Death: Genesis

The hammer smashed into the knight – named Callum Fris – with the force of a falling mountain. Yet, when the head of Voromir met the man’s blade, he remained unmoved. A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, tearing through the surrounding crater and felling buildings for blocks all around.

After enduring the blow, the knight counterattacked, and his glowing blade seared through Zeke’s shoulder, slicing a hunk of metallic flesh free. Zeke lashed out, kicking the much smaller knight, but once again, his blow was entirely ineffective. Certainly, the environment suffered, but Callum Fris remained unmoved. A second later, the blade arced out. The air sizzled with its passing, and before Zeke could react, he felt falling to the ground.

It took a moment before he realized that the blade had completely sheered through his leg. He crashed to the ground only to see the oncoming attack aimed at something far more vital than a leg. Zeke rolled free, and the axe cut a deep furrow into the ground. Meanwhile, Zeke embraced [Hand of Divinity] while mentally commanding his [Colossal Army] to attack the knight.

Ten bronze golems took aim, then threw their spears at the man. This time, the blows cut through whatever shield he’d erected, slamming into his chest. A second later, ropes of black-and-red flame extended from the shafts and to the golems’ hands. They heaved, and the man screamed.

Before Zeke could take advantage of the knights’ distraction, the man erupted into white light. Zeke shielded his eyes, but even then, he could feel the mana searing its way through his brain. He pulled harder on [Hand of Divinity], and semi-liquid metal grew from his stump, forming into a lower leg. At the same time, the powerful skill raced to repair whatever damage the white light had wrought, barely keeping pace with the manifestation of the knight’s skill.

When the light faded, Zeke saw that the javelins had completely disappeared, and his golems had fallen back. They were steadily pulling on earth-attuned mana in an effort to combat the progression of their own destruction. Already, they were misshapen to the point of being unrecognizable, and no matter how much mana they drew in, the damage was not being repaired.

Zeke threw himself upright, extending Voromir via the inherent ability, concurrently using [Titan’s Smash]. Power coalesced into a crimson hammer that descended upon the knight with enough force to shatter buildings. And when it hit, the ground was further sundered for hundreds of yards all around. That prompted questions about whether or not the city would survive.

Then, he leaped forward, summoning [Hell Geyser] even as he sailed through the air. He incorporated a touch of his Will into the attack – enough to give it some extra bite, but not so much that it would rip through his own body. Even as the column of earth, corruption, and fire responded to his call, Zeke also used [Flames of Reprisal]. His metallic body erupted into molten flames – and it was just in time, too, because the Knight emerged from the [Hell Geyser], his glowing blade already cutting through the air. Zeke couldn’t stop his own momentum, but he could twist just enough to avoid a killing blow.

The blade scorched through Zeke’s side, cutting through his metallic flesh and slicing through his ribs like they weren’t even there. It didn’t stop until it hit his spine, where it came to a sudden halt.

Zeke grunted as he delivered a massive blow harnessing the full weight of his strength. Voromir’s head smashed into the knight, driving him into the ground. Then, the retaliatory effect of [Flames of Reprisal] took hold. Fire lashed out, cutting into the knight and eliciting a blood-curdling scream.

That was the true value of [Flames of Reprisal]. It tended to bypass all defenses. So long as Zeke was willing to get hit, trusting his own durability to stand up against his enemy’s attacks, he could deliver irresistible retaliation upon them.

Still, Callum Fris was obviously a cut above the rest. As was the case with Zeke, levels clearly weren’t everything. Because of that, he was far more powerful than the three women Zeke had easily killed. Perhaps there had even been some sort of connection between them, and their deaths had empowered the knight. Whatever the case, the man had so far withstood the onslaught, and even [Flames of Reprisal] wasn’t enough to permanently put him down.

It did injure him, though.

More importantly, even when the knight sprang backward, his armor bearing a huge gash, he looked far more cautious. With the threat represented by [Flames of Reprisal], he couldn’t simply bury Zeke beneath a mountain of attacks. Because he’d already seen that Zeke was more durable, and what’s more, what should have been debilitating injuries had healed almost instantly. Zeke’s leg was already back, and nearly being sliced in two had barely slowed him down.

He wasn’t indestructible – far from it, as proven by his encounter with the necromantic vessel – but he might as well have been for someone who wasn’t strong enough to completely obliterate him. The knight was powerful, but he wasn’t nearly at that level.

The man landed in a skid, clutching his arm across his midsection and propping himself up with his axe. He wasn’t out of the fight, but he was obviously injured. Zeke felt mana swirl around the knight, heralding the activation of a healing skill. It wasn’t nearly as powerful as [Hand of Divinity], though, and it would take hours to mend the damage inflicted by Zeke’s attacks.

“Monster,” Callum Fris growled. “How?”

Zeke didn’t bother answering. The knight might have been a worthy opponent, but the organization to which he belonged was responsible for untold suffering. As such, Zeke didn’t think he deserved any consideration, let alone a response. Instead, he flexed his own mana, shoving it into the runes in his forehead. Power blazed between his eyes, and he activated [Eye of Reckoning].

Mingled fire and destruction erupted from Zeke’s forehead, then raced across the ruined battlefield to slam into the knight. The black-and-red beam of roiling energy bore down on Callum Fris, connecting with a thunderous explosion that reverberated through the very fabric of reality. The sheer power behind the attack drove the knight backward until he slammed into ground. Then, he skipped across the earth for another few hundred yards until Zeke let [Eye of Reckoning] fade away.

Even with the skill having been cut off, afterimages of the power danced in the atmosphere. Dust and debris filled the air, and for a few moments, Zeke struggled to see through the dense cloud. He stepped forward, his hammer at the ready as he prepared for a counterattack.

Instead, there was only silence. A stillness that Zeke had rarely felt settled upon the battlefield. In that moment, the surrounding city didn’t matter. Nor did the ongoing fight between the kobolds and the rest of the Radiant Host’s forces. Instead, there was only peace.

That shattered when Zeke saw earth shifting in the distance.

He strode ahead, prepared to finish the battle. He’d felt no influx of kill energy, so he knew the knight wasn’t dead. Still, as he closed on the location where Callum Fris had come to a stop, he wondered just how much damage the man could really take. The answer to that question become obvious a few moments later, when he saw what was left of the man.

Zeke stood over what was left of his enemy, looking down on the powerful knight. The once-imposing aura of strength possessed by Callum Fris had disappeared. Now, all that was left was a weakly fluctuating cloud of mana that suggested he was trying to activate a skill.

That was fitting, given the state of his body.

Burned beyond all recognition, the knight could barely move. What’s more, one of his arms was entirely missing, and his huge axe had been reduced to a puddle of molten metal. His once-pristine red-and-gold armor was mostly gone, with only a single pauldron remaining. The rest had been disintegrated or melted, all of its power lost to Zeke’s powerful skill.

Zeke could feel the man’s life force barely flickering.

Despite the ravaged state of the knight, Zeke remained vigilant. He’d faced too many powerful foes to take an enemy’s demise for granted. More than once, he’d found himself on the receiving end of a last-ditch attack, so he maintained caution.

Calum Fris stared blankly at the sky, mumbling something Zeke could not hear. He knelt, then leaned close.

“Forgive me, mother,” the man croaked in a rasping whisper. “I have failed you. Please, take my remaining life force and add it to your own so that you may deliver vengeance upon the enemies of the Radiant Host. I consent and embrace my fate.”

Just then, the man’s power surged, though not in an attack. A rune blazed itself across the knight’s burned chest, and mana gathered. Recognizing the situation for what it was, Zeke embraced his Path of Arcane Destruction and lashed out with his Will, sundering multiple foundational glyphs that connected the rune.

It shattered, and the gathered power dissipated into nothing.

The knight screamed, and he tried to grab Zeke. However, in his state, he could scarcely move, let alone bring his no-doubt impressive attributes to bear. Zeke slapped the reaching hand aside.

“Don’t.”

“W-what…what are you?”

“Just a –”

“You are no man,” the knight spat, his burned skin cracking even further. Zeke could see white bone peeking out from underneath. “You are a monster sent from Hell to force us from our path. We will not stray. You may kill us all, but we will only rejoin the Sun Goddess in Heaven. She will strike you down. We will have our vengeance, monster. We…we…”

He went on, ranting about the wrath of Shar Maelaine, but Zeke barely heard the man. Instead, he let [Titan] fade. For some reason, he thought it was important that the knight see that he was no monster, that he was human. Or close enough.

Callum Fris’ eyes widened when he saw Zeke’s true form, and he started to say something. Zeke didn’t want to hear anymore from his fallen enemy, though. His hand snapped out, and his fingers closed around the man’s charred throat. Then, he squeezed.

Even if he hadn’t been possessed of incredible strength, his fingers would have cut right through the knight’s burned flesh. He didn’t stop until he’d found the man’s spine. And then, without further ado, he ripped it free. For a long moment, he looked at the macabre trophy in his hand, at what the once-proud knight had been reduced to.

Then, he tossed it aside like so much trash, and he reveled in the kill energy flowing into him. He was a long way from gaining another level, but that was as expected. It was just another step on a long journey, and having beaten four nearly peak-level enemies definitely brought a smile to his face.

Still, the satisfaction didn’t linger. He wouldn’t allow that. After all, he had won a battle, and an important one at that, but the war was far from over. Moreth still needed liberation, and there were many more cities within the Imperium that would fall before his task was complete.

“You know, you don’t have to do this,” Eveline said.

“What?” Zeke asked, pushing himself to his feet and looking around at the destruction he’d wrought. It wasn’t nearly as complete as if he’d used [Wrath of Annihilation] or [Unleash Momentum], but it was still devastating enough all the same.

“Fight this war. You could just reach the pinnacle, then go to Hell and descend into the Pit. You don’t need to do this.”

“Need?” Zeke asked. “This isn’t about necessity, Eveline. This is what I want to do. I refuse to leave this plane as I left the Mortal Realm. I want to leave it better than when I arrived. And that means defeating the Imperium and dealing with Micayne, at minimum. After that, I will consider moving on.”

Put like that, he knew there was a long way to go. But for now, he savored the taste of victory.