Relentless Demon provides much less immediate power than the other potential classes I could have evolved into, but the boost I gain is still potent nonetheless.
My equipment is no more intact that it was before I initiated the class evolution, but my body doesn’t have a single blemish on it. It feels like it’s been a lifetime since that began, but it can’t have been more than half a second out here.
“Your power…” Regulus trails off, and then his expression hardens. “You used him! You killed Ardalan to—“
“I did,” I say, raising an eyebrow. “What are you going to do about it?”
He screams in impotent rage, and the two of us swap positions again.
As much as it could be entertaining to draw this out, maximizing fear is not actually conducive to leveling up faster.
For one thing, the flare that Regulus dropped has been active for some time. Red smoke spirals up into the air hundreds of feet above, telegraphing our position to anyone that cares to look at the sky.
Objective: Annihilate your enemies
Kill the guards.
Targets killed: [2/8]
Reward: 100 XP/guard, 1000 XP on completion
Yeah, I can think of about five other people that might have an interest in what’s going on here.
I need to finish this quickly.
It’s interesting. My Mind (Speed) and Body (Speed) stats have only increased by one, but as I stare down the Fog Hunter charging me, he feels far slower than he did. Regulus hasn’t changed his pace from what he was at before. In fact, I’m fairly certain he’s using a skill to lunge at me, given the magical mist he trails behind him.
He’s still six levels higher than me, but his pace feels glacial when I compare him to the blinding speed that the twisted mirror of me possessed.
I activate the first of my evolved features, new instincts already carving a groove in my mind.
Siphon (Legendary)
Tier: Gold
Level: 1
Take magic from this world and make it your own. Thrice per day, you can sap the power of magic you come in contact with, enhancing your power.
While I can’t take any of my enemy’s magic right now, since he’s not in contact with me, I have another external source I can draw from.
UCC ARMOR 2T
Current user: Evelyn Carnelian
WARNING: Integrity compromised!
Armor Integrity
Left Arm: [4/10]
Right Arm: [3/10]
Left Leg: [5/10]
Right Leg: [4/10]
I dismiss the flashing display as soon as it comes. It’s confirmation that Siphon is working, but I don’t need to follow every single change in the numbers.
The green lines fade from the metal bracers around my arms and legs, and power surges through me, a refreshing warmth tingling across my body.
I activate Bloodstep, and I use my blood-form to dash behind Regulus. He’s prepared for it, and the same foggy skill he used to end my last usage of this skill explodes out from his hands.
Rematerializing, I use my newly-increased Body (Speed) stat to dodge it and just run at him.
When I watched the dream-vision of Sapphire discussing how weak this region was, I doubted her. After all, these people have been giving me nothing but trouble since I’ve been born.
Now, though, after thousands of fights against an unstoppable enemy, I see the truth of her statement.
Regulus course-corrects, about-facing in a speed that I would’ve found impressive yesterday, but I lazily dodge him, throwing my body aside as he attacks, blades exploding forth from the armor on his arms.
His moves are trivially easy to predict with Knifefighting, and I meet his swords with a blade of my own, parrying his attacks away.
“Coward,” he hisses, but I can sense the undertone of fear there.
My ears prick while I ignore his attempt to rile me up. I think I hear footsteps, and they’re approaching fast.
I need to get this over with.
One more Bloodstep takes me behind him once more, the extra power gained from Siphon fueling the skill. The trademark magic exhaustion isn’t even present as I attack his back once more.
Once again, he meets me, and this time, I’m at a range where I can’t easily dodge. Regulus has better armor than Ardalan did—he sweeps both of his misty blades at me, and though I see it coming, I can only parry one with a knife.
I catch the other one, not flinching even as the blade digs deep into my flesh. I’m more durable than the average human, and though my Body (Durability) stat isn’t the highest, I more than make up for it with how little I care about the pain.
His eyes widen as the sword bites through half of my forearm and stops, catching on bone. Magical cold spreads from the wound, numbness crawling its way up through my right arm.
And then I Siphon the cold away.
As the spell effect fades, removing the mist from the bloodstained sword embedded in my arm, I use Temporary Shape Self, taking advantage of my extra magic to grow a third arm, which I use to draw a knife from my waist and plant it into my enemy’s eye.
As per usual, I activate Enhance Bleed and Woundshape, dropping Temporary Shape Self to keep myself from overstraining my magic.
Enhance Bleed advanced to level 3!
Woundshape advanced to level 3!
Both of Regulus’ eyes crumple, blood and clear fluid streaming out of the empty holes where they were, and he falls to the ground screaming, releasing me. He claws at his eye sockets, accidentally tearing my knife out of it, and his skills deactivate, which conveniently means that cold is no longer crawling up my arm. It is, unfortunately, half-severed, but I can deal with that.
“What…” he rasps out through the pain. “What are you?”
And then he can’t ask anything else thanks to his sudden lack of a throat.
Venomous Bite advanced to level 4!
Well, the notification of his death hasn’t shown up yet. I deign to give him a response.
"I am,” I tell him, “the one that got away.”
Targets killed: [3/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
As my venom eats away at his body, I kneel down to it.
Devour consumes more than it used to. Though it still requires me to physically consume part of him, black-and-red magic flows out from me and into his veins, eating away at his flesh and blood as it does.
Devour granted +165 XP!
This time, XP isn’t the only thing I earn. The bone-deep incision on my forearm closes itself in fast motion, muscle knitting itself back together, and the same energizing warmth that Siphon provides flows through me.
After a few moments, white and blue strands of power join the red and black, chilly wind blending into the warmth.
Temporary skill unlocked: Misty Blade
Coalesce the air into your blade. Imbue a bladed weapon with magical force. Upon wounding an enemy, your target will begin to freeze.
It doesn’t come with a level, rarity, or tier, I notice. Then again, it is only going to last for a short time.
As I test the skill out, turning my steel dagger a milky white, I watch as my skin smooths over where the late Regulus pierced it. With Shape Blood, I remove the last of the traces of the battle from myself.
Devour (Legendary)
Tier: Gold
Level: 1
Consume and gain power. Gain up to 50% of the XP you consume, scaling with the difficulty of your opponent. Regain up to 100% of the vitality a consumed foe possessed. After devouring it, you may use its last used skill for up to 1 minute.
My enhanced Devour is already paying dividends. It’s been upgraded two entire tiers. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Ruby, and Sapphire. I know the tiers like the back of my hand. Given the dream-vision I saw, I can only assume the humans who made me wanted me to.
I can think more on my origins later. For now, I can hear the other guards rapidly approaching.
Even with my upgrades, I don’t think I can take them on five against one. I hoped there would be maybe one or two that I could kill and Devour, which would make this much easier, but I guess finding the first two alone is the only lucky break I’m getting. At a guess, those were scouts, given the relative speed and lower power that they had, while this is the main force.
I can’t fight five of them at once. Before my class evolution, I would’ve lost to a single pair of them if not for ambush. Now, the odds are better, but five? Impossible
But I don’t need to fight them. I just need to kill them.
They’re coming from the same place Regulus and Ardalan came through. The trees are forty feet from me, which means I can’t make it there in a single Bloodstep.
I hit the ground, counting the seconds. It’s been around thirty seconds since I Devoured Regulus already, so I don’t have much longer.
Stealth advanced to level 8!
Stealth keeps me hidden where I am.
Forty seconds. Forty-five.
At fifty seconds, they reach me, still unaware of me where I’m hidden in the bushes.
“Shit,” one of them says. I recognize the voice as the woman who shot me on the train. To her credit, she doesn’t panic. “Ard and Regu—“
I explode up from my hiding spot, my relatively high Mind (Speed) stat giving me just enough time to process the fact that they’re almost right on top of me before I strike out with Misty Blade.
My only compatibility with this skill is my general affinity—I don’t have a specialized one that fits it. Thus, I strike with less control and less power than Regulus wielded over the skill.
Unlike Regulus, though, I have three extra advantages.
First, I have Knifefighting. Second, I have the element of surprise, played perfectly once again.
Third, my class evolution has granted me one final boon.
Relentless
You have faced overwhelming adversity time and time again, yet you remain unbroken. When the odds against you are impossible, relentless power will come to you.
The trait is vague, almost painfully so. It doesn’t quantify how much I grow, what “impossible” odds mean, how often I can use it, and so forth, but a fire burns within me.
And it tells me that now is the time to act.
Relentless triggers. Whereas Siphon and Devour were like warm embraces, the trait is a raging fire in my soul, exploding through my body.
The Misty Blade balloons in magnitude, white fog detonating out from my knife, and I cut a man’s head off, white magic creeping along the rest of his body as it does..
Targets killed: [4/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
I feel powerful, and the skill is powerful in turn. The mist floods out from my blade, turning a warm sunny day into featureless grey and white.
“Reg?” the woman asks, panic tinging her voice. “Is that—“
I locate her voice and Bloodstep to her, the Relentless power in my blood energizing me so much that I barely notice the magic expenditure.
Before she can realize something’s wrong, I find the edge of her armor with my hands and slit her throat.
She doesn’t die immediately, to my surprise, even with Enhance Bleed and Woundshape. The woman resists both of those skills somehow, a will within her body clashing with mine.
My minute is up. The fog starts dissipating as I lose the cool thread of Misty Blade.
As the guards start to regain their bearings, I stab the woman three more times before she manages to push me off, surprising physical strength knocking me away.
Even as she stumbles away, I Bloodstep to her. If raw stabbing damage won’t kill her…
I bite her exposed ear, and my sharpened teeth don’t even manage to pierce all the way through.
Still, it’s deep enough to use Venomous Bite.
Venomous Bite advanced to level 5!
That finally gets a reaction from her. She must be durable, so I doubt the venom will do it alone, but it’s a start.
A guard in armor with red lines running through the metal rather than green fires a gout of flame at me, swallowing both me and the durable woman whole. Searing heat washes over me, scorching my skin, but the fire within burns brighter.
I almost laugh at the attack. It burns layers of my skin right off, but it’s nothing compared to a skill that boils me from the inside out.
A single Bloodstep takes me to the man, and he yelps in surprise as I tap him on the shoulder.
“The researchers call you weak,” I say. “I think I see why.”
He cancels his flame and sets his body alight, and I Siphon away the worst of my flame, merely burning my hand rather than charring it to ash.
And then I put a knife into his unarmored back, shoving it through organs and twisting. I don’t even need to Enhance Bleed to know he’s a dead man.
I take note of the detailed red lines set into his armor and give him a new one, drawing it right across his throat.
Targets killed: [5/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
You have advanced to level 6!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
The poisoned, bleeding woman fires her gun at me, but I react fast enough to shove the corpse of the pyromancer in the way, absorbing the shots. Besides her, the archer who nearly killed me earlier draws her bow.
I Bloodstep forward and cut her bowstring in half. The taut string snaps into her face, drawing blood, and I add to that spot of blood by taking her dropped arrow and shoving it into her abdomen.
Unlike the others, she doesn’t wail in pain. Instead, she draws twin daggers from her waist, determined to end my life.
I’d be impressed if she wasn’t trying to kill me. As it is, Knifefighting makes it laughably easy to see what she has coming.
I make it quick.
Targets killed: [6/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
That leaves the poisoned woman and one other man.
With a start, I realize who the final foe is.
“Hello, Jarreth,” I say.
“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance,” he snarls back at me. For someone who’s just watched three of his comrades die, he’s impressively angry.
“Let’s get on with it, then,” I say. I can feel the Relentless fire within me start to burn out, and I want to make use of the remaining part of it as well as I can.
Jarreth wields a metal whip and chain, the entirety of it emblazoned with intricate magical symbols. He makes the first step before I can Bloodstep at him, snapping it out faster than I can react.
Contrary to my expectations, the whip doesn’t lash through me. Instead, it wraps around me, binding me, and my skills wink out.
I remember this sensation, but his binding is imperfect. This is no prison. To me, improvised bonds might well be nothing at all.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, a touch of a trait guiding me as I wriggle out of his weapon’s grasp, twisting my body in ways not humanly possible. “I’m a Free Bird.”
To punctuate my statement, I use Bloodstep. This time, it actually tires me, which means that my new trait’s usage is coming to an end.
That’s fine. I have enough time.
I use Shape Blood on the copious amounts of life-giving fluid slowly watering the shrubs around us, sending a blinding wave of it at him.
Shape Blood advanced to level 8!
His whip flashes, arresting the momentum of my skill and sending gallons of blood dropping to the ground.
That’s the last mistake he’ll ever make.
I burst through the unempowered blood, soaking myself in it, and I throw myself at him. I use my skill once again, turning the blood on the two of us into spears, and he’s too busy trying to escape the grasp of the blood clinging to him to notice the knife coming for the top of his head.
“You… won’t… get away…” he wheezes. Part of his armor glows, though no further attacks come from him.
“I’m sure,” I say. From what I’ve gleaned, the “UCC” that he belongs to has far more reach than just the one laboratory I was born in. Assuming they catch wind of this, there’s no doubt that I’ll face more resistance. “But neither will you.”
Jarreth dies cursing me.
Targets killed: [7/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
The last woman has a gun and she has durability, but ammunition doesn’t last forever and neither does her constitution. For each bullet she lands in me, I land a strike on her, and the combination of my newest trait and my unique physiology ensures that I won’t fall first. I wear her down with venom and wounds, the last of my Relentless powering me through, and eventually, she keels over.
Targets killed: [8/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
The fire fades inside me.
Messages scroll down my system, and I reach into my pack, finding a miraculously intact piece of paper. Then again, the person who created it seems to be nothing short of a miracle.
Darkness falls across my vision, the toll of my journey exacting itself. A single thought burns through my mind.
I need to find Sapphire.
Objective: Annihilate your enemies [COMPLETE]
You have kill the guards. Gain your reward before you face the consequences.
1000 XP rewarded!
You have advanced to level 7!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
You have advanced to level 8!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
Due to your traits and actions, you may gain up to 5 Bronze-tier skills and 1 Silver-tier skill.
Relentless Demon provides much less immediate power than the other potential classes I could have evolved into, but the boost I gain is still potent nonetheless.
My equipment is no more intact that it was before I initiated the class evolution, but my body doesn’t have a single blemish on it. It feels like it’s been a lifetime since that began, but it can’t have been more than half a second out here.
“Your power…” Regulus trails off, and then his expression hardens. “You used him! You killed Ardalan to—“
“I did,” I say, raising an eyebrow. “What are you going to do about it?”
He screams in impotent rage, and the two of us swap positions again.
As much as it could be entertaining to draw this out, maximizing fear is not actually conducive to leveling up faster.
For one thing, the flare that Regulus dropped has been active for some time. Red smoke spirals up into the air hundreds of feet above, telegraphing our position to anyone that cares to look at the sky.
Objective: Annihilate your enemies
Kill the guards.
Targets killed: [2/8]
Reward: 100 XP/guard, 1000 XP on completion
Yeah, I can think of about five other people that might have an interest in what’s going on here.
I need to finish this quickly.
It’s interesting. My Mind (Speed) and Body (Speed) stats have only increased by one, but as I stare down the Fog Hunter charging me, he feels far slower than he did. Regulus hasn’t changed his pace from what he was at before. In fact, I’m fairly certain he’s using a skill to lunge at me, given the magical mist he trails behind him.
He’s still six levels higher than me, but his pace feels glacial when I compare him to the blinding speed that the twisted mirror of me possessed.
I activate the first of my evolved features, new instincts already carving a groove in my mind.
Siphon (Legendary)
Tier: Gold
Level: 1
Take magic from this world and make it your own. Thrice per day, you can sap the power of magic you come in contact with, enhancing your power.
While I can’t take any of my enemy’s magic right now, since he’s not in contact with me, I have another external source I can draw from.
UCC ARMOR 2T
Current user: Evelyn Carnelian
WARNING: Integrity compromised!
Armor Integrity
Left Arm: [4/10]
Right Arm: [3/10]
Left Leg: [5/10]
Right Leg: [4/10]
I dismiss the flashing display as soon as it comes. It’s confirmation that Siphon is working, but I don’t need to follow every single change in the numbers.
The green lines fade from the metal bracers around my arms and legs, and power surges through me, a refreshing warmth tingling across my body.
I activate Bloodstep, and I use my blood-form to dash behind Regulus. He’s prepared for it, and the same foggy skill he used to end my last usage of this skill explodes out from his hands.
Rematerializing, I use my newly-increased Body (Speed) stat to dodge it and just run at him.
When I watched the dream-vision of Sapphire discussing how weak this region was, I doubted her. After all, these people have been giving me nothing but trouble since I’ve been born.
Now, though, after thousands of fights against an unstoppable enemy, I see the truth of her statement.
Regulus course-corrects, about-facing in a speed that I would’ve found impressive yesterday, but I lazily dodge him, throwing my body aside as he attacks, blades exploding forth from the armor on his arms.
His moves are trivially easy to predict with Knifefighting, and I meet his swords with a blade of my own, parrying his attacks away.
“Coward,” he hisses, but I can sense the undertone of fear there.
My ears prick while I ignore his attempt to rile me up. I think I hear footsteps, and they’re approaching fast.
I need to get this over with.
One more Bloodstep takes me behind him once more, the extra power gained from Siphon fueling the skill. The trademark magic exhaustion isn’t even present as I attack his back once more.
Once again, he meets me, and this time, I’m at a range where I can’t easily dodge. Regulus has better armor than Ardalan did—he sweeps both of his misty blades at me, and though I see it coming, I can only parry one with a knife.
I catch the other one, not flinching even as the blade digs deep into my flesh. I’m more durable than the average human, and though my Body (Durability) stat isn’t the highest, I more than make up for it with how little I care about the pain.
His eyes widen as the sword bites through half of my forearm and stops, catching on bone. Magical cold spreads from the wound, numbness crawling its way up through my right arm.
And then I Siphon the cold away.
As the spell effect fades, removing the mist from the bloodstained sword embedded in my arm, I use Temporary Shape Self, taking advantage of my extra magic to grow a third arm, which I use to draw a knife from my waist and plant it into my enemy’s eye.
As per usual, I activate Enhance Bleed and Woundshape, dropping Temporary Shape Self to keep myself from overstraining my magic.
Enhance Bleed advanced to level 3!
Woundshape advanced to level 3!
Both of Regulus’ eyes crumple, blood and clear fluid streaming out of the empty holes where they were, and he falls to the ground screaming, releasing me. He claws at his eye sockets, accidentally tearing my knife out of it, and his skills deactivate, which conveniently means that cold is no longer crawling up my arm. It is, unfortunately, half-severed, but I can deal with that.
“What…” he rasps out through the pain. “What are you?”
And then he can’t ask anything else thanks to his sudden lack of a throat.
Venomous Bite advanced to level 4!
Well, the notification of his death hasn’t shown up yet. I deign to give him a response.
"I am,” I tell him, “the one that got away.”
Targets killed: [3/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
As my venom eats away at his body, I kneel down to it.
Devour consumes more than it used to. Though it still requires me to physically consume part of him, black-and-red magic flows out from me and into his veins, eating away at his flesh and blood as it does.
Devour granted +165 XP!
This time, XP isn’t the only thing I earn. The bone-deep incision on my forearm closes itself in fast motion, muscle knitting itself back together, and the same energizing warmth that Siphon provides flows through me.
After a few moments, white and blue strands of power join the red and black, chilly wind blending into the warmth.
Temporary skill unlocked: Misty Blade
Coalesce the air into your blade. Imbue a bladed weapon with magical force. Upon wounding an enemy, your target will begin to freeze.
It doesn’t come with a level, rarity, or tier, I notice. Then again, it is only going to last for a short time.
As I test the skill out, turning my steel dagger a milky white, I watch as my skin smooths over where the late Regulus pierced it. With Shape Blood, I remove the last of the traces of the battle from myself.
Devour (Legendary)
Tier: Gold
Level: 1
Consume and gain power. Gain up to 50% of the XP you consume, scaling with the difficulty of your opponent. Regain up to 100% of the vitality a consumed foe possessed. After devouring it, you may use its last used skill for up to 1 minute.
My enhanced Devour is already paying dividends. It’s been upgraded two entire tiers. Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Ruby, and Sapphire. I know the tiers like the back of my hand. Given the dream-vision I saw, I can only assume the humans who made me wanted me to.
I can think more on my origins later. For now, I can hear the other guards rapidly approaching.
Even with my upgrades, I don’t think I can take them on five against one. I hoped there would be maybe one or two that I could kill and Devour, which would make this much easier, but I guess finding the first two alone is the only lucky break I’m getting. At a guess, those were scouts, given the relative speed and lower power that they had, while this is the main force.
I can’t fight five of them at once. Before my class evolution, I would’ve lost to a single pair of them if not for ambush. Now, the odds are better, but five? Impossible
But I don’t need to fight them. I just need to kill them.
They’re coming from the same place Regulus and Ardalan came through. The trees are forty feet from me, which means I can’t make it there in a single Bloodstep.
I hit the ground, counting the seconds. It’s been around thirty seconds since I Devoured Regulus already, so I don’t have much longer.
Stealth advanced to level 8!
Stealth keeps me hidden where I am.
Forty seconds. Forty-five.
At fifty seconds, they reach me, still unaware of me where I’m hidden in the bushes.
“Shit,” one of them says. I recognize the voice as the woman who shot me on the train. To her credit, she doesn’t panic. “Ard and Regu—“
I explode up from my hiding spot, my relatively high Mind (Speed) stat giving me just enough time to process the fact that they’re almost right on top of me before I strike out with Misty Blade.
My only compatibility with this skill is my general affinity—I don’t have a specialized one that fits it. Thus, I strike with less control and less power than Regulus wielded over the skill.
Unlike Regulus, though, I have three extra advantages.
First, I have Knifefighting. Second, I have the element of surprise, played perfectly once again.
Third, my class evolution has granted me one final boon.
Relentless
You have faced overwhelming adversity time and time again, yet you remain unbroken. When the odds against you are impossible, relentless power will come to you.
The trait is vague, almost painfully so. It doesn’t quantify how much I grow, what “impossible” odds mean, how often I can use it, and so forth, but a fire burns within me.
And it tells me that now is the time to act.
Relentless triggers. Whereas Siphon and Devour were like warm embraces, the trait is a raging fire in my soul, exploding through my body.
The Misty Blade balloons in magnitude, white fog detonating out from my knife, and I cut a man’s head off, white magic creeping along the rest of his body as it does..
Targets killed: [4/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
I feel powerful, and the skill is powerful in turn. The mist floods out from my blade, turning a warm sunny day into featureless grey and white.
“Reg?” the woman asks, panic tinging her voice. “Is that—“
I locate her voice and Bloodstep to her, the Relentless power in my blood energizing me so much that I barely notice the magic expenditure.
Before she can realize something’s wrong, I find the edge of her armor with my hands and slit her throat.
She doesn’t die immediately, to my surprise, even with Enhance Bleed and Woundshape. The woman resists both of those skills somehow, a will within her body clashing with mine.
My minute is up. The fog starts dissipating as I lose the cool thread of Misty Blade.
As the guards start to regain their bearings, I stab the woman three more times before she manages to push me off, surprising physical strength knocking me away.
Even as she stumbles away, I Bloodstep to her. If raw stabbing damage won’t kill her…
I bite her exposed ear, and my sharpened teeth don’t even manage to pierce all the way through.
Still, it’s deep enough to use Venomous Bite.
Venomous Bite advanced to level 5!
That finally gets a reaction from her. She must be durable, so I doubt the venom will do it alone, but it’s a start.
A guard in armor with red lines running through the metal rather than green fires a gout of flame at me, swallowing both me and the durable woman whole. Searing heat washes over me, scorching my skin, but the fire within burns brighter.
I almost laugh at the attack. It burns layers of my skin right off, but it’s nothing compared to a skill that boils me from the inside out.
A single Bloodstep takes me to the man, and he yelps in surprise as I tap him on the shoulder.
“The researchers call you weak,” I say. “I think I see why.”
He cancels his flame and sets his body alight, and I Siphon away the worst of my flame, merely burning my hand rather than charring it to ash.
And then I put a knife into his unarmored back, shoving it through organs and twisting. I don’t even need to Enhance Bleed to know he’s a dead man.
I take note of the detailed red lines set into his armor and give him a new one, drawing it right across his throat.
Targets killed: [5/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
You have advanced to level 6!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
The poisoned, bleeding woman fires her gun at me, but I react fast enough to shove the corpse of the pyromancer in the way, absorbing the shots. Besides her, the archer who nearly killed me earlier draws her bow.
I Bloodstep forward and cut her bowstring in half. The taut string snaps into her face, drawing blood, and I add to that spot of blood by taking her dropped arrow and shoving it into her abdomen.
Unlike the others, she doesn’t wail in pain. Instead, she draws twin daggers from her waist, determined to end my life.
I’d be impressed if she wasn’t trying to kill me. As it is, Knifefighting makes it laughably easy to see what she has coming.
I make it quick.
Targets killed: [6/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
That leaves the poisoned woman and one other man.
With a start, I realize who the final foe is.
“Hello, Jarreth,” I say.
“I should’ve killed you when I had the chance,” he snarls back at me. For someone who’s just watched three of his comrades die, he’s impressively angry.
“Let’s get on with it, then,” I say. I can feel the Relentless fire within me start to burn out, and I want to make use of the remaining part of it as well as I can.
Jarreth wields a metal whip and chain, the entirety of it emblazoned with intricate magical symbols. He makes the first step before I can Bloodstep at him, snapping it out faster than I can react.
Contrary to my expectations, the whip doesn’t lash through me. Instead, it wraps around me, binding me, and my skills wink out.
I remember this sensation, but his binding is imperfect. This is no prison. To me, improvised bonds might well be nothing at all.
“Fuck off,” I tell him, a touch of a trait guiding me as I wriggle out of his weapon’s grasp, twisting my body in ways not humanly possible. “I’m a Free Bird.”
To punctuate my statement, I use Bloodstep. This time, it actually tires me, which means that my new trait’s usage is coming to an end.
That’s fine. I have enough time.
I use Shape Blood on the copious amounts of life-giving fluid slowly watering the shrubs around us, sending a blinding wave of it at him.
Shape Blood advanced to level 8!
His whip flashes, arresting the momentum of my skill and sending gallons of blood dropping to the ground.
That’s the last mistake he’ll ever make.
I burst through the unempowered blood, soaking myself in it, and I throw myself at him. I use my skill once again, turning the blood on the two of us into spears, and he’s too busy trying to escape the grasp of the blood clinging to him to notice the knife coming for the top of his head.
“You… won’t… get away…” he wheezes. Part of his armor glows, though no further attacks come from him.
“I’m sure,” I say. From what I’ve gleaned, the “UCC” that he belongs to has far more reach than just the one laboratory I was born in. Assuming they catch wind of this, there’s no doubt that I’ll face more resistance. “But neither will you.”
Jarreth dies cursing me.
Targets killed: [7/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
The last woman has a gun and she has durability, but ammunition doesn’t last forever and neither does her constitution. For each bullet she lands in me, I land a strike on her, and the combination of my newest trait and my unique physiology ensures that I won’t fall first. I wear her down with venom and wounds, the last of my Relentless powering me through, and eventually, she keels over.
Targets killed: [8/8]
+100 XP rewarded.
The fire fades inside me.
Messages scroll down my system, and I reach into my pack, finding a miraculously intact piece of paper. Then again, the person who created it seems to be nothing short of a miracle.
Darkness falls across my vision, the toll of my journey exacting itself. A single thought burns through my mind.
I need to find Sapphire.
Objective: Annihilate your enemies [COMPLETE]
You have kill the guards. Gain your reward before you face the consequences.
1000 XP rewarded!
You have advanced to level 7!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
You have advanced to level 8!
You have gained 3 stat points.
Your stats have increased by 1 each.
Due to your traits and actions, you may gain up to 5 Bronze-tier skills and 1 Silver-tier skill.
