Giant Blade's group were shown the stairs towards the basement of the castle and then the captain left to look after the guards that were probably still knockout cold. The truth was that they were there to protect the people in the streets from losing their minds and even their souls if they were to wonder into one of the higher ups rooms.
Nightmare was a level 49 Shadowknight and he was a person that found it annoying to withdraw his Unholy Aura for the benefit of others. In his mind, if a person could not withstand the corrosive effect of the Aura that was barely leaking from him then there had no business approaching him. There was only one thing that people came to see Nightmare about and that was to provide him with information of his Arch Nemesis Sigfrid.
The History between the two was as long and bloody as the history of the two cities. Their Classes were not only polar opposites but throughout the years of struggles many family members had been lost to each other including Nightmare's wife and son. The War for the avatar sets that took the Evil Alignment followers by surprise was the beginning of their hatred.
Nightmare's son was a Level 25 Shadowknight and carried one of the pieces of the God of Hate Set and as the son of the right hand man of Degark Harbinger he was the first target. The Mission was taken by Sigfrid and he slaughtered the household when Nightmare was in a different part of town being attack by Pendragon's personal Guards.
The lost of his family left a deep scar on Nightmare that made it his life's goal to avenge his wife and son by killing what he considered a coward of a man.
Nightmare was the right hand man of Harbinger but if there were any news that Sigfrid was out and about, nothing could stop him from leaving to seek revenge. The feeling of desolation after losing everything made his Unholy Aura extremely powerful but in all the years of confrontations the score still remained 20 wins and 20 loses with neither of them able to give the coup de grâce.
The Basement Giant Blade was walking through was barely lit but the room were Nightmare was staying at was completely devoid of any light. The basement was also extremely cold and the aura of undead that leaked from the Shadowknight produced Low Level skeletal soldiers that roam the basement.
Giant Blade walked with his wives while releasing his own energy to offset the corrosive effect around them and it also acted as a repellent for the bags of bones moving around.
A very raspy voice echoed throughout the dungeon, "Aren't you far away from home?"
"Hello to you too… I got good news for you"
"Is it about Sigfrid?"
"Yup… Thanks to my Disciple killing a bunch of God of Justice followers, he should be coming for us"
"I thought you didn't want to be involved with all this, What did you call it? … Ah yes.. Nonsense Rivalry!! and that is why you hid in that temple of yours"
"Look Who's talking! This feels like a tomb man, and you need some fresh air. Sigfrid should be on his way to the abyss and should be the perfect time to hit their echelons hard... oh and this is going to get messy with the demons so please let your boss know that the beef is only against that church"
"How many did you kill?"
"A few hundred…"
"Who are you trying to fool Blade, that doesn't bring Sigfrid out"
"Well... we might have removed the Sword of Justice from his previous owner" Said Giant Blade wiping the sweat from his forehead
"Omega is dead?"
"We didn't kill Omega but we did something to the Sword so now is a mess. Anyway, he is coming out so now is your chance to do what you do best" With those final comments Giant Blade had achieved his purpose in Blackrock.
Nightmare's sunken eyes stared at the spot his guest stood before and trembled with excitement, "Is It true?"
There was no way to distinguish anything in the basement since there was no light but another voice resounded in the space. "There is an unconfirmed rumor about the Sword of Justice being destroyed but there is no precedent of something like that being possible so I thought it was a ruse of the organization to make money".
"Wonderful! Assemble the team, we are going to the abyss".
In the deepest part of the castle, Degark Harbinger was sitting on a throne made out of Mithril while listening to a report from a young coercer that seem to be in the mid thirties in terms of Levels. He was reading the reports that were considered the most important and the rumor of the Sword of Justice being destroyed was one of them followed by the report of Nightmare heading towards the abyss. Degark frowned a bit but quickly continued with his duties as the ruler of the city giving orders to all his subordinates.
Rahz's team did the best they could to prepare for what was coming and finally could take a small break. There had not been much time to inspect the gains his little adventure to Nass had provided him with and there was a huge overflow of Energy released back into the Realm
from all the level 30's that had perished. Rahz was extremely giddy about the rewards Apocalypse promised and they were bound to be plentiful since the sword was made with material from the Realm of Justice.
Apocalypse analyzed the structure of the materials as well as the inherent skills imbued into the sword while Rahz and the others were working on the countermeasures but the task of analyzing the sword was a daunting one.
It took Apocalypse about a week to get it done but when it was finally finish the rewards made it all worth it.
"This is truly amazing Rahz, I have been able to convert 2 of the skills in the sword to something usable by you. The first skill is a shield called Holy Shield that provides immunity to all damage for a short amount time, 5 seconds or so. This skill is kind of like a miracle granted by faith to a follower of Odos and is the materialization of Divinity but I was able to analyze its structure and recreate it using the laws of the realm. The second one is an attack that gathers the energy from the sun and then discharges it in a cone following the swing of the weapon.
The Emission part of the skill is more like immolation than Chaos Blade as the energy extends from the weapon in a cone up to 6 ft from the blade in bursts when enough energy has been absorbed. Now get ready is time for the reward of discovering a new material for the realm"
Apocalypse got really hot and starting from Rah'z Vertebral Column, the structure of Rahz's bones started to change into a Mythril structure. The changes elevated Rahz's defenses to a level in which no Mythril weapon could cut through unless it was enchanted with Sharpness.
Rahz was level 27 thanks to the energy absorbed from the Level 30s but defense wise, he was now immune to many of the weapons used by Third Tiers that couldn't afford a penetration enchantment.
Rahz's skin followed and all the changes that happened granted his body an ability similar to Jazz stone skin to reinforce his defenses.
"Aaah… It was all worth it in the end", said Rahz with a face full of blizz.
Rahz's strength baffled the other disciples who started their training in the temple at the same time. The Half Giant was barely level 25 and he was the first one to notice the changes not only physical but also in the quality of the aura around Rahz. Rahz used to give him the feeling of a predator that was at the top of the food chain and anybody that tried to challenge his might would be devour.
In the four years he saw Rahz walking around the halls doing some weird training, the Half Giant felt that Rahz had regressed and it was for that reason he didn't want to perform his second evolution.
The Half Giant assumed that it was all thanks to the Chamber of Vengeance being as bad as everyone said it was, but it was a different story now that he saw Rahz talking to himself while saying it was all worth it.
"Yo! Rahz why don't we have a match, I need some good exercise".
Rahz looked up and saw the person that had giving him a run for his money back in the day. 'hmm .. I guess it is a good time to check my progress' said Rahz while grinning.
The two of them headed to the Arena while talking about the upcoming student selection.
"Wow .. I can't believe is almost that time again" Said Rahz while reminiscing.
"When Did you have your Second Evolution?" asked the Half Giant
"A few years back… so don't hold back, I am strong"
The Half Giant grinned and took his favorite boxing stance and saw that Rahz didn't take out his Axe and was going to go blow for blow. In the Giant's eyes it was a big mistake to underestimate an opponent but it was the perfect time to show Rahz how wrong he was to take him lightly.
The two dash towards each other and threw a punch that met in the air generating a giant shockwave that resounded in the middle of the arena.
AHHHHH!!
The half giant screamed as he was sent back 10 ft with the bones in his hands broken in multiple places. Rahz's opponent kept looking at him with a confused expression on his face trying to recalled the feeling when the two attacks met. There was no feeling of energy in Rahz's punch, he felt how his Chaos Fire aura was broken like it was made out of glass and then it was the feeling of hitting an unshakable material. Rahz's hand felt like when he was hitting the walls in his room that were stronger than iron weapons.
Rahz felt the bones of his friend crack during the exchange and frowned, "We should stop here and get that taking care off, I felt your bones shattered, I am sorry"