passed, “Handle that fucking priest. I got the giant.”
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Sakurai nodded and the two of them turned to hurl attacks at the cackling fire cleric. Running toward Valerie as she took the first massive strike of the monster I winced as her shield splintered under the force of the massive overhand chop from the monster’s broad blade. Tears were running down the young woman’s face as she roared and thrust the blade aside attempting to step in and make a strike on the giant.
Running up to one of the guard stragglers charging toward my ally’s back, I activated hobble and kicked out at his knee. He screamed and buckled to the ground, struggling to stand as I hurried past and into the range of the screaming giant. Gouts of frothy red fluid were bursting from the monster’s black lips as it dropped its bone and flesh shield to the ground to forestall Valerie’s charge.
Darting past the shield barrier I activated Crimson Dance and Surging Blood, my HUD going red as my Essence reserves plummeted. I left a pair of deep slashes on both her legs as I spun around them. The beast finally noticed me, her movements in slow motion as she started to turn.
Valerie tried to take advantage of her turning attention and failed to notice the monster’s shield swinging out to collide with her charge. I could do nothing to stop it and focused on weaving my blades into strike after strike until I started to note that my Surge was dying down.
The blade that had been moving toward me at slow speed suddenly sped up and I activated Evade, my avatar ducking below the broad bone sword as it brushed against my avatar’s back. I heard the crunch and saw Valerie tumbling like a ragdoll from the force of the giant beast’s strike.
Glancing at my statistics I urged them to climb faster. Essence reserves were spiking from the gouts of blood bursting from the wounds on the giant creature’s legs but I feared I wouldn’t get another Surge before one of these strikes connected.
Rolling away as the monster kicked out at me, I managed a quick slash on its ankle before coming up at a run. Valerie struggled to stand nearby and seemed dazed. The monster’s sword came down toward me again and I only just managed to halt and avoid the strike as it tore a furrow into the stones at my feet. Unfortunately I did not register the incoming shield that swung in from above.
Hit full force and slammed to the stones with a crunch, the spines of the shield dug into my avatar’s flesh. The beast cackled in manic rage as it pulled away the shield and raised its foot to stomp me. Despite my attempts to move I was only able to slash upward and open a bleeding wound into its malformed foot. A gout of fresh black blood cascaded over me and activated my Blooded Buff just before the massive bloody slab of meat collided with me.
My hearing was hampered and my avatar’s HUD started to flash red as the massive foot began to grind me into the stone. With each twist of the clawed appendage my health chunked downward. The Essence pouring into my body tried to counteract the damage with regeneration but it could not keep up. In the dive room I was struck with an irrational and unexpected flood of emotion…
Terror.
Shots of panic burst through me.
I was going to die.
No… I can’t die in a game…
I’m going to die.
The beast raised its foot up again and started to drop it with a roar. Its attack was cut off as a massive four eyed eagle made of force flew in and brought its talons to bear on the monster’s head.
Rolling away I barely noted Lydia’s announcement of my conditions with dawning terror:
“You Are Limbless!
Your avatar has suffered a tremendous wound to one of their appendages!
You may not use your: left arm and right leg!
You Are Partially Paralyzed!
Your avatar has suffered a tremendous wound to their spinal cord!
You may not move your left or right leg!”
Growling, I changed my grip on Right, whipping the broad carver’s knife toward the beast’s back.
Sakurai charged in and let out a roar as her massive blade impaled the beast. It let out a strangled scream and batted the giant skeleton woman aside. It grabbed the hilt of her blade and yanked it free bringing it around in an arc at Valerie, who was rushing in to help. The warrior woman ducked under the strike and charged in, managing two slashes on the beast’s side.
“You Are No Longer Partially Paralyzed!
Your avatar is now able to move left leg!”
The massive monster was turning its attention back to a wounded Valerie. Considering my options I muttered, “Fuck it,” as I pulled the entire stack of slender Lesser Explosive Wards from my pouch. I tossed them outward onto the ground in front of me, well aware I was within the three meter range of the explosives.
I managed a gravelly and wet growl as the monster stalked toward Val, “Doesn’t it really suck to be branded by a powerless goddess?”
The giant halted its advance on Valerie and started to rumble with anger as I said, “Branded by a wannabe deity. That’s gotta fucking suck.”
The beast rounded on me and screamed as it charged, thundering over the ravaged stone as one of Nomura’s spells, a coiled fist made of force, crunched into its shoulder. It ignored the attack and charged toward me with its blade raised. As the monster got within range of the explosive wards they started to crackle with telltale energy.
“You Are No Longer Limbless!
You can move all your limbs again, Sugar!”
Cursing and rolling to my feet I stumbled and clicked my Blazing Boots together as quickly as I could manage. The entire world slowed as a wave of energy burst upward from the Wards. The energy released from the explosion cascaded toward me at a speed I was sure I could not evade. I noted warning notifications flashing in my HUD as damage started to spike.
My entire HUD lit up red and I cursed as my health plummeted. My screen went dark as Lydia announced a stream of debuffs in my ear. I was paralyzed and limbless, again. I was blind. I could not speak.
But… I was not dead.
“Braided High Noble Level 32, Elite Defeated!
2400 xp gained!
240 bonus xp gained for defeating a creature far above your level!”
Relaxing back into my dive chair I pulled the helmet up. The deep crimson light washed over me and I looked up to watch my now black screen. Wiping sweat from my brow I asked, “Lyd, what time is it?”
She responded, “It is nearly three am, Mal.”
My HUD started to flicker and I took a deep breath as I said, “Gonna see this one through. Hopefully I don’t pass out in the chair again.”
Pulling the helmet back down my avatar’s vision became blurry as the world started to fade back in. I could make out faint shapes above me. Someone grabbed my body and started to drag it somewhere but I couldn’t make out more than some other blurry shapes.
The figure dropped me and I noted my Essence pool ticking up rapidly. Did they just drag me into a pool of blood? Lydia almost immediately confirmed it:
“You have gained the Blooded Buff!”
It didn’t matter much. A significant portion of the damage to my body had been from the Fire Wards. I winced at the thought and realized it had been an oversight to even include such dangerous damage into a pouch I carried on my avatar’s hip.
My avatar’s ability to speak returned and I managed to say, “Mystal…” Regardless of her NPC status I was worried about the strange mist creature. I couldn’t hear responses but as my vision cleared I saw Valerie looking down at me with tear streaked cheeks. She did not look sad. She looked angry.
Of course she was.
Nomura’s face came into view and his ghoulish female avatar gave me a thumbs up.
Sakurai peered down at me, somehow conveying concern in the lights that served as her eyes.
My hearing finally returned to a world filled with screams.
They were Mystal’s screams.
