Obviously, no one answered my question. So, to find out more information on my new talent, I pulled up my talent and skill list and prayed to the bastard of the system that I wasn't given something shit.
Talents: 3/10
Blood of the Troll
Analyze – Level 1
Limit Break
Skills: 1/5
Cost:
SpringStep – LVL 1
-5 Stamina
Seeing that it was a talent I had received, but it had no skill level, made me guess that it must be similar to my Blood of the Troll skill, which was not upgradeable. With a mix of worry and excitement, I focused on the Limit Break and summoned its description.
[Talent - Limit Break (Unique): The power hidden within you surges, breaking past all restrictions, destroying all limitations and advancing beyond. This talent hidden within your blood can alleviate your being even in the most dire of states, but at great cost. System Note: Limits are there for a reason]
"What bullshit is this? Where's my cool glowing spells? Give me back my talent card, you long-eared bastard." In a fury, I gave the dead moon elf a kick. Regretting the move immediately, as the heavy kick on the man's jagged but hard armour was the last straw for my right shoe. The sole got snagged and with a rip, the entire bottom of my shoe came off. Looking at my now completely ruined shoe. It was as if a switch had been flipped due to my kick; the glowing patterns filling half the church also disappeared in that moment. Now, looking at the blood-splattered church floors and feeling the cold tiles on the sole of my foot, my brain paused for a second before an unnatural rage took me over.
Looking down at the corpse of the moon elf, a murderous rage began to cloud my mind. 'You evil bastard. I have to destroy you. I must destroy you.' A voice like a roaring waterfall rang in my head, obscuring all thoughts. Without thinking, I reached down and grabbed the moon elf's corpse by his battered armor, and with my mind feeling like it's on fire, and strength born by rage, I slammed it onto the cold tiles several times, battering the already torn form. With eyesight now almost covered in a film of hazy red, and a mind that was screaming to destroy the enemy in front of me, I picked the corpse up and threw it towards the blood pool. My buzzing mind, telling me it was a good place to dispose of the corpse.
As I watched the body hurl through the air, I felt a sweet satisfaction at seeing the disgusting moon elf about to be swallowed by the pool of blood. However, just before the moon elf could fall into the pool, a burst of shadow shot down from the ceiling right in the corpse's path. The cloud of shadow hit the floor with a deafening bang before disappearing to either side, revealing the hooded form of Gabriel. Who, with a quick hand, slapped at the flying corpse, sending it to the floor and rolling off to the side of the pool.
My cloudy mind felt immense rage at seeing the object of my hatred, my sworn enemy's corpse, being saved from its destruction in the pool of blood. This irrational rage that descended upon me out of nowhere and swept up all my rational thinking also left in a flash, bringing my thoughts back to the front. But with normal thought also came a headache the size of which I had never felt before. Doing my best not to fall to my knees, I squinted my watery eyes at the familiar hooded figure and saw something that baffled me.
Gabriel, right arm, the one he had struck the corpse with, was releasing smoke, from its hand to its elbow. He was currently wildly swinging his arm while letting out grunts of pain, like one would do when burning their finger or getting their hand caught in a jam. Trying their best to flick or swing the pain away. "Gabriel? What... What's wrong? What are you doing… here? Are you... are you okay?" Barely squeezing out some words over the pounding in my skull, I saw Gabriel's hooded face go from looking at his smoking arm to me. A severe and heart-rending malice seemed to spring up from the man, causing me, who was about to take a step towards him, to step back. As with many times facing something that scared me to my core, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
"You little fool. I wouldn't be in this pain if you hadn't stupidly thrown that bastard's tainted corpse towards the pool. Filthy peasant boy, were you dropped on your head when you were born?" Gabriel's previously gruff but rich voice now came across as a hissing, guttural thing, filled with venom and loathing. Unlike the gentle and understanding man from before, the man radiated contempt for me through his entire being. Pulling back his hood and revealing his damaged face and long white head, Gabriel's eyes spoke a thousand words. He was looking at me as if I were less than he was in every way, like I were some form of cattle.
"Mr. Gabriel, I don't understand what's going on." Even with what felt like an army of tiny monkeys running around with hammers and bashing my brain around, I tried hard to focus on Gabriel. The man himself paid no attention to my words and looked down at his still-smoking hand with deep focus. Almost as if it was bursting from his pores, a thick red film rose from his smoking hand all the way to his elbow. The film was like blood but even thicker and didn't pour down Gabriel's arm but floated above it as if he had control of its movements. The blood-red liquid coating his arm had several streaks of black, oily-looking substance running through it, making something that looked almost beautiful, like a river of liquid ruby, into something distorted and incomplete.
With a flick of his arm, the blood hovering over Gabriel's arm swiped down his smoking forearm and hand, picking up what looked like sparkling glue and flinging it onto the ground. The splatter of blood now on the floor was sizzling and smoking as if it were on a stovetop, while Gabriel's arm stopped smoking. However, there were several spots on his skin that were missing the outer layer, looking as if they had been eaten by a powerful acid. The sight of Gabriel's wounded hand caused a painful heartache, as if seeing a family member injured but when I looked up into his twisted face filled with a sneer an inner voice that had been screaming at me for a long time finally rang loud and clear. 'This is wrong!! It's all wrong!!' Once more, a fiery pain raced through my head, more painful than the last. Dropping onto my knees, I held my head with both hands as if I were trying to stop my brain from exploding.
A severe pressure built up every passing second until, in agony, I lifted my head into the sky and let out a pain-filled roar. "Ahhhhh!!!" After releasing the scream, it felt like I had released a floodgate, and the pressure and pain began to flood out of me. "Broke it earlier than I thought you would. I suppose even a fool can have a decent trait." Gabriel's slithering words cleared away the last of the fog clouding my mind. Taking my eyes off the ceiling and looking back at the now unfamiliar person, I was shocked to notice some small but very noticeable differences. Gabriel's general features were still the same, with his long hair and goatee, but they weren't white but a rich black. His face still held the horrific scar on one side of his face. However, the hole in his cheek, which once revealed standard human teeth and tongue, now revealed two rows of fang-like teeth running from front to back. They were thin but numerous, like piranhas.
It wasn't just the man's beastlike teeth that reminded me of the Ghouls, he also held slanted pointed ears. The signs of age, like the laughter lines and crows feet Gabriel's previously revealed back in the tavern, were now nowhere to be seen. He appeared to look like a man who had only just entered his middle age, and if not for the half-melted face, he would most likely have appeared quite handsome. His skin was still a pasty pale, but as if he had been struck by lightning, he had several jagged purplish, black lines running all over his body. Even though a part of my mind was screaming that this was always Gabriel's face, a part of me still felt as if the man before me held nothing but goodwill for me. Feeling these two warring thoughts, I spoke into the silence, my voice echoing around the large, tall space. "Gabriel. Tell me, please, what's going on? Why does your face appear so different?"
"What can I say? I was never good at using Charm. Even though it's an innate talent of my clan, it requires too fine a touch for me. I always preferred the more forceful, the more bloody, method of persuasion." Gabriel explained, his voice sounding as if he were talking to a simpleton. "Still, though it has its uses, you gullible fool. Barely a few words and you were dancing to my tune, ridding me of this bastard. Ha, I bet he was surprised to see you." He then spat off to the side at the moon elf's corpse and glared at it for a moment before looking back at me. His lip then curled into an ugly half-smile, exposing all his needle-like teeth as he said, "If it wasn't for this bastard, I would never have bothered to even converse with a flesh bag such as yourself. Luckily, I did though. Saving you from my lovely minions was simply a plan I made up on the spot; I was originally going to just use you as a meat shield. But I never would have guessed to find such a lovely bag of vibrant nutrients in this rotten cesspit of a city."
Hearing the voice filled with menace speak such words finally broke the voice warring inside my head that was still trying to tell me that Gabriel was a friend, not a foe. With the voice finally gone, it felt as if a veil had been shattered and all the pain inside my head disappeared entirely. Gabriel, with his floor-length robe making swish noises on the carpet, began walking towards me in slow steps. Seeing the approaching figure with his cruel smile and eyes the color of blood, my heart began to race as I stared right into his own and activated analyze.
[Necrotic Vampire Prince Gabriel – Tier 2 {3} - Level 12 {35}]
The visible levels appeared odd, showing two different states, confusing me; however, ultimately it didn't matter. Whether he was tier two or three, either of them was well past my capacity to deal with. The ghouls were close to my level, and I knew without even fighting them that I was unable to put up a real fight against one, let alone the so-called Vampire Prince before me. 'Run!!' Screaming internally, I tried to put words to action, but it felt as if my legs were stuck to the floor. An invisible pressure had at some point surrounded me without my knowing and was now squeezing me in place. And with every step Gabriel took towards me, the pressure increased. It was like a pressure on my very soul, making even my thoughts sluggish.
All I could do was watch as Gabriel slowly closed the ten or so feet distance. His voice rang out like a maniacal villain. "I can smell the vibrant life force flowing through you, meat bag. I can almost taste it. After I have a little taste, I'll add you to my blood pool, and everything will be complete. Finally, I'll be able to rid myself of this necrotic filth. Haha, isn't that wonderful, meatbag? Aren't you happy to know that you'll be contributing to the revival of the great devourer, Gabriel?"
Like a classic villain, Gabriel spoke of his vile past deeds and future plans, as if he had everything in the palm of his hand. And in my case, he truly did. Despair started to fill me, as besides physically struggling, even thinking became such a burden that I felt like I was about to be forced into unconsciousness any moment. Even under the intensifying pressure, I felt tears begin to build in my eyes as I desperately searched the room and moved my sluggish brain, trying my best to find a solution. But there was nothing. I was once again powerless. Too weak. Too stupid. Too slow to do anything. It appeared my fate was always to be lacking. It was better to just let myself fall into unconsciousness and let go. The constant effort to keep my brain switched on is excruciating and a large part of me just wanted to give up.
'No! NO! NO!' A powerful force appeared to scream out at that moment, just as my entire being was leaning towards giving in. Something conjured in my blood roared at me. Suddenly, it was like I could hear a rushing river ring in my ears. My heart, which was already racing, sped up even more and became even louder. It felt as if, if I could look down at my chest, I would find my heart beating out of my skin like I was in a cartoon. The pressure surrounding me and locking me in place began to lessen. While every muscle in my body began to tighten and expand, as if I was being injected with multiple stimulants.
Just as Gabriel came face to face with me and was in the process of raising his hand towards my neck, the pressure that locked me in place disappeared entirely. As a notification flashed in my vision for a brief moment before disappearing.
[Limit Break Activated]
Before I could make sense of the words, or what exactly they activated, I felt Gabriel's slender but strong fingers grab my neck in a death grip. Then he turned his face to the side while his mouth opened wide, far wider than a normal human ever could. It looked as if he was attempting to bite right into my neck. 'Fight! For god's sake fight! For once go down swinging!' A rage-filled voice filled my head in that moment, while watching rows of sharp teeth heading towards me. This time the fires of my rising anger weren't misplaced and were instead like a caged beast given some lead. Without thinking further, I lifted my dagger out of its sheath and rammed it into Gabriel's side. My speed and strength had skyrocketed. With my muscles making popping noises and my bones creaking. While pain exploded up my entire arm as if it couldn't withstand the force I was releasing from it.
The pain, although a somewhat familiar friend now, still made me roar it out as my arm felt as if it was exploding from the inside. The knife felt a tremendous resistance when coming in contact with Gabriel's skin, but under the force exploding from my arm, I still managed to get at least half the blade in his side before coming to a complete stop. 'Shit! It's not enough! Come on!' I appeared to have caught Gabriel by surprise as his face froze for a moment before his elongated jaw snapped closed with a crack, while he let out a hiss in pain. The hiss of pain, however, was very small, as to my once again rising horror, Gabriel's red globe eyes were staring into my own with a sort of apathetic look. He said, "Good effort. But to believe you can inflict any real damage on my tier three flesh with your tier one strength is utterly foolish and futile. Not even including this pathetic weap... Ah! Ah!"
Now, it was my turn to be surprised. Gabriel's sneering voice ended abruptly as he cried out in increasing pain. A sizzling sound began to ring out, as an acrid smell of smoke rose up from below. Looking down, I was shocked and happy to see that although only half of my foot-long blade had penetrated Gabriel's flesh; it appeared that it was for some reason burning his skin. The small, thin wound started to burn and expand out from the blade. As if I had coated it in acid. A fierce guttural growl, sounding as if it was coming from an injured beast and not a human, rang out from Gabriel, bringing my vision back to the man's hideous face.
If before the man was looking at me with a murderous but ultimately loathing gaze, he was now staring at me as if I had murdered his entire family and pissed on their ashes. The pressure that had disappeared before began to gather again, but this time there was a certain tremble to it. It was like even the air surrounding me was mad at me. With a heavy gulp and seeing the almost certain death in the man's eyes before me, I did the only thing I could think to do at that time.
I gathered the saliva in my throat and spat right in his face. 'My plan was simple, make him angry. So angry, he makes a mistake.' A large glob of spit hit him right in the eye, causing his growling face to quiet for a moment. It, however, appeared to break the silent standoff we were having, as with an absolutely savage roar, he lifted me by my shoulders. His powerful fingers crushed my brittle bones in seconds, causing my body and mouth to scream in pain, and then with a roar he tossed me across the room.
My body hurtled through the air and slammed into several wooden pews, smashing them into pieces, before landing on the hard floor with a meaty smack. After sliding on the floor for several seconds, and feeling like I had lost a layer of skin. My body radiated in pain in so many different places, I felt like a bag of broken bones. However, to my surprise, the rushing sound of a mighty river rang in my ears again, and before I had time to even blink my bones began to mend. Snaps unsnapped and skin, re-skinned. Right as the sound like a balloon popping accompanied by a puff of dark smoke revealed Gabriel's twisted visage, my body was halfway healed.
My crushed shoulders were the first to reassemble, and just as Gabriel leaned down to grab me again, I exploded with an awkward upward slice. I didn't manage to hit anything vital, but I did manage to leave a sizzling gash on the back of his arm, which made me grin up at the ugly bastard with a twisted grin of my own. "You little prick!" With another roar, a foot, moving faster than I could even see, slammed into the side of my stomach and sent me sliding back down the floor from where I came.
This time, when I finally landed, I left another set of pews in splinters along with a trail of blood and skin. I also couldn't move any part of my body, with even one of my feet looking as if it was facing the wrong direction. As my whole body radiated an almost unimaginable pain. Tears ran down the side of my face as I lay on the ground and did my best to breathe through what must have been punctured lungs. Either due to luck or some other factor, Gabriel didn't do that weird smoke teleportation thing and instead walked towards me while cradling a still-smoking arm. This allowed me more seconds to heal my twisted body, accompanied by the sound of rushing water roaring in my ears. The wound in Gabriel's stomach had apparently stopped smoking, and as he got closer to me, I saw that the gash on his arm was also petering out.
"How dare you! You little ant. I was originally going to allow you a quick death before bleeding you dry, but now, I'm going to smash you into pieces slowly. I'll chop your limbs off one by one and feed you your ears and nose. You have accelerated healing, right? I bet you originally thought that was a boon. However, once I'm done with you, you're going to see it's nothing but a curse. I'll enjoy this immensely. It's been years since I last had some entertainment." While gnashing his teeth, Gabriel spoke in a low, guttural whisper that sent a chill up my unresponsive spine.
Seeing the approaching figure, I knew that I was in trouble as I doubted he was going to allow me to get a slash into him again. Not including the fact that by this time, I had guessed that there was something about the moon elf's blood that was lethal to Gabriel. As that was the only explanation for my fairly ordinary blade that was still coated with the moon elf's sparkly blood being able to inflict wounds on the far stronger being before me. Suddenly, a snapping noise that made my teeth tingle rang in my ears, as whatever had been done to my spine righted itself. Even though there were many bones and muscles still in a dire condition, I knew I had next to no time to make a move. My current position was on the left side of the church, almost right in the middle of the long hall.
The moon elf's body was luckily on my side of the hall, but close to twenty feet away from me. Staring at the corpse, covered in its thic,k sparkly blood, only a few feet from the still revolving pool of blood, a plan began to form in my mind. A very desperate plan. Knowing that I certainly wouldn't be faster than Gabriel, I knew I had to make a gamble.
When Gabriel was only a few feet from me, I did my best to jump to my feet. It was more of a half stumble due to the fact that one of my feet was still facing backwards, and now screaming in pain as I put pressure on it. However, I did my best to pay it no mind and instead focused on my next move. Raising my arm back, with the tip of my knife held between two fingers, I flung it towards Gabriel as hard as I could. To my horror, the moment I exerted force into my arm, a miraculous power surged into my arm, enlarging it for a second. However, just after releasing the knife, it flew towards Gabriel with the speed of a bullet. I felt my biceps explode in a spray of blood and meat that almost sent me into unconsciousness.
With a resolve I didn't even know I had, I ignored my arm and all the other pains, and even before I could see if my knife even hit Gabriel; I spun around. Activating Spring Step, I slammed my twisted foot on the ground and, accompanied by the sound of bones snapping, I sprang towards the moon elf corpse. "Don't you dare, worm!" Gabriel's angry voice rang out behind, alongside the sound of a balloon popping. Guessing what was about to happen, I didn't slow down my pace but instead exerted even more force into my next Spring Step, feeling the muscles in my calves being filled with that unknown energy again, I slammed the floor with so much force it sent a shudder through the sturdy stone building.
My body shot forward like an arrow, slicing through the air and right in front of the moon elf's corpse. A puff of smoke had also arrived at the side of the corpse the moment I appeared, giving me no chance to bend down to reach for the corpse or its blood, however that was never my plan. Instead, pumping power into my twisted foot, I kicked the moon elf corpse as hard as I could, sending it sliding across the ground. Gabriel, whose right hand had been surrounded by a red and black claw twice the size of my head and swung right at my chest, paused his action and with a panicked look, he dived towards the rolling corpse.
He, however, was too late, and the distance too short; the moon elf's body rolled right into the pool of slowly turning blood. Gabriel arrived right at the edge and spun around to face me, his already angry visage looking absolutely terrifying with the hole in his cheek even elongating as he roared, "You've destroyed it! Years of hard work. I'm going to... Wait! Don't!" Even though Gabriel had paused for a second, I hadn't. Even with the feeling as if my body was falling part and my legs were nothing but shattered meat bags, I still activated one more Spring Step and with exploding calves and even losing half my right foot, I shot straight at the turning and yelling Gabriel.
With a meaty whack, I slammed chest-first into Gabriel and wrapped my arms around the bony figure. Interlocking my hands together, I squeezed with all my might and let inertia take us into the air for a second before slamming into the pool of blood in a splash. Within moments, both Gabriel and I sank down into the heavy liquid, disappearing from view and sending the church back into its hallowed stillness.