Pallad was always a fighter at heart, having broken up plenty of bar fights with his own attacks rather than telling the people fighting to calm down or to back off. The Saintess always hated it, and few other Paladins thought him similar to them.

  But it also helped him in ways unbelievable. When a ruckus was brought up in the Sanctuary, he was always first to respond, and his reputation outside of the sanctuary allowed him to not have to humiliate the nobles.

  It saved the Saintess a few headaches as well, since she was always so busy healing people. Pallad kept working even when he was put on suspension though. He was banned from weaponry for a short period of time, and even with that minor setback he’d always worked to better the world with his fists, for it was what he knew best.

  Others could deal with fancy magic, while he went out on the field and beat up monsters and monsters disguised as people. It was a living, and it was one Pallad always enjoyed.

  64 - To Fight

  Pallad woke up before the sun rose, very unusual unless the party was going to fight. And Pallad knew they were going to fight. Pallad’s mind was calm; it wasn’t raging, and that was his role as a vanguard summed up.

  He was always the first to assume a strike. And that was precisely what the Paladin had plotted. He snuck out of the inn, and it was clearly before they were open to the public, or at least before whoever owned the place was up and about.

  Pallad summoned a few gold out of his inventory and placed it on the counter as he opened the front door and left the inn. The last of the cold night air hit his skin, and it invigorated him. He and his party will win this battle, and win this war.

  The floor will end this day, as the quest mentioned the 1 day left, with nearly 20 hours to spare on top of that. It was practically two days, but when Pallad had zero levels of exhaustion, he rushed towards the church.

  The forest was nothing to Pallad as he charged forward, and drew his greatsword of Justice. The wind stilled as he stopped right before the church and faced Insanity. Insanity was a divinity covered in scars, which was odd.

  Everybody knew from the Vessel of Chaos that those guys are immortal and with regenerative abilities beyond even the system, it was a dangerous foe they’d have to face later. And Pallad still raised his blade.

  Few words were exchanged before Pallad and Insanity mutually struck at one another. The movement from Insanity going straight for the throat while Pallad parried it off to the side and attempted to strike Insanity in two.

  Insanity slapped the sword aside, getting a scratch, but Pallad let his footing slip for just a moment as Insanity’s hand hit the bright white metal. The gold edges of the greatsword glowing brighter than ever as Pallad is pushed into a defensive stance.

  His footing was stronger than ever in this stance and as Insanity tried to push Pallad back, he sidestepped the divinity and cut at the divinity’s back. It seemed to vanish for a moment as Pallad let his greatsword’s weight pull him down and into a flip to face Insanity. Insanity looked taken aback by this, and Pallad swung his sword.

  It collided with Insanity’s arm, who looked slightly worried for a second. Pallad couldn’t help but grin as his sword cut into the flesh and bone. The way the flesh parted was just as splendid as the way Insanity shrugged it off, the flesh healing instantly.

  The tides turned once more as Insanity was now back on the offense, and Pallad was forced to parry, their tempo equal. Insanity struck forth with his hand curled up to pierce Pallad’s heart, and Pallad clashed with the hand, the sound of steel ringing out through the air as the Paladin swung the greatsword as wide as him downwards for a parry from Insanity.

  The two’s tempo were equal, but it appeared to Pallad that Insanity wasn’t using his full speed; and while it was true that Pallad wasn’t either, being careful to not cleave the ground in two, it pissed him off.

  The divinity struck forth once more, this time aiming for Pallad’s midriff, and Pallad twisted the sword around to parry it off to the side once more. Pallad then used the centrifugal force of the sword and the momentum of the spin to slash at Insanity.

  The Divinity took the attack in stride, not even removing the lock on eye contact as Pallad split Insanity’s face in two, the cut crossing through the right eye. Pallad winced personally as he knew how much that must’ve hurt and Insanity took that as an opportune moment.

  Insanity’s leg connected with Pallad’s chest, and pain reared its ugly head as Pallad was thrown a few hundred meters from this. He felt a crack in his chest, probably around his sternum as he landed against a cliff, the stone shattering as he landed.

  The pain was terrible but Pallad was here for one major task, to stall for the rest of the party to arrive now. Insanity landed in front of Pallad, the wound inflicted earlier already gone. And Pallad noted the scars that he had already failed many a times to inflict.

  Insanity simply floated there, not even using it’s base strength to stand, and it looked disgusted at Pallad. The paladin spat out a glob of blood onto a bush, and used his greatsword to steady himself as the chest pain flared every time he breathed.

  “We aren’t done yet.” Pallad growled as he stood tall. He’d enter his demigod state once his party arrived, but that wouldn’t be until sunrise and a bit after. Insanity looked surprised at this, and more surprised at the massive sword piercing his torso.

  Pallad grinned a vile smile at the blood pouring down his sword, and Insanity pulled itself through the sharp edge of the sword, allowing itself to be split in two as Pallad attacked it while it healed.

  The divinity blocked the strikes easily, the sound of metal on metal ringing out every time the divinity held up its arms to collide with the blade. The Paladin took it in stride however, and kept attacking, knowing it was truly helpless to attempt as the divinity stood back up while blocking away his sword strikes.

  Insanity chuckled lightly as he kept parrying them, the parries getting stronger and stronger. Pallad had begun to use the momentum in the parries to keep up the attacks, and the divinity just looked unimpressed.

  Insanity caught the sword, and Pallad now had his turn to be surprised as the Divinity kicked him through the trees, Pallad’s body acting as an axe cutting down everything in the path. His metal armor screeched as it tore apart, leading to cuts opening along his back with the previously solid metal tearing into it.

  The cut down forest didn’t even have a chance to fall before Insanity was back to battering Pallad’s chestplate, denting it impossibly quick. The clash sounded more like a heavy warhammer hitting a helmet of a man who was scammed more than the sword clash.

  His bones were snapping clean in two, the armor doing nothing but acting as gauntlets for Insanity who was battering Pallad while the two flew through the dense foliage, Pallad acting as the divinity’s shield.

  Pallad felt his lungs fill with blood as one of his ribs probably pierced it, but he couldn’t tell what was going on as his consciousness faded and returned rapidly between hits. The back of his armor was getting sheared from the velocity the two were travelling at and the foliage.

  Finally, a rock spike granted ‘mercy’ to Pallad’s spine, a loud snap yelling out from his back, and the feeling of his legs disconnected near instantly. The pain of where the snap was heard was grand.

  It radiated upwards through his body as Insanity quit the battering. Insanity didn’t speak, simply standing above Pallad, as his suit was barely even tattered from Pallad’s attacks, the thin man’s chest finally visible with how he freed himself from the stab.

  Pallad’s vision was fading, but he could still see how Insanity looked at him with disgust, and how the thin man was hardly any less thin than embalmed corpses. Pallad then knew one truth to his hardly there bones.

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  They were gonna fuckin kill whoever put Insanity here. Pallad cast a basic heal spell, which while didn’t help any of the pain, it removed the injuries enough to move. And so Pallad stood through the pain, and groaned as he gripped his sword with a hand that bent in all the wrong ways.

  Insanity looked on in horror as Pallad roared with the sun’s rising, he was lucky he was pushed towards the east, because otherwise his fading vision would probably pass out in facing the sun, and he probably looked so sick.

  His armor was hardly even on him, so he cast it aside to his inventory, and he decided to quit playing for ‘stalling’. His team will awake from the sounds of this battle. And Pallad activated his demigod form.

  Less heavy pain soared through his body as he felt his skin open in various locations, allowing his bones to fuse over it. What was previously metallic platemail of Epic rarity, was now a godly set of armor made of his own bones. His constitution decreased by a fourth as all of the stat was converted into pure tankiness for his armor.

  He felt his pain melt away into power as his demigod form’s natural paindrinker ability cocks in, but he still felt sore despite it. He noticed his armor bracing his neck prevented him from cracking it, and Insanity simply took another fighting stance.

  His armor prevented speech, so he spoke the only way Insanity could still understand him. Battle. He held back no longer, allowing every strike to wield the entirety of his power stat, and every movement to wield the entirety of his Agility stat, boosted by over 75% with the pain he once felt.

  Pallad rushed forward, breaking the sound barrier easily, and catching Insanity by surprise. He didn’t wield his greatsword anymore like the large hunk of metal it was, but as a genuine blade now. The center of balance fell closer to the hilt now more than ever, and he cut at Insanity swiftly and efficiently.

  The divinity blocked it, but a parry left Insanity open for a kick the same way it did for Pallad just a few moments earlier. The sun was shining in Insanity’s eyes, causing the poor soul to squint as Pallad kept up his rampage.

  The slashes kept going, the momentum only building as Insanity tried to get its bearings. The clashes of metal on metal grew louder and louder as Pallad’s joints groaned under the strain of the battle, his mana draining just as quickly as his pain was turned into fuel.

  Insanity’s glare turned more filled with spite as he bit at Pallad’s arm during one of the attacks. Insanity’s teeth were met with a knuckle sandwich instead of flesh to bite upon as Pallad switches the attack type.

  Pallad placed the sword on his back as he began beating upon Insanity, stunning him constantly, creating a crater that was swiftly growing from one kilometer wide, to two, to three. It was building and Pallad’s rage was too.

  Pallad kept beating down his opponent that he didn’t even notice the warmth dripping down his stomach, along with the piercing sensation in his gut until it was far too late. Insanity was looking up into the slit of his bone armor with a putrid hatred that caused more pain in Pallad’s guts then the hand speared through them.

  The blood dripped down from his body and Insanity laughed.

  ******

  Bariton awoke to the sun’s rising, and it was beautiful as always. They were about to fight a divinity, and this divinity was strong. And then sounds were carried by the wind, talking about prices, a clash of metal on metal in the distance, some other bards playing their song in the capital, and even the birdsongs.

  He woke Shammus up quickly when he remembered the second in that list, and he noted Pallad was missing. Before Shammus could even get up Bariton was out of the bed and out the window yelling for his party.

  “CLARA! JUDINE!” His voice was carried across the entire capital as swears were heard in the town below as he leapt to action to the top of the city wall. He awaited his team, allowing his green cape to flow in the wind.

  Shammus was the first to join him; moving much swifter than he ever could. Judine landed atop the wall across from Bariton, with Clara moving at her side. “It is time for us to march on!”

  A battle was clearly already raging on, as there was a ginormous crater where the church once was. The sound of metal clashing on metal as well, and so the team ran on. Bariton was the first to enter his demigod form, with the music flowing from him to his party members.

  Shammus was second, sprouting wings that seemed to absorb the light around them and left nothing around, a crown of pure dark forming atop the brow of the swordsman, with his double blades both surrounded in the same pure black.

  Clara was third, with her own back sprouting golden wings with hints of red deep within, it felt revigorating being in her presence, the opposite of Unfortunate Ends in Bariton’s mind. Her pink eyes went fully white.

  The gold light seemed to spark off the wings and float behind her. Judine was last, and they were already moving as she transformed. It wasn’t as drastic, as her ribbons grew clocks that ticked evermore and her golden eyes got an impossible shine.

  The team eventually landed in front of a scene with Insanity laughing. Bariton wasn’t having any of that, and immediately turned his Agony dagger into five throwing knives, and threw one right into the arm spearing through Pallad.

  Pallad was passed out, but Clara was quick to prevent the death as Bariton turned his remaining four throwing knives into a shortsword. The final one was drawn in from the Divinity’s arm, who dropped Pallad like a sack of wet mice.

  Bariton’s rage was… uncontrolled, as his song played a more intense baseline, the musical notes hitting the body of Insanity like daggers, and no longer seeking his party members. Bariton was attacking ruthlessly, and Shammus deflected a blow that was going to turn Bariton into another Pallad.

  ******

  Pallad opened his eyes to a strong baseline being rung throughout the battlefield. Insanity was locked in an intense fight between Bariton and Shammus, and his armor was resealed. Clara was simply looking at Pallad with a sad look in her eyes, and Pallad nodded as he remembered what he needed to do.

  Pallad gripped his sword and let it transform into a shield before jumping into the fray in front of both Shammus and Bariton. He let out a light groan as the attacks reverberated through his entire body and into the ground. But it avoided his team as he let out a guttural roar.

  His party members attacked Insanity from around the shield, including Bariton launching small little throwing daggers that seemed to rematerialize in his hands after he threw them. Shammus had switched to a non-legendary weapon, instead resorting to a bow to fire at Insanity from afar while Pallad kept him stuck fighting with him.

  Every time Insanity drew its eyes away from Pallad, he quickly turned his shield into the grandsword it was before and slashed the Divinity to bring the attention back. The tempo of the fight was always out of Pallad’s favor in those bouts, but he could switch between defense and offense at the drop of a hat.

  It absolutely helped how Insanity seemed to be slower than Pallad as a ginormous golden scale rose from the ground, with the two of them on one plate with Clara and Judine on the other. The scale was lowering ever so slightly as the battle continued on. Another wave of arrows and daggers caused Insanity to just try to push Pallad off the scale, but he stood tall as the shield seemed to help him plant his feet.

  Rather, the scale itself shook with the force of the impact, and when Pallad pushed against it, he felt the metaphorical scale of the fight tip in his favor once more as he turned his shield into a sword and cut into Insanity.

  The divinity leapt back only for Shammus to engage in a close range battle, his golden edged blade being used to block attacks and the red edged one being used to attack. Insanity was being pushed back towards Pallad when Shammus had to avoid a tough attack by slashing an opening into the void in between the two.

  The fight kept raging as Pallad dived in and cut at Insanity before the fight was drawn back to him and the divinity in the sky. This felt both like bullying, but it also felt necessary as he remembered how it felt to be speared. Bariton’s music kept spearing into Insanity’s back slowing him down evermore.

  Judine was casting what seemed to be a more ritualistic skill as Pallad landed a tough blow on his opponent at the same time his opponent did the same. Pallad felt a fist break against his gut as he toughened up his muscles beneath his bone armor, the damage inflicted going into his sword.

  Pallad’s own strike split Insanity into two, but it was clear it wasn’t done just yet as it refused. The screams of the past being let loose into the air from the monster they were facing meant naught. They had to win.

  The fight had already been going on for two hours as Insanity strikes against Pallad’s sword with more force than ever before, launching the pair into the sky. Shammus quickly threw his dagger at Insanity, cutting a pathway in the air through the void, which Shammus travelled swiftly.

  The golden edged blade collided with Insanity’s hands pushing into Pallad’s sword-shield, and Bariton’s own shortsword pierced Insanity’s back. The song’s base was definitely lessened now, and Clara and Judine’s spell seemed to finish now.

  The spell’s effect was clear, as a giant spear was summoned behind Insanity, and Pallad saw this in full detail despite being a few kilometers in the air. The giant spear was probably from Epic skill [Spear of Longinus] and Pallad laughed as he batted Insanity off to the side.

  “I didn’t think either of those two had that!” Pallad said, voice full of incredulity as the spear was sent into the sky with a violent flare. The paladin watched as it pierced through the air with stars trailing behind it, small balls of divine energy.

  Insanity groaned as he was struck by it, now holding his arms out in pain as he screamed. The spear seemed to be effective, but Insanity slowly quit screaming as his eyes looked more green than red for a split second.

  The single yelled out command felt like a mixture of two separate voices, the divine energy just as strong. “ENOUGH!”