Grand Saint Alloy

“What happened here,” Tristan mumbled.

The destruction was awe inspiring. Most of it had clearly been made by the guard crab as it sliced through trees and trampled shrub. But whoever had been fighting it had struck it with something insane. If Tristan was reading the scene right, the crab had gotten in a lucky attack as its last action.

Tristan assumed this only because the only blood on the ground and trees was either coming from the guard crab or in a trail moving away from it. Whoever had taken the hit from the guard crabs cerated foreleg was almost certainly dead. The blood suggested a gut or torso shot and that would damage most of their internal organs.

Tristan could not wait around, he had three of his own crabs to worry about. He ran towards the mansion, following the blood up to the main door. A crack ran through the wood that separated the top of the door from the bottom. The bar that had locked it was still in place, but it did not stop the door from being broken.

He crouched down and waddled under the bar. The light spear made it difficult, but he managed. Inside he found the bottom of the door at the far side of the reception hall. It looked like something blunt had struck it over and over. The indentations of a ram or hammer of some kind could be seen.

Though the doorway from the reception to the dinning hall, Tristan could see the blood, however he could also see a set of footprints in the blood. They were far too steady to belong to the injured man.

Preparing for a fight with an unknown opponent, Tristan followed the trail through the dinning hall and into the private wing. At a set of stairs, the man had collapsed, before going up it on his hands and knees. Tristan went up the stairs, not sure what he would find at the top. What he found was both surprising and completely expected.

“Back the HELL off,” someone yelled. The yell was followed by coughing and a splattering sound.

Tristan topped the stairs and the three occupants of the master bedroom all swiveled to stare at him, “Hi.” Was all he could say to the awkward situation.

Bruce and Eve were facing off against a wounded William. He looked terrible, his face was white and, judging from the blood staining his pants and arms, he was only alive because tier three kerns made you hard to kill. The essence in the blood meant that someone could lose more blood before dying. That did not extend to the gash in his gut, his stomach and intestines had been sliced in half.

William was holding his guts in with one hand and wielding a hammer with the other. It was a hammer with dull runes and strings wrapped around the grip. It was the exact hammer from his dream, however William could not use it. The hammer was an extremely powerful metal artifact, it was potent enough that Tristan could not use it and he had the correct affinity.

Bruce had his halberd brandished and Eve was wielding Tristans long knife. They were soaked in gestational fluid and looked horrible, but they also looked ready to kill William.

“Hi,” Eve said back, “Why are you wearing a bunch of women’s jewelry?”

“Robbed the bank,” Tristan said with a grin, “I’m richer than you now.”

“You dare rob the Plains Caldera,” Cough Cough, William wheezed enraged at Tristans brazenness.

“No,” Tristan said, “The Plains Caldera is dead, I robbed whatever Elder can successfully lay claim to the loot.”

Eve winced when Tristan referred to the treasures of a Caldera as loot. William’s face became even more pale, though Tristan believed it had more to do with the blood puddling at his feet. He sagged as the effort it required to look tough exceeded his limit. The hammer hit the floor, splashing blood all over, William followed it shortly after.

“Ok, so what’s going on,” Tristan asked, “Can we save him or do we kill him?”

“The appropriate term is ‘let him pass,” Bruce said, “And yes, he tried to attack us as soon as we arrived.”

Tristan sighed, “If you could save someone and chose not to, then you killed them.” He wiggled his fingers showing off the artifacts, “I have quite a few light and water artifacts, both elements are known for healing, so if you want to save him, there probably is a way.”

Bruce shook his head, “he jeopardized the mission and risked the whole Caldera for whatever records are in this desk. Even if he did not try to bash our heads in with a hammer, William still would get the death sentence.”

William for his part could not hear them, instead he placed a palm in the desk beside him. A dark ring of decay expanded from his palm. It was the ability he had used on the guard crab, but unlike then, he was missing a large portion of his blood. The essence that gave him the ability was literally spilled all over the mansion.

He started coughing before the effort exhausted his consciousness and he collapsed into the blood. Tristan had never intentionally killed a person, and he was not comfortable with starting. Fortunately, he had a scapegoat this time. He tossed the spear to Bruce who caught it out of the air.

“Well then, your family is responsible for the Forest Caldera’s protection. So do what you think is best,” Tristan said.

Bruce paled as he caught the spear. He had changed a lot since the time he beat the younger version of Tristan. Age and the stress of decisions in the family business had changed him. However, they had not mellowed him. He looked at Tristan who simply gazed back impassively. Tristan was right, the Gold Hearts were responsible for the rule of law in the Forest Caldera.

Bruce took a deep breath, and spoke in a shaky voice, “For the prosperity of the Caldera.”

He jabbed the spear through Williams heart. A pulse went through the spear and light soaked into Williams body, healing it. Tristan dropped into a ready stance, getting ready for a desperate fight. However the barely perceptible breathing of William stopped, and the trickle of blood halted.

Bruce sucked in a deep breath and looked at Tristan, “That’s an evil weapon.”

Tristan inspected the spear, “Is it made for torture?”

“No, healing with light essence simply stimulates a person’s own body to heal,” Bruce said, “It uses their own stamina and nutrients.”

Tristan took a wary step back from the spear. It was an evil weapon, if you had the blade stabbed into you, your body would continually restore itself at its own expense. However, there was a blade in the way, constantly cutting apart the newly regenerated tissue and restarting the cycle. This spear would both exhaust and malnourish its victim. For what many considered an element of life, it was a nasty effect.

Eve took a step back as well, her eyes landed on Williams corpse. It looked like a famine victim had died in the Elders chambers. Tristan decided to distract her, so he tossed the water artifact sword at her. Eve flinched as she caught it, but her eyes widened when she looked at it.

Tristan grinned, taking off his jewelry, “Alright guys its advancement time.”

Bruce was pulled out of his musings, “Huh, what do you mean.”

Tristan held his bejeweled hand up, “Found these in a vault under the bank, I will have a much better chance of surviving this if you two are tier three.”

“Sage,” Bruce said, “That will take the better part of two months to absorb these.”

Tristan cocked his head, “Why, its like eating right.”

Bruce shook his head, “No, its more like working out.”

Tristan had no idea how absorbing artifacts worked. After all the only example he had was Siren and he had pulled the essence out of a single one. It had been a very strong one, but Siren was very strong in his own right. There was some sense to it requiring adjustment, the theory behind it was that absorbing essence with a full kern caused one’s capacity to stretch. That new stretched amount would then be the body’s new baseline. It appeared that absorbing to many artifacts would cause a kern to break as well. Tristan made a mental note to see if that would enhance his progress.

“Well then you two had best get started,” Tristan said as he started pulling off most of the necklaces and several rings.

He handed them to Bruce before turning to Eve and unloading a bunch of artifacts on her. Bruce looked odd in women’s jewelry while it looked normal on Eve.

She held a ring up, inspecting it, “You know, my grandfather told me to marry the man who gave me the most expensive ring. Said that that man would be willing to take care of me.” Eve looked at Tristan with a raised eyebrow, “This will be hard to beat.”

“Uh, no,” Tristan said, “I plan on using you as a shield to ward off giant murder crabs.”