A moment passes. Silence. We appraise one another, scan for weaknesses, watch for even the most minute of twitches as the pyres crackle erratically around us. I stand, and I wait, for any indication, any sign that-
Movement. A slight bend of the knee and-
His blade is bearing down on me in an instant, drawn low and swung faster than I can even blink, dodged only by the will of my Instinct. The follow-up comes even quicker, shattering my hastily drawn guard and throwing me off balance.
Sword now poised to cut off my head, I dip my hand low and draw Thorn, shooting out his blade with the scant time I have, throwing his swing off enough for me to summon the Doppelganger directly on my opponent.
My demonic counterpart wastes no time in grabbing the Knight by his horned helmet and throwing him to the ground, dragging him along the earth for a moment before throwing him across the ground.
Unfazed by the attack, Treachery simply stands up and charges forward once more, each motion too fast for me to properly track as I draw the Rebellion over Caduceus. Before I can even process it, his sword is once again clashing with my own, sparks flying in the air as hundreds of clangs echo in the broken fields.
He's good. Far, far better than I'd thought, effortlessly fighting off the work of myself and the Doppelganger as we swing at each other with overwhelming force. With just one blade to his name, he makes my clone and I look like-
A swing, and a connection. My arm falls off cleanly at the elbow, blood spilling freely as pain shoots through my system and the Rebellion clatters to the floor. Even a moment of negligence was enough to debilitate me this way.
My own weakness sickens me.
Now forced to a knee from the pain, I only have a brief moment to summon the blade once more in my left hand, sword braced against my arm in a reverse grip as Treachery grinds his sword against mine, sparks once more flying between us.
The Doppelganger tries to interfere, poised to stab at his exposed back, but is met with only a kick to the chest that sends him flying. Just what I need.
A single Blink, as I've now come to call it, and I'm free from danger, a Prayer restoring my limb and neutralising the pain immediately. Treachery turns his head to follow me the second I swap with my Doppelganger, a spark of red lightning flowing across his body for only a moment.
If I didn't know any better I'd say he were almost fascinated with my resilience. Not that I care, nor that I have time to, as he's one again running at me with a hundred times the speed of a bullet before I can form a full thought.
Luckily, I don't need to think, I only need the trembling of my brain's Instinct to guide my hand, Rebellion lashing out only a half-second before Treachery makes impact, the world slowing down for a brief moment as the Parry takes effect.
A quick Sonido later and he's exposed to me, every ounce of power I have put into a two-handed swing of the Rebellion... scratching the back of his armour and nothing else. He turns with the grace of a truck, arm backhanding the open air I once occupied with enough force to blow out a nearby fire.
I only dodge in time after unfurling my wing and throwing myself into the air, but make the most of the moment by diving down at Treachery with the Rebellion raised.
Like a fly, he swats the blade aside with minimal effort, gauntleted hand grabbing my now exposed arm a moment later to throw me over his shoulder, going so far as to dash forward and kick me in the chest mid-way through my impromptu flight.
The Doppelganger thankfully intervenes at that moment, grabbing Treachery by his outstretched foot and stopping the kick from probably shattering my ribs, turning and slamming the Knight against the earth before he can make any attempts at escape.
I try to Blink and make use of the proximity to skewer Treachery on my blade, but by the time I've swapped with the Doppelganger, the Knight has instantly taken several long paces back to gather himself.
Now growing annoyed, the Knight tightens his grip over the blade further, enough so that it shakes slightly in his grasp. Running past me, catching me off guard and ever eager for more, the Doppelganger ignores my command to wait and throws himself at Treachery.
The construct is met with nothing more than pitiful mockery as the Knight grasps his skull in a single gauntleted palm, weaving through his sword like water. As if it were nothing more than a meddling child, he throws the Doppelganger into a nearby pyre and turns to face me once more.
"Persistent, aren't you?" I find myself muttering.
Taking a deep breath and readying myself for what will come next, I exchange the Rebellion for Caduceus and smile.
DANGER
I feel it before I see it. Brain trembling with knowledge it shouldn't have, I take a half-step backwards to dodge the cleave he makes at my neck and push aside his outstretched arm to move forward. Grinning, I ignore the pain of his sword embedding itself in my back a moment later and instead focus on the visceral satisfaction of placing my palm against his chestplate.
"Nice try."
A flash of light, and the cold sensation of steel against my hand disappears. Anything left standing for the next twenty or so meters is reduced to cinders, nothing more than a mix of molten slag and vaporised matter.
As is always the case with using the Freikugel, agony blooms in my hand, and now too my lungs. I curse under my breath as I realise the Prayer is on cooldown, leaving me no choice but to sit with the pain and wait for Anya's eval-
DANGER
Caught off guard and much more unprepared than before, a lucky activation of Slippery Bastard is the only thing stopping Treachery's sword from skewering me through the neck from behind.
Rolling to the floor, I don't even have the chance to look up before he's kicked me against the ground, his fury unending and his zeal unmatched. The red highlights of his armour are left burnt and smoldering, but otherwise Treachery seems unharmed. Blade poised to skewer me through the chest once more, the timely arrival of the Doppelganger gives me a window to attack.
A Blink leaves me directly at Treachery's side, fist slamming into his stomach below the shoddily raised guard of his sword. Before he can retaliate, the Doppelganger is on him once more, a horn upon his helmet cracked in the wake of the construct's chitinous fist.
Grinning, I follow up after my duplicate, fist crashing into Treachery's shoulder, throwing him into the path of the Doppelganger. Immediately after the clone's strike, my boot crushes into his chest. Like a dance between us, the motion repeats countless times. Treachery lashes out furiously, each swing clashing harmlessly against the Dread Mirror I've formed from his body.
Every strike from the clone and I connects with the strength of a thousand men, shockwaves left in the wake of our clash, but even after several seconds of constant attacks Treachery looks no worse for wear.
And then the Dread Mirror shatters.
-268HP!
I hiss in pain as his blade pierces through both of my raised hands, held up in a last-ditch bid to stop his lunging stab. It digs deeper with each second, edging closer and closer to my throat.
His sword, far more special than I'd anticipated, shredded the Doppelganger to pieces in the blink of an eye, body moving so fast that the Instinct was simply useless. Now, all I can do is stare into the hateful eyes of my opponent, the same red lightning reappearing for only a flicker as he jams the sword deeper in sickening, gleeful motions.
Blood spills in droves from my wounds, far more than should be natural as inches turn to centimetres before he reaches my neck. Slowly, my pain filters away into fury, a malice that takes the form of a smug grin.
Treachery takes notice far, far too late. A twitch in my hand, and the blood obeys. Crystalline spears of the holy life-liquid skewer him through the armpits on both sides, turning liquid once more and slipping through the open wounds a second later.
Treachery jumps back in a panic and brings the sword with him, granting me the reprieve I've been so desperate for as I draw a Circle of Life to block his escape and cast a Prayer.
+14000HP!
I leave both hands free as I walk towards him. Treachery lowers almost imperceptibly, half an inch away from speeding towards me and chopping my head clean off as I move.
But he can't. The blood won't allow it. His body remains still, unmoving, as my outstretched hand takes control of it through his armour. He struggles against my control, body twitching and and shaking in fury as he watches my slow approach.
Unable to resist the urge and tired beyond all measure at this point, I end this fight in the first way that comes to mind when I eventually reach his immobile form.
I rear my fist back, and with every ounce of STR I have, all the growing buffs from this fight and small boosts to my power, even 10 seconds of Charging behind it just to be sure, I hammer my fist into his helmeted face.
Going the extra mile, I keep pushing even after the initial connection, directing his body into the earth with every ounce of power I have in me.
The world loses all sound and colour for a moment upon impact, before the oh so satisfying noise of every bone in my fist shattering reaches my ears, and his body is slammed into the ground with enough force to leave the ground trembling, every last flame around us extinguished in the resulting shockwave.
Heaving each breath, my hand now repaired and my boot resting atop Treachery's chest, I wait a moment for Anya's evaluation once more, before I feel a brief twitch beneath me.
"Oh, for fucks sake, why won't you die!?"
Ignorant to my own hypocrisy, I lift a hand and summon Caduceus, intent on jamming the blade into his throat and leaving it all behind for a peaceful night's rest.
I barely make it halfway before his gauntleted hand takes hold of my sword, his grasp unyielding. If such a thing were possible, the cruel visage of his helmet almost seems to grin at me.
Then, he speaks.
The voice is almost unintelligible, sounding closer to 13 different people speaking at once than a single man, but it has all the effect of nails upon a chalkboard to my ears.
"You look so much like him."
Caught off guard by his sudden speech, I'm only barely able to dash back in time to avoid his sword swinging into my extended arm, Caduceus left behind in his grasp. Treachery, ever the bastard, tries to shatter it over his knee after he stands. I dismiss it before he even has the chance.
Now stood several feet apart, I watch with rapt attention as he looks at the battlefield around us, fires long since extinguished leaving it almost pitch black. As if to dig the nail deeper, a bolt of lightning in the distance heralds an oncoming thunderstorm, slow raindrops falling from the sky.
A moment later, the red lightning streaks yet again as he speaks once more, just as grimace inducing as ever.
"The same hair... the same eyes..."
The storm worsens by the second, rain now cascading on the both of us. I can't for the life of me understand just what the fuck he's prattling on about.
Though, before I can even make a response, or acknowledge his words in some way, Treachery's helmet suddenly splits down the middle. Slowly, ever so slowly, the two halves begin to shift away from the center as he speaks again.
"Such sickening resemblance." He spits, voice now far more intelligible.
Only a second later, Treachery's face is finally revealed to the world.
Pushing down the sudden wave of confusion that hits me, I stare unashamedly at almost a carbon copy of myself - the same shade of hair, damn near the same colour eyes too.
If it wasn't for the one glaring difference between us, I'd think I were hallucinating.
"I'll cut you down just like I did Father!" She continues, her voice far more venomous than before as she draws her blade once more.
Still confused and most decidedly sick of this shit, I try casting Wandering Eye a second time, though the result is far beyond anything I could have expected.
Mordred Pendragon, Saber of Red
Level 244
Pendragon? As in, King Arthur, Pendragon? As in, the great fucking Excalibur wielding King Arthur, Pendragon?
Damn. I almost wish I read up on Arthurian legend now. I've no idea who the hell this is.
Oh well. Best not to keep a lady waiting.
"Whatever petty grudge you have with your father is wasted on me. We share no blood." I say, Caduceus drawn immediately after.
Her body almost seems to stiffen for a moment as my words register, her sword-hand shaking once more from the pressure of her double-handed grasp.
"...petty grudge?" She echoes shortly after, her voice low and her teeth gritted.
The words almost seem to taunt her. Maybe it's the dismissal in my tone. Maybe its just the notion of her feud being petty in general. Whatever it is, it pisses her off. No, rather, I'd sooner say it fucking infuriates her.
"A shame." She says, drawing her sword to her chest, grinning. "You remind me of him-"
-And the world turns red.
In the blink of an eye, her sword vanishes, lost beneath a towering blade of jagged red lightning that takes its place. The land around us is bathed in crimson, the night sky lit up in its radiant light, every drop of rain reflecting the volatile glow.
The lightning that once tore through the sky almost seems to shy away in response, her every step forward akin to a calamity as pressure falls upon the world around us.
Then she's gone, my eyes-
DANGER
I turn as fast as I can, trying to take control of the blood in her body, but my efforts are in vain, the only reward being my arm sliced off at the elbow once more. The wound is cauterised immediately. I can't even siphon the blood from it.
-1939HP!
The follow-up swing is only barely dodged as I take refuge in the sky, rain turning to steam as it falls upon the overextended blade. My arm is returned with a quick Prayer, but the message is clear. Something has changed, and it is most certainly not in my fucking favour.
Not willing to play ball, I summon Thorn into my hand, staying out of her range and trying to get a shot on her head, but then she starts jumping across the fucking bullets as she dashes forward to meet me mid-air.
The red glow of her lightning is the only warning I have to dodge as she lifts her blade to the sky above me. Thinking quickly, I summon the Doppelganger several meters away and Blink myself to safety, now with front row tickets to the utter desolation left in Mordred's wake.
The swing is only half the problem. With ruinous thunder left in the wake of each minor twitch, her strike hits the ground with enough force to make the earth tremble, ground tearing open beneath her feet and decimated by hundreds of lightning blasts that follow afterwards.
The Doppelganger is turned to motes of Mana in the wind the very instant he appears, destroyed in the blink of an eye, and yet through him I have an opening.
As the lightning crashes against my prior position, Mordred watches the clone's remnants in glee, distracted enough that I'm able to summon Caduceus and Sonido directly behind her. With my own base Stats, and the momentum granted by the Sonido, Caduceus is able to tear through her armour like a hot knife to butter, the blade digging into her chest and peeking out her front, in what should have been a fatal heart shot.
Before I can try and go for a second stab, her head snaps to the side, a toothy grin on her lips as blood coats her jaws in red.
"That the best you got?" She says, laughing.
Her sword-hand lashes out a moment later, the blade long and thick enough that she only need move a few inches. Abandoning Caduceus in her chest, I throw her arm back with a blast of Gravity Magic that leaves my MP reeling from how expensive even moving her arm was.
With desperation colouring my every move and her guard broken, I summon Rebellion into my hand and streak forward with all my might, blade poised to skewer her through the neck.
A blink, and my sword-hand is thrown into the air, Mordred dancing through my strike with childlike glee as she cuts, and cuts, and doesn't stop cutting. One by one, pieces of my arm fall away, sliced down to the shoulder. Just as she takes the final step forward to drag her blade through my stomach, I grit my teeth and summon Thorn, barrel placed firmly against her cheek.
Her smile only deepens as the bullet tears through her flesh, two gaping holes now present on either side of her mouth. Her sword doesn't slow down for even a second, but before it reaches me I'm already several feet away by the will of the Sonido.
If only she wasn't so fucking resilient to magic, I might've been able to end this with another Freikugel. Not that the last one did me any good whatsoever. No matter. Now's the time to attack.
Casting a Prayer and dashing forward with all the willpower I've left in me, I can't help but grin as she swings at me with zero hesitation. A gamble, sure, but one that pays off as her sword-hand is caught in the vines of Death's Cradle.
The Blight quickly takes effect, her already green-veined skin growing even more sickly as she coughs and splutters. Caduceus is in my hand before she can even question her ailments, a Circle of Life trapping the both of us. Another risky move.
Another payoff.
She's disgustingly slow now, barely able to keep her sword up to block each stab from my trusted blade. Her guard withers just like her pallor, and eventually breaks as she overextends one time too many. One cut against her cheek, only barely connecting, is all it takes.
The rot begins anew.
She coughs again, body not obeying her commands, as I stab at her as many times as my remaining strength will allow. Perhaps hundreds, perhaps thousands. Each cut is deep, visceral, yet so precise I could almost consider it an artform, an ever-growing countdown to her demise.
My grin only continues to grow, sickening glee festering within me as she stumbles, grip over her luminous blade loosening. The once terrifying lightning dims with each passing second. With one last pathetic effort, she draws her blade high and poises to stab straight through me.
Smirking, I raise Caduceus' handguard to meet her strike and-
-It was a feint.
It was a feint.
Her pained expression turns to violent euphoria as Mana surges from within her, body moving with explosive power as crimson lightning coats her form. I barely even have time to register that she's feinted me out before her sword emits lightning brighter than I'd ever seen it before, bolts shooting off in every direction.
DANGER
The call is made, but I can't answer. Far too slow, I lower Caduceus to block her stab at my chest. Hand braced against the back of my sword, I can only fight back pitifully against the inevitable.
Leaning forward, her every whisper a lash against my ego, Mordred smiles at me.
"Nice try." She says.
A single push is all it takes.
Her blade pierces my guard, and a moment later, my chest.
-12240HP!
Intrinsic Skill: Through The Valley has been activated!
So overwhelming is the pain, the sensation of my insides being liquefied, that I don't even notice the Skill Activation. My own survival is to my detriment.
"Better luck next time." Mordred says, chuckling, the last words I'll ever hear before she tears her sword from my chest and swings for my neck-
------------------------------------
I sit up in bed.
The motion is violent, my every breath heaved and my person coated in a cold sweat. Grayfia groans slightly, but remains fast asleep at my side. Not that my mind was focused on her to begin with.
The bite of steel rests on the edge of my thoughts, a vivid memory of my own body falling over, empty from the neck up.
My hand tightens over the familiar contours of Caduceus' grip as the image refuses to go away, the blade having been summoned almost instinctively. It is a comfort I could never hope to put into words.
Several long seconds pass. As my heartbeat settles and my breathing evens out, I find myself staring at Caduceus' blade. A thousand thoughts run through my mind, but of them all, one stands out.
"A fucking feint." I mutter, shame and disbelief overlapping, replaying the moment over and over.
"I should be better than this."
[I agree! That performance was incredibly mixed! While you were able to keep up with someone with much higher Stats and thirty levels above you, your untimely demise ultimately means you got...]
The text box fades, replaced by what is quite possibly the most brutal thing I've ever laid eyes on. An image of own headless body, still and lifeless, with a grade next to it.
Performance Assessment: Grade F
The sight alone should be enough to crush my morale, send me into some existential crisis... but I only feel the overwhelming desire to get revenge burning up within me instead. Maybe it's some subconcious trauma response. Maybe it's another side etfect of my Devil's Pride being shattered.
Maybe I'm just really fucking angry.
Do you want to retry?
I don't hesitate to say yes.
------------------------------------
When I return to the Dungeon, it's still pouring rain. The surroundings are just as decimated as we left them, the fires long since put out. Standing just a few feet ahead, leaning on her sword, is Mordred.
"Back again so soon?" She taunts, grinning.
Another lightning strike, and I can see once more, my eyes locking onto a specific streak of blood across the blade. It doesn't take a genius to see where it came from.
So the boss not only remembers our previous encounters but is fully healed, and the only difference is my corpse no longer laying on the floor. I should've known 'trying again' wouldn't be as simple as the System let on. I'm at a heavy disadvantage.
Fine. I'm feeling far more motivated this time around. I can work with this.
"Well, I just couldn't help myself." I reply, hand raised to call forth the Doppelganger, "You made such a memorable first impression."
Her grin only turns more predatory, as if such a thing were even possible. She rips her sword out of the ground, flips it into forward position as I draw out my spectral clone.
Just like before, her blade disappears under a sea of crimson lightning. The hairs on the back of my neck stand at the feeling of raw power in the air, but I don't shirk away.
...I won't let myself be made a fool of twice.
"You'll soon come to regret challenging a King." She promises.
In her words, I find something particularly interesting.
"Oh? A King?" I echo, drawing Thorn into my free hand and keeping Caduceus close.
"...How strange. I see no crown upon your head. I wonder why that might be?"
That was all it took. Seems like I'm still just as capable when it comes to pissing my opponents off.
Her body blurs in forward motion, sword screeching as I redirect the blow against Caduceus' own blade, skidding back a few feet from the sheer force of her charge.
The heat radiating off her blade is enough to make me sweat, but not enough to make me flinch. Pain seems to be growing less and less noticeable the more extreme of it I experience.
Another charge, her sword aimed squarely for my chest as she lunges forward. The Doppelganger swoops in at my side, Parrying the strike and kicking her back, throwing Mordred off footing.
Just as she recovers, I Sonido into her, using the handguard of Caduceus to bludgeon Mordred over the head, once, twice, three times before she grabs my arm mid strike. I do the same with her own arm as she raises her sword, and as we stare at one another in stalemate, she leans forward.
Her forehead shatters my nose on impact, the pain immediately thrown aside as I follow suit and crash my head into her's before she can try it a second time. We stand there, struggling against one other, eyes locked and grins firmly in place.
"You going easy on me?" She snarls.
The Doppelganger's timely arrival brings a sudden end to our staring competition, bashing her over the head from above and leaving me a window to slam my knee into her lowered chin. My clone then phases through me, lunging forward to crash his fist into her face and send her flying.
I lift Thorn and take a shot at her retreating form, aiming solely for the head, but after I pull the trigger I quickly find that she's caught the bullet between her fucking teeth, smiling at me while it glows in her maw.
It would be far less impressive were it not for the fact that Thorn's projectiles are damn near daggers in and of themselves. I'm not even sure how they fit into the chamber when they're almost as large as the gun.
Something something magic bullets I guess.
Nevertheless, my revolver seems to be quite distasteful to her, as she spits the bullet out shortly after landing on her feet, having stabbed her sword into the ground to stop all momentum.
With a moment of freedom from her thousandfold onslaught, I lift my hand to my nose and force it back into place, letting the Blessing of Yaoshi cover the miniscule HP loss. I can't afford to be wasting Prayers.
...you know what, fuck it. I've been on the defensive far too much.
One Sonido is all it takes, distance closed and my sword flying forward into her throat in the blink of an eye before she blocks it with ease, her own blade lashing out in quick response.
A quick Parry sends red lightning and sparks flying as our swords grind into one another, my arm aching for only a moment as I duck beneath her swing and riposte into her exposed armpit. Caduceus strikes true, sinking into her flesh for only a moment before the dance begins anew.
Ten, a hundred, a thousand times maybe, our blades bite against one another. Caduceus holds up remarkably well against her Mana empowered weapon, but as the Doppelganger flies in from behind, the dynamic quickly shifts.
He dives past Mordred, spectral sword digging into her nape as she hisses in annoyance. Her eyes follow him for a brief moment, and by that time I've already Blinked myself beside her, Thorn raised and a shot fired that digs into her jaw. The Doppelganger almost immediately returns then after for a second stab, but is met with utter evisceration at the hands of her sword before he can even make an attempt.
Sickly poison spreads through her body once more, the sensation one I'm sure she's familiar with as she tears the dagger from her flesh and throws it aside.
I try to take a second shot from my kneeling position, but barely make it halfway to pulling the trigger before she throws her sword at me, the blade slicing clean through my wrist.
I almost think to track its trajectory and try to take it for myself, but I blink and its back in her hand, glowing just as bright as before.
Hm. I suppose I'll need to use a Prayer anyways. May as well make the most of it.
A quick cast of the Sonido brings me several meters away, Mordred choosing to watch on in fascination as I twirl the Caduceus in my hand, blade now pointed to my own chest.
Ignoring my own subconcious reservations, I jam it into my chest, wincing at the pain for only a moment as it pierces my heart.
-7739HP!
Mordred barks out a laugh.
"Really? You're gonna kill yourself now? Hah, what a waste of my time." She says, almost sounding disappointed to see our fight end so soon.
The breathlessness quickly fades, and as it does I pull every speck, every fucking atom of blood in my body through the open wounds in my heart.
My skin turns pale, flesh grows cold, but my HP doesn't drop once. With every ounce of blood in my body now congealed into a ball at my side, I cast the Prayer.
15500HP!
Body healed, blood returned, and theatrics successfully established, I form the blood into blades that drag across my veins a moment later, skewering each artery as they shift across my body, repeating the process once more.
The bank only deepens further. Ten litres of blood floating at my side, amorphous and infinite in potential. Mordred almost looks impressed beneath the disgust in her eyes.
Smiling, licking the last speck of crimson remaining atop my lip from a once shattered nose, I raise my hand.
"Shall we?"
She grins, a common sight as she blurs forward once more. Her approach is interrupted by a wall of crystalline knives, shattered on impact as she barges through.
The shattered remnants form a cloud of razor sharp, impossibly thin blades, Mordred grimacing in pain only a moment later as they rake across her skin and armour.
She drags her blade high to try and vaporise the life-liquid, but my foot quickly finds purchase in her exposed stomach. A twitch of my hand, and her arm is restrained, held back by a sea of red to match her own blade.
The instant she's restrained I Sonido forward, Caduceus tearing into her throat a half second later. She chokes, but that's the only indication I get that she even felt the wound as the lightning of her blade only continues to deepen in scale.
Her eyes almost seem to glow, crimson lightning coating her body as a sudden flurry of movement let's her take control once again, my sword arm sliced off and a chunk of the blood-bank burned away in an instant.
-3320HP!
Caduceus lay embedded in her neck, Rebellion quickly brought into my hand to stop the blade poised for my chest yet again. Just as she leans in to push against my shoddy guard, a crystalline blade stabs into her exposed neck once more from behind, a second and third joining shortly after.
She burns away the blood blades in an instant, but still won't go down. Heaving on one knee, Caduceus in my hand a moment later, I finally start to understand why people have come to hate fighting against me.
"How fucking durable are you, woman!?"
And without intending to, I've struck another nerve-
-1020HP!
Her blade tears into my shoulder, digging several inches in before she throws me off with a swift kick. One hand to the ground, I've barely a moment to follow her movement as-
DANGER
My brain trembles once again, a wall of blood raised just behind me that throws her flying into a nearby carriage before she can connect. Turning, any satisfaction I may have felt is washed away as she throws the carriage at me a short moment later.
It shatters against my boot, the Doppelganger summoned only a moment later to halt her sword as she rakes it across the ground, ruinous thunder missing me by only an inch.
I wait a second, just enough time for her to be in range and slam Caduceus into the ground, the Circle of Life once more standing proud.
She notices, eyes snapping to me as she ignores the clone's presence. His blade scratches her cheek, catches on her shoulder, but she's far too busy barrelling toward me to care.
Now fully healed by the Doppelganger's hard work, I intercept her dogged strike by stabbing her arm into the ground with a blood spear inches before she reaches me, the construct shattering immediately as she damn near teleports several meters away, already expecting the blood control trick.
I almost think to pull her forward with Gravity Magic, but the MP cost would surely leave me in the red. I'm already pushing triple digits at the moment. I need to sacrifice some HP.
-12240HP!
1224MP!
A glancing blow from the Doppelganger, who continues to hound Mordred like a desperate mosquito, brings all of my health back, another Mana Exchange initiated.
-12240HP!
1224MP!
Looking at the way things are now, I wager its as good a time as any to start the second phase of my plan.
The Circle of Life still has a minute and some change left to go, so I command the smallest fragments of blood I can muster to attach themselves to Mordred. Like mites, they fester atop her skin, a permanent source of HP as they burrow beneath her armour and deal negligible damage.
This would be far easier if I had an army to my name, but as things stand it's good enough. For the next minute and thirty seconds, I should be practically immortal.
Which is why I then cut off my hand with Caduceus.
-1330HP!
15500HP!
It reappears in an instant, only to be sheared away not a second later, joining the previous copy on the ground beneath me as I float high in the air on devilish wing.
It's not fast enough.
Splitting the blood-bank, I shape the liquid into a quartet of blades that rest on my back, shearing away my arms, hands, feet and legs at regular intervals. A veritable pile of limbs lay beneath me on the ground, and I barely even notice the pain before I'm healed once more.
All the while, the blood-bank grows in size, litre by agonising litre as Mordred's frustration builds. The Doppelganger is cut down only a few seconds later, but by then I've already done exactly what I needed.
The blood acts like a rope, slithering between each abandoned piece of my person and forming a daisy-chain of flesh and blood, all linked back to me.
The world around us is soon saturated with red, the chain forming a ring in the sky and doubling back on itself. It's the most disgusting game of snake ever played.
"For any mortal man, such wounds would only prove fatal. But I am no regular man. My suffering is my greatest weapon."
The narration comes almost naturally, a side effect of the Devil's Pride that burdens my soul. I just can't help myself but gloat.
"It is through this suffering that I find peace. Purpose. My life is but another sword with which I wield to achieve my goals."
There's always been one downside to the Freikugel. It can only be cast on the surface of the body. Hands, feet, chin, even the back of your own throat, as long as it is within the realm of the body, then the spell will be complete. Nothing else is allowed.
"But just like any blade, it requires precise honing to form the perfect edge. You shall be my whetstone."
This is my workaround. A plan I've long since had but never put to motion. I don't even try to stop the grin that forms on my lips as I raise my hands.
"And so it is with open arms that I welcome you... to the Flesh Parade!"
She tries to speak.
The words are drowned out by the Freikugel symphony.
Above, behind, to the side. Nowhere is safe. The Circle of Life ensures that she remains trapped in the Parade. Over and over, the spell is fired. The pieces of my body used for casting char and melt, but are replaced almost immediately. The number of surfaces only increases, the Parade growing in size with each passing second.
A constant cycle within the System continues evermore. Gain HP, turn it into Mana, use Freikugel to return HP, turn it into Mana, shear away pieces of my body, use it as fuel for the Freikugel, use the blood to grow the Parade.
I dont bother trying to stop myself from laughing in spiteful glee, hands waving in the air to the tune of the symphony.
Mordred cries out in pain at the constant barrage, rakes her sword through the air and melts away a chunk of the Parade with her crimson lightning. Red is washed away in a beam of pure white only a moment later, several more joining it immediately after.
By the time she raises her sword once more, the Parade has only grown in strength. Her efforts are futile.
Changing to a different strategy, she lunges into the air, throwing her dazzling sword at me with enough force to shatter the sound barrier.
It doesn't even come close. The Doppelganger is manifested once more to Parry the weapon aside, and several Freikugel's in response sends Mordred crashing down into the earth with all the impact of a meteorite.
Her armour is singed, cloth burned and skin blistering. Magic Resistance though she may have, but resistance is not immunity.
It is... so indescribably satisfying to watch.
But like all things enjoyable in the world, it must come to and end. Mordred speaks once more as she lifts herself from the crater, and this time I hear her.
"A whetstone, huh!? You want a perfect edge? I'll show you one!" She cries, before something shifts in the air.
Mana seems to almost spill freely from her body, far exceeding anything I could ever muster on my own. Her blade, still coated in a thick layer of crimson lightning, suddenly begins absorbing the Mana.
She shifts her stance, weapon held behind her as the Mana swells dramatically around her sword. The lightning blade continues to grow, and grow, exceeding even the distance between us as she grins at me, barely visible against the horizon.
Once more, the world looks red.
"This is the demonic sword that destroyed my Father!" She cries, teeth now showing in her smile as Mana explodes once more.
Seeing the end of our duel approaching, I condense the Flesh Parade to float at my side, a mile wide wall of flesh and blood that glows with Mana as I charge the next thousand-fold volley.
Then, in sync, we unleash our power.
"Clarent Blood Arthur!"
"Freikugel Vernichtung!"
------------------------------------
In the span of a second, the duel is over.
The battlefield is gone. The sky bleeds. All that remains of the land around us is scorched earth and molten slag. The Parade is nothing more than dust in the air now.
Heaving on the floor, my wing burned away, missing an arm and with a gaping hole through my half my torso, I can't help but laugh. It is a haggard, wheezing thing, but it spills from my lips unbidden when the System alert appears.
Intrinsic Skill: Through The Valley has been activated!
Oh, what a broken fucking talent. 'User cannot lose above 80% of Max HP from a single attack.' I think I'll make a plaque with those words engraved in it.
I cast a Prayer only a short moment later, lifting myself up on Caduceus' blade. Exhausted beyond measure, yet still full of Stamina, I walk forward through the ruination left in our wake and find my opponent.
Red lightning streaks across her body. She remains still as a statue, hands braced against the hilt of her sword which lay stabbed into the ground. Her every breath is a choked wheeze, but as she turns and addresses me, she smiles.
"You... got lucky." She says, coughing.
Mordred falls to the ground, dead, only a moment later.
A strong gust of wind was all it took to knock over her once shining armour, falling to pieces without an owner, her body long since faded away into scraps of light.
Dungeon: Mordred Pendragon Cleared!
Performance Grade: C
...yeah fuck you too, Anya.