Everlast Online

The number of robed figures who had appeared from the shadows nearly matched the forces under the king (excluding Liz's skeletons who were clearly much weaker) and with the fearsome aura they emitted it would surely not be an easy fight.

Yet despite being faced with such unfavourable odds the king did not falter and charged forward, a golden aura gathering not just on his sword but around his entire body. Seeing their leader charge so valiantly the loyalists did not hesitate - the few fears they had left having dissipated entirely.

This was yet another of the king's skills: [Honourable Leader] that massively boosted his strength in proportion to the amount of people following him, while also massively improving the morale of those same followers. The king's class was that of a [Venerable Leader] that not only granted him powerful attacks, but also greatly improved his qualities as a king and strategist.

Even Liz, Nina and Gloria could not help themselves but charge straight into battle.

Although less so than the corpses outside, the blood pouring from the fracture was rich in life energy that once again allowed Liz's [Blood Donor] to shine - even increasing to level 4 - as streams of reddish energy began flowing into her fabric skin. But she was not the only one benefiting from the bloody environment as the blood rose and injected itself into the cultists before pumping them full of tainted power.

The symbols adorning their black robes glowed with power as the cultists swelled in size and from beneath their hoods, crimson red eyes glared at the approaching loyalist forces.

The clash began with bone shattering upon contact - the skeleton soldiers and warriors acting as vanguard, their numbers making up for the impossible valley between their strengths. The meagre damage as they and the hounds pounced upon the cultists was distracting enough for the main forces to arrive and begin the fight in full.

However, the undead did not care that their damage was pitiful as they ripped and slashed with a frenzy matched only by the cultists. Their bones, teeth and weapons shattered upon the bodies of their enemies but they did not stop until their heads were destroyed - only for 3 more to take the destroyed skeleton's place as they trampled over the remains of their own kin.

A single cut was all it took, even as it healed at impossible rates thanks to the blood pumping into their bodies, a single cut was enough for a skeleton or hound to force their claws or swords inside and try to do even more damage. Most times this resulted in nothing but meagre flesh wounds, bits of bone, claw or rusty metal getting trapped within the cultist's bodies, but every now and then something greater occurred.

In the instant before the regenerative abilities of the cultist damage the undead's bodies they ripped and clawed with an unmatched intensity, creating wounds unmatched by any other warrior present as they lacked the courage to attack so recklessly. Flesh and blood would go flying in clumps as the speed at which the injuries regenerated could not match the fury of the undead.

The backlines were not slacking either. The loyalist mages launched spells of all elements and arrows empowered by their skills so they may pierce through the cultist skills; but that could not match the damage Liz was doing alone.

Her singular force was massive: Not only herself, but 8 of her dolls all working in perfect harmony - surrounded by both mages and archers of bone as their energy supplies never ran dry; Liz's [Blood Donor] skill giving her a near immortal mana regeneration by converting HP to MP in an instant and with an efficiency that would only increase with each level it rose.

The green energy of [Leach Bolt] flew through the air, completely unnoticed as masses of bone crashed into cultist after cultist - causing those who did not die upon contact to leak almost as much blood as was coming from the fracture. [Greater Bone Spear] always created horrific constructs that even the insane would fear as they rained upon them like divine punishment from a dark god.

Gloria was at the front of the charge, slashing through anything that came before like a raging bull. She was night unstoppable, only slowing as 5 cultists approached her at the same time, their arms bursting in showers of blood before reforming as the heads of snakes that extended and stretched in an attempt to bite into her body and rip her to pieces. With a swing of her axe the blood would disperse and fall to the ground before regrowing as more blood was pumped into the cultists.

It was only by slamming her foot against the ground to jump forward at an incredible speed and utilising the [Ground Splitter] skill from her axe to disperse all the blood serpents attacking her. Then within that instance of peace, Gloria's foot slammed once again into the ground but did not push her forward. Instead it grounded her, allowing for more power as she swung her axe upwards, splitting her foe into 2 pieces as her weapons bisected them with perfect symmetry.

Even in their fanatical state the 4 other cultists flinched, stopping their attacks for a moment; their final moment as Gloria made sure to activate 2 skills in quick succession: [Demise Slash], causing a flickering black energy to hide away the entirety of her blade as it released an ominous aura; and [Corrosive Flurry] that somehow managed to make her axe look even more malicious as the demise energy began to writhe like maggots desperate for flesh. 

In the single moment Gloria had gained for herself she arrived at the perfect distance and swung only once - a synergy between skills occuring in the infinitesimally tiny moment she swung her blade, defying the impossible odds of creating a perfect skill fusion - as the axe seemed to do no damage. No blood, no cut, not even a bruise.

But just as the 4 cultists allowed for mocking thoughts they screamed in agony, their bodies dissolving from the inside - eventually becoming nothing but black goo in the puddle of blood.

Every one of her allies who looked upon the scene had the same thought: I'm glad she's on our side.

Then there was Nina. She danced above the crowd with her [Acrobatics] using the heads of cultists to launch herself upwards, copies of herself emerging from her body as she soared through the air, landing upon the cultists shoulders and digging their copied knives into where the eyes would typically be. Their overall damage was much lower than every other combatant, but the instant they cultists were blinded and vulnerable allowed for more deaths than anyone else could possibly assure alone.

Nina laughed and laughed as her performance carried on, her [Charm] and [Deceive] skills had been useless throughout this entire mission, but Nina no longer allowed her negative thoughts to control her - she knew her role and she knew its importance.

As she landed like a feather on another cultist's head she twisted her foot and through contact, the cultist's head, before launching off once again. This did no damage, but caused the cultist to lose control of their movements for less than a second, still ultimately dying as a loyalist warrior's hammer slammed into their head and crushed it in an attack that could have easily been blocked had it not been for Nina's intervention.

As she began her descent once again, Nina fell blade first and activated her skills, [Triple Pierce] and [Ambush Strike], as she plunged into the brain of a cultist who had been approaching a knight without their knowledge. She landed with perfect accuracy, before putting strength into her arms and launching back into the air with the grace of a ballerina and the flair of a trapezist.

The giggling assassin, coloured in bright colours, the most conspicuous of all the loyalist forces who had racked up the lowest amount of kills, but the most assists by far.

The members of the kingdom saw this and did not wish for their guests to have to carry all the weight.

Marquise Barview had long since made use of his favourite skill. Surrounded by cultists with bloody tentacles growing from their backs, used as whips and nets, was a bear towering over everyone else.

This was Barview. The moment combat began he had activated [Wildshape: Bear],the favourite of his forms.

Barview was a [Wild Druid], an evolution of the [Druid] class wherein combat becomes the most prominent aspect of the class and user's gain a multitude of beast forms that they may take freely.

Barview's claws sank into cultist after cultist as he let out palace shaking roars. His fearsome maw devoured one enemy after another, time passed and the bear began to shrink - the skill coming to an end. But as a vulnerable Barview stood surrounded by bloodied cultists his arrogant grin did not falter as fur grew once again from his body; a bear becoming a man becoming a lion.

The king of the jungle let out a roar, a race skill gained in this form that weakened enemies who heard it, before jumping straight back into combat and ripping his enemies to pieces. This pattern repeated over and over again as Barview's skills entered cooldown, only to be replaced with yet another animal that began to cut through the enemies just as fast as the previous. A bear to a lion to a wolf to a tiger to a crocodile to a hippo; eventually returning to a bear as Barview had so many [Wild Shape] skills that he could simply cycle between his favourites.

Across the ballroom was Ragnar sitting leisurely in the midst of the great battle, corpses falling around him in droves as the frenzied cultists ran straight into his attack. Ragnar had made use of his skill [Dragon Storm] to create a swirling barrier of purple energy that cut anything that came into contact with it into pieces; it rippled with contact, the image of a dragon surging through stormy clouds appearing and disappearing.

[Dragon Storm] was one of the best crowd control skills Ragnar had available as a [Beast-Spirit Lord], a class specialised in manifesting the one's inner self as a beast. Typically this manifested as a normal animal like a wolf or fox; but Ragnar had a significant advantage in that his inner self manifested as one of the strongest creatures in existence.

Ragnar watched with a bored expression, waiting for a single enemy that could so much as approach him before it came. It came in the form of one cultist growing rapidly in size, his giant hands ripping off the heads of his fellow fanatics and showering himself in their blood - his muscles and size rapidly growing with each dowsing. The monstrous cultist quickly grew to more than 8 metres tall, matching some of the smaller members of the giant race, with muscles that seemed to have their own gravitational pull. Stepping through the barrier gained him nothing more than a few cuts; his power was clear.

Yet Ragnar did not even flinch, simply standing to face his opponent.

The fight did not even last a full minute as the cultist charged and Ragnar raised his sword high - a one sided blade that the more learned residents of the Chinese Union would recognise as a Japanese Blade from the old world - and swung down.

Unlike many of his other skills this one did not require much build up, yet despite that it did not lack in power.

The skill [Dragon Manifestation] was the most important skill in his class, bringing about the image of a western dragon in an instant that devoured the charging cultist to leave nothing but bloody mess in his place. With his foe dead, Ragnar once again took a seat and waited for the next of his enemies to meet their fate.

And finally, the centerpiece of the loyalist forces: The king himself.

His class [Venerable Leader] that was desired by rulers across all the continents of Galdrash for both its power and political ability.

The king was like a beacon during a dark night, his golden aura exploding from within the ranks of the cultists as his blade cut through them with ease. He wasn't even really using his skills to do so - only activating one when a superior cultist prevented himself.

One such case was a cultist who could sink into the blood and reappear wherever there was more. In this case that was anywhere in the ballroom; with this he almost caught the king off guard many times, appearing directly in his blindspot and executing an attack that only failed because of the king's years of experience. But before he could be killed he would simply sink back into the blood and vanish until the king had just begun to forget him.

Becoming tired of this the king heightened his senses to the limit; finally noticing an attack before it began as the cultist rose from the blood and into his golden aura. He knew he wouldn't be fast enough normally and so activated the skill [Leader's Tyranny].

[Leader's Tyranny] itself wasn't necessarily an attacking skill, instead a debuffing skill. It created an aura around the user that lowered the stats of any enemy within it based on a few factors. First was the proximity to Geoffrey; for which the cultist took a significant reduction of their skills. Next was that it relied on the user's dominion, without any territory under their command it was a useless skill; but for a king it would increase the skill's potency tenfold. The final condition was fear - normally this was the condition easiest to meet, but the mind of the cultist was too far corroded by tainted blood, meaning the debuff could not take full effect.

However, despite this the king's debuff was more than enough to slow the assassin down and cut his head off in a single swipe of his sword.

Each show of the king's dominating power inspired the loyalists to fight even harder than they had been - each skill that devastated swathes of cultists or defence that left the king with no damage despite the cultist's power was enough for each soldier to keep fighting that moment more.

"We've almost reached the traitor!" King Geoffrey yelled out, cutting down another cultist in the process. The loyalists cheered while Kilgard shot them a glare and screamed in frustration - the power of his ritual close to reaching its apex as the 10 other cultists slowly rose into the air.

"STOP THEM!" He screamed, his eyes having become pure red with trails of blood dripping down them.

This single command caused a shift in the cultists as 10 of them pulled out ancient looking parchment inscribed with the same serpent symbol as their robes and ripped them simultaneously. In an instant their bodies dissolved into blood and gathered together in the shape of a crystal orb. The eyes of the loyalists became wide as they recognised what was happening; even the king and Ragnar became fearful of what was about to appear.

"Stop them!" The king called, causing all attacks to be diverted to the crimson orb, but it was too late as manic laughter from the Archduke echoed through the hall and a terrifying monster took shape:

A Blood Golem! The simple notion of this monster was enough to cause fear in the mind of any capable warrior - especially in the environment they were currently conquering.

Golems were notoriously powerful creatures; but even among them there were 3 that were considered to be among the most fearsome: The [Bone Golem], the [Flesh Golem] and finally, worst of all; the [Blood Golem].

They were undead-type golems which alone made them difficult to face; but while regular golem had meagre regenerative abilities that could be considered only slightly above average - the undead’s regeneration and golem’s regeneration abilities perfectly synergised to make a near immortal creature of the battlefield.

Should the golem's exterior material be present they could regenerate indefinitely until their core was shattered, and even faster if they were undead-types. As such, in a battlefield where death is the only constant, these materials are so abundant that taking down an undead golem was as difficult as fighting a war with no casualties.

The strength difference between the 3 undead golems was well known especially in the case of the blood golem.

This strength came in 2 aspects: First was that they had no upper limit to absorbing blood, allowing them to grow potentially infinitely; and second was that they were formed of a fluid which meant physical attacks were almost useless, the golem could move its core without any issue and finally it had the widest variety of attack options.

Even with the king's fear removing skills, it was hard for the soldiers to not feel as though the fight had become a lost cause.

Liz looked upon the creation with fascination; wondering if she would one day ever be able to create an undead like that.

It reminded her of a creature she had seen in an old video game; a monster made of muck, sludge and muck, only the one before her was made entirely from blood. It towered over the room and was gradually increasing in size with blood dripping from every part of it. The blood golem let out a roar and swung its arm with no clear attack pattern, but just as Liz was confused as to the purpose of the attack the king yelled out a warning.

"Prepare for bloodspawn!" After his yell, the globules of blood gradually took the form of humanoids and began attacking anything around them - allies and enemies alike. They seemed easy to beat as a single hit dispersed them with no regeneration; but the sheer number took its toll on the loyalists.

Liz's allies were being pushed back greatly with the combined efforts of the bloodspawn, the golem and the cultists and Liz could see the disappointment on the king's face; disheartened as he believed he was watching the fall of his kingdom.

Had the environment been even slightly different then perhaps he would have had a chance; but with the fracture releasing an ocean of blood there was nothing anyone below legendary rank could do to kill the blood golem - or so he believed.

Maybe that skill would work... Liz thought to herself.

Liz had a number of skills she did not really make use of; the least used of which being equipment skills. She felt that reliance on skills that she may not always have would hamper her growth, but in this situation she saw no other choice and made use of her equipment skill: [Undead Command].

"Ragnar, you and I will act as guard for a city wide evacuation." The king said solemnly; he had been placed in a position no king would ever wish upon themselves as he felt he was about to lose his kingdom. Despite this he knew his priorities, the land could be reclaimed and the real kingdom laid in the hearts of its citizens - should his actions save the life of even one more person then he felt he could die a good king.

But at this moment the raised arm of the blood golem, taking the shape of pendulum axe blade, seemed to falter - it remained static in the air before falling down with the same vigour present in all of its attacks.

Yet the king and his knights watched in awe as its targets were not them, but the cultists and bloodspawn who had previously been advancing without difficulty.

"I've got it for five minutes." A voice came from across the room, the king's head turning to see the little necromancer who appeared to be straining herself and no longer firing off any spells - her mind distracted with maintaining control over the blood golem.

King Geoffrey stared bewildered for a moment, but it did not last as a great grin spread across his face and his intentions were conveyed in a single word"

"CHARGE!" With the backing of a blood golem there was no chance that Kilgard's ritual would go through - had control been taken only a moment earlier.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! It is done!" Kilgard laughed, each breath sending shockwaves that sent the loyalists forces flying backwards - even the blood golem was not spared as all the blood in the ballroom was reclaimed, cocooning itself around Kilgard.

For the first time the bloodfall coming from the fracture slowed, all having congregated around Kilgard - but from the fracture came something far worse; a strange pulsating crystal that released the most heinous of energies. Each ripple of its power sent more and more soldiers into a state of unconsciousness and by the time it had joined Kilgard in the cocoon more than half the loyalist forces had collapsed to the floor - their mouths foaming and their eyes rolled back into their heads.

Fear wafted throughout the entire room, even the cutlists felt fear as their bodies slowly dissolved into blood that became part of the cocoon - it did not take long for another system message to present itself in front of Liz and Nina:

Liz could only watch, her body weighed down by some kind of pressure, as the cocoon gradually lessened in size - absorbing into Kilgard.

In mere moments he revealed himself, but the creature that emerged could no longer be called Kilgard; let alone human.

Its eyes were crimson red and deeply reptilian, like a snake staring deep into your soul. Red and shiny scales ran up his arm and legs, protecting his neck as well; seemingly knowing the weaknesses of its new form.

The feet and hands had been replaced by ravenous claws that dug into the stained marble without any pressure being applied at all; a tail extended from its back and with each movement a storm could be seen produced behind him.

Finally and most horrifying of all was the mouth. Kilgard's face looked to have been cut, the edges of his mouth now stopping at his ears - all to reveal a set of razor sharp teeth that looked sharp enough to cut cleanly through adamantite; and sweeping across each of its fangs, slowly, as if savouring the experience, was forked tongue that evoked fear in everyone who saw it:

"Hmmm." The incarnation hummed, looking over the crowd of people still conscious, "It seems reclaiming my power and destroying Beelzebub may still be possible."

With that a cruel grin spread across his disfigured face.

Fuck...

A fight that would have after effects for the rest of Vradoran history was about to begin.