Chapter Seventy-One – Requiem – Part One

In defiance of fate, one shall rise. The seventh of six. The cosmos shall tremble at their ascension. The path has been laid.

- Goddess Ulana -

Adaraic stands tall above the field of bent wheat, long trampled under uncaring boots. We stand near eye level across from him on a low hill. My eyes narrow at my target, Azeroc's puppet Lich. The one who took from me the peace of my dreams. The one who ordered the slaying of all those I hold dear.

What could make a man turn into a monster like him? Sage told me that Lich have to agree to become what they are. Lich are Necromancers that make a pact with a god upon their dying breaths. What shaped Adaraic I wonder… and why do I even care?

Is it because of all the memories from the other undead that swim in the soup of my mind? Were I not enhanced right now… I think the number of souls would have been too much. Memories of worlds that I shall never walk, there is no peace in me now, not after I became a Witherbrand… not after Adaraic and Azeroc took it from me.

Today I will take that peace from Adaraic, the one whose skull I shall crush beneath my boot before the sun rises.

Today he will taste true death, one that even his god cannot mend.

"That which has been… shall be again," I whisper, repeating the incantation.

Brands inside Gaspers shift into Wither Charges, and I cycle them back into Brands of Withering onto his body again. His pain and suffering are part of his atonement. This much I can rationalize.

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Adaraic moves his skeletal beast forward twenty more paces to stand in front of his formation of hundreds of obsidian knights, and countless creatures shaped from nightmares. Horns and spikes jut from their heads and bodies. More come still, hordes of goblins. I recognize the war brand on their armor. It's the same from the fox world, so, he must be related to the Orlan Empire they spoke of. The same one that Mira used to belong to.

"Fucking goblins too," Greymore growls.

No one likes goblins.

"Now would be a good time for your plan," he scowls at me.

"Not yet, let him monologue first."

"Why?"

I don't reply, but it's for the simple reason… I want to shatter Adaraic's pride. It wouldn't be enough to simply wipe the field in a single move. He will feel what I felt that day, he will know true despair before I remove him from existence. This much I am owed… this much I am due.

Adaraic holds a hand to silence the idle chattering of his howling goblins and creatures.

"My god has told me of you, boy. He told me to make you suffer before the Altar of your forgotten Goddess."

The skies rumble above.

"A Goddess so weak she cannot even cast Smite upon her own world. Weak, like the will that shaped her, forgotten by all but you… boy."

He doesn't know what I know, Ulana is strong, strong enough that she came and smote him directly in the past. I repeat the incantation again. Colonel Greymore shifts a step back, hand ready to give the order.

"Relax," I say to Greymore, "The battle is already over."

Greymore's eyes search me, but Aegis does not show my face. Time to test out my skill, Wither Guardian.

"Come forth from beyond the veil… rise and become my Wither Guardian."

Time stops in my perception, my mind taken to a place filled with lights shining in the darkness… all of the souls I have ever collected… so, this is the Well of Souls. The brightest amongst them stride forward, those that wish to offer judgment… the fox mother and father.

Their eyes shimmer with ethereal intent. I can hear them both echo the same sentiment…

Choose us…

Among the lost that I have within the well of souls, they are the most adamant to join me. My focus upon them becomes the intention for their selection. The darkness disappears and I am in the red-washed wheat field again. Brilliant blue light erupts from my hands, and pouring out from them are the massive foxes. Each shining beautifully, cast in the blue wither flames. The contrast of red and blue light feels right, poetic even.

"Holy shit…" Greymore blurts, stepping back more.

Adaraic laughs a deep and menacing laugh, so much so that the foxes growl. Yet they do not strike, not because they are not independent to do so, but because they feel my intentions. It's strange, like the memory bond but stronger. I feel them searching my own memories, pulling their child Niva to the forefront of them. Guilt pulls from me for not spending more time with her. Their eyes watch me, but I feel the warmth coming from them, despite my absentee parenting, they are happy she is safe, and happy that she is provided for. If I had been stronger before, they could have raised her themselves. Their gaze turns to Adaraic, and bloodlust erupts from the bond.

I hear them speak into my mind with intentions as well. Adaraic is indeed a part of the Orlan Empire, the same Empire that burned their world and countless others. It is fitting then that they joined me. They lost their world to his people.

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"This is all you have brought to fight the forces of Azeroc?" Adaraic cackles, the red flames of his eyes intensifying. The runes inscribed upon his body glow fervently, "You insult the God of the Undying Flame with your pitiful offering."

I repeat the incantation again. Gaspers is looking worse for wear, I've been testing quite a few theories on him. Some panned out, others didn't, his face is sunken in, and blue flames etch across his skin. He has to hold the brands for longer than I did since he can't technically hold Wither Charges as I can. When I cycled on myself earlier, I did so quickly, resetting them frequently seems to decrease activation chance, which means that the chance increases over time. Good to know.

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"To be honest, I expected more, it is rare that my God deigns to speak to me directly," Adaraic explains, crossing his bone arms across his flickering red flamed chest, "Your level is pathetic, even though you're a Witherbrand, you're still weak, unworthy of the Flame. How can someone so inept warrant the attention of my mighty God? It is unthinkable…"

His monologue continues. It's a shame Jaledi cursed me with no healing, especially since I figured out how Abyss's siphoning works. It's intention based, and extremely fractional which is why I didn't realize it was working before. Technically speaking, siphoning does damage… if I were to increase that fraction by say… 44,447% it wouldn't be fractional anymore, it would be… interesting.

The tests with Gaspers have yielded good results. I have multiple fallback plans now in case my original doesn't work. Perhaps Sage was right, perhaps this is overkill.

"Azeroc's Flame is beyond…"

"All right, that's enough, I'm ready when you are."

Adaraic's flaming eyes glow brighter.

"Impudence in the face of superiority… unworthy cur… if you think you can slay this army with those mere guardians, you're…"

"I told you… enough talking."

He growls and flicks his hand at the goblins and creatures.

"Ready on me!" Greymore shouts to his men.

The goblins and the horned creatures from nightmare step forward. Goblins with axes toss them merrily from hand to hand as they imagine carving our flesh, the low growl of the horned nightmares could chill the bones of even the most seasoned of warriors.

"Abyss, it's time."

When Sage confirmed that he couldn't peer past the strangeness of Abyss, I also wondered if that meant he couldn't detect the tendrils either. After a quick discussion, I found my answer. My hand rises slowly from my side. The black tendrils that have been digging under the ground for hours erupt and ensnare the goblins and the creatures in one fell swoop. My consciousness cycles through each vine and I release a pulse of intention to life steal from them. With the 44,447%... they instantly become dust in the wind. They run in terror, unable to escape the flailing vines that seek them. Hundreds die without ever even coming close to me.

"Holy shit…" Greymore breathes, swallowing hard, backing even further away from me.

Adaraic looks back and forth at his depleting forces, confused and speechless for the first time.

"Where is your god of cowards?" I yell across the field, over the noise of his dying hordes. None shall escape.

Adaraic moves his skeletal creature back three paces.

More tendrils erupt from the ground, hundreds of them controlled by Abyss, splaying like root systems in a thousand-year-old forest, wrapping the boots of the obsidian knights. I cannot control them all, but I can do many more than before due to the Wisdom buff from the Crown of the Weak Raven. Simultaneous thoughts coalesce under a singular intention. The harmony of rhythm plays from my thoughts, each obsidian knight crumbles in their armor after I pass their newly formed Wither Charge through the vines of Abyss, and store them on Gaspers' writhing body. Thousands of charges stacking in a single vessel. Even without feeling it, I can see the insanity debuff has activated on Gaspers as he gnaws at his own cheek and tongue. Healed by the redirected siphoning, another trick I learned today.

Adaraic falls from his skeletal mount as it too becomes a charge. The once proud Lich staggers to his feet, pushing his cape behind him, his eyes flickering as they scan the empty field.

"Impossible…"

"Where is your god of cowards?"

He stumbles back toward the gate, tripping over countless armors that no longer bend to his will, "This is madness… power like this does not exist for mortals…"

My stride forward is in equal measured boot steps.

Adaraic grits his teeth, grinding them as he raises his hands into the skies. Intricate spell circuits form in the air, crafting the same massive fireball that I saw months ago. Just like I thought he would, I was so certain that I even planned around it. I could use the ring of ninety percent reflection to destroy him with it, but I don't actually need it, in fact, Sage was right… my preparations were in fact overkill. Adaraic is sorely disappointing.

My hand twists and Abyss completes the mana transference circuit deep beneath the ground, directly under the Lich... the same circuit that Sage was kind enough to show me. Adaraic's fireball fizzles out with a loud pop as the circuit drains mana from the battlefield.

He looks at his hands and tries again, this time speaking it out loud.

"Fireball… Fire storm… Fire…"

He's frantic as I drain just enough mana to force him to kneel. Walking around him in a circle, the memories of his torment in my final moments as I held her… as I felt the pain of those I loved die… because I was too weak to protect them.

I tear from him the cape he wears, leaving his bony frame exposed as I wrap his cape around myself.

"Where is your god of cowards?"

The fox mother and father stand ready to strike. I feel the hunger in them to exact revenge, even if it was not the same Lich that burned their world.

"Wait," I say.

His eyes quiver, he does not know why I have come today, he does not know the pain he carved into my soul, and he doesn't need to.

With another flick of my wrist, I move the empty armor of an obsidian knight and I splay the cape out from under me and sit upon the armor, just like Adaraic did when he watched me try to heal Cortez in vain.

"Proceed."

"Fire… fire… fireball…"

"Ask your god of cowards for help," I say, tenting my hands as I watch him struggle to even stay upright.

He tries again and again hopelessly, until he begins to question his god. His tone is that of a man who has lost hope.

"Azeroc… do not forsake me… I am thy humble follower… have I not given enough… you promised me power…" he looks at his bony fingers, "You promised me the strength to shape my own fate… the strength to bring them back... why have you forsaken me…"

There is no grin on my lips as I repeat the words he carved into me. Words that he is now ready to feel, as I felt them.

"Yes… there it is…"

He turns slowly to look at me as I carve back the words he once gave me.

"The destruction of hope, the last remnant before one loses themselves to complete despair," I pulse the circuit draining more mana from him, the runes on his body flickering with the flame, "A fitting end to such a trivial ordeal," I place Brands of Withering upon his skeleton so that he can see my fire first hand, "You are fortunate to have witnessed… my flame."

The fox mother and father feel my intention as they pull at his limbs, desecrating his body into pieces. Grasping his skull I rip it from his spine. Holding his trembling eyes of flame in front of me.

"Where is your god now?"

His eyes flash back and forth. My hand releases, dropping him to the ground, placing my boot upon his skull. Every memory that I carry presses downward with the boot.

"Go to the afterlife and tell them of its glory," I peer down at him and growl, "And tell your god of cowards I come for him next."

His skull cracks under my boot as I crush it slowly… purposefully gazing into his flaming eyes as they extinguish… until the undying flame is no more… until he is gone.

[ 1 x Wither Charge Gained ]

His Wither Charge slides up my spine, and the intensity of the memories nearly brings me to a knee immediately. There's so much pain in it, so much anguish, so much fear… and loss. The tendrils retract back into the ring, the field empty of foes. My boot shifts from the broken skull of my defeated nemesis. There's no satisfaction in it, no bliss at seeing him ruined and in pieces… I feel empty, left hollowed by his regrets. So many regrets. So many memories… I've never had them feel this intense before. I hear the screams of those he once loved… those he has lost… Yuma… Adala…

Darkness takes my thoughts as I am swept into his memory entirely.

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