Whisper had looked down at Chase and Cyrus, both panting like they ran 10 miles. The 8 foot tall figure leaned over and helped Cyrus up and then Chase. Returning to the counter Whisper poured two cups of tea and left out for Cyrus and Chase. They thanked Whisper and drank the tea.
[All stats refreshed!]
The window popped up as he finished the tea. He smiled and bowed to Whisper, "Thank you for the tea." Waving his bony hand he dismissed the thanks.
"Only... doing my part... as host... have coin to spend?" His slow speech a familiar sound which made Cyrus feel at ease. He looked towards Chase who nodded and held out his hand.
"Whisper, I will give you 1000 coins if you provide us a way to get to the top faster." Whisper tapped the counter, thinking on the offer.
Leaning forward he held up two fingers, "2,000 coins... I shall provide... shortcut to... my next shop... But you... will need orb... to progress..." Cyrus deposited the 2,000 coins on the counter. Whisper looked at the coins and his smile appeared once again.
Cyrus looked at Whisper, "Whisper, I have need to get all the orbs to reach the top. I need your help to do so, will you help us?" Whisper waved his hand over the coins which all vanished into the sleeve of his robe. Tracing his finger in the air and drawing a magical sigil, a dark cloud had formed next to the door leading forward.
"I will... open the way... you will be... in the room... before my shop." A door that had skeletons holding onto the pillars opened a door with a red portal inside. "If you give... more coins... more crystals... but cost... 750 each..." Cyrus laid down 3,000 coins causing Whisper to flinch.
His sense of greed getting the best of him as he swiped the coins. Depositing some Skill Crystals that seemed bigger than previous ones. As well as some 24 more bullets for Wolf's Fang. Lastly pulling out a circular object and set it on the counter.
"This will be... useful later..." Whisper said as Cyrus took all the items. He would decide to look at he object after the next floor with the orb. For right now he decided to consume the skill crystals and use some on his summons. Giving Fenrir a total of 6 points, the Hatchling 4 points, and Grimm 4 points. Leaving himself 10 points. The crystals had a lot higher chance for more points. So that's why he had the points shared as he did.
Grimm had the Crystal placed against his cover which absorbed it, while Fenrir and the hatchling ate theirs. Cyrus went through their skills and selected the best options for the points they had. While also giving the Hatchling enough crystals and Chaos energy to level up.
The withered dragon started to grow in size and now was the size of a horse. It's head was slightly bigger than his own and it's neck was longer. The skin of the Withered Dragon seemed thicker and stronger.
[Withered Dragon evolved into a Young Withered Dragon!]
[HP: 26/26]
[Physical Defense: 50% damage reduction]
[Immune to Fire, if gel sack is punctured or shot it explodes and leaves the Withered Dragon weakened until recovered.]
[Flight ability obtained!]
[Goo Spray: Sprays a cone of goo to hit multiple targets. Slowly degrades armor of 1 tier higher, instantly degrades Gamma Tier armor.]
Cyrus saw the Hatchling had changed into a small dragon, looking it over and seeing the bark like skin and glow of its mouth he finally came up with a name. Walking over and stroking the dragon's head it seemed to purr, "Hello Visne, it is finally good to have a name for you." Visne chirped, giving Cyrus' hand a gentle brush of their snout before being returned to the shackle.
[Visne seems happy with the name!]
Cyrus smiled before looking at Chase, "What? I have something you've never seen before?" Chase seemed surprised by Cyrus' many talents. He couldn't help but wonder what he was.
"Cyrus, are you a Warrior Mage?" Cyrus looked at him confused, which made Chase sigh, "A Warrior Mage is someone who uses magic, weapons, and summons. Sometimes they drift to a specific focus of the types they wish to be. Some prefer magic spells, others weapons and enhancing them, or summoning hordes of creatures to do their bidding."
Looking to his shackle he smiled at Chase, "A jack of all trades, a person with many talents but a master of none." Going though the list of skills for all his summons he chose the ones that would be useful and were available. He started with Fenrir, then Visne, Grimm, and finally himself. Although his skills were more of upgrades.
[Godly Rage: Attacks made from Fenrir hit twice. Gained the Double Attack feature.]
[Dragon's Blood: Doubles Visne's HP]
[Engorge: Doubles the amount of Corrosive Gel produced inside Visne's neck and chest, allowing for goo attacks to be used quicker.]
[Eye of Magic: Grimm can see through lies and illusions as one would gain the true sight.]
[Gather Chaos lvl 2: Increases the amount given at the end of the 10 minutes. Recover 15 CEP]
[Shackles of Pain lvl 2: When your target is restrained, they take fire damage equal to your INT stat. Being Shackled cuts the value in half.]
Cyrus also noticed that Grimm had more spells than he did, which the system told him that more spells will unlock based off his INT stat. Grimm could teach the spells to Cyrus once he has shown his mastery of the spells. Which was difficult to gauge for Cyrus, so he guessed it would be when Grimm felt like it cause his system didn't give him a message about getting a new spell.
With these new skills and upgrades to his own skills, Cyrus felt comfortable to head through the portal produced by Whisper. Chase was patiently waiting for Cyrus who also allocated his extra stat points. Increasing his INT to 14 and his DEX to 11. He could feel the power of his summons increase and power of the magic spells.
[Grimm was interested in your choice, a new spell can be learned. 0%]
Feeling happy with the result Cyrus waved goodbye to Whisper which he told Cyrus good luck. As they entered the portal, it briefly sounded like thunderclouds rumbled as passed through it. As they coming out of the portal, there was a hymn playing in the surrounding area.
Upon looking around, they seemed to be inside a chapel. Sounds of heavenly angel voices singing from somewhere in the room. It was serene and tranquil to their ears, but they wouldn't allow themselves to stop. Moving through the rows of wooden benches lined up and facing an alter.
"Is this where the orb is supposed to be?" Cyrus asked, wanting to know if Chase has been in this room before. But when he looked back he could see that Chase had been staring at something above them. Turning his head he could see a statue, but not just a statue. The statue of a beautiful woman who looked like she was sleeping. But the thing that was off putting about it was the fact that it was crying a stream of blood.
"Who is that?" Cyrus asked, trying to snap Chase out of his daze.
He responded slow and a little shaky, "It... it is my... my mother. Father carved it with his very hands the day she died." Walking forward and heading to the alter while looking up, Chase closed his eyes and offered a silent prayer. 'May my mother have found peace, and give me strength to save my father.' He prayed, which to Cyrus was odd.
Cyrus had never been a man to worship anything. He believed he wanted something to happen, he better do it himself. If something was unobtainable, he would try anyway. But seeing this and Fenrir who he gained powers from that mentioned gods when looking at the shackle.
"Maybe gods do exist, but," he thought about it, "why would they interact with us? Why do gods need worship?" That's when Fenrir had left him a message, which surprised him
["Gods are beings who do as they please and get rid of those who pose a threat. I am no different, we are no different. I was once a being of pure chaos and desired nothing but power. But because of my power, they chained me up, put a sword that burned my tongue and snout, and left me to rot. All because I trusted them about showing my strength. I managed to escape and bring about another age of chaos, but was weakened by strange artifacts that were able to kill beings of Chaos. That is why you managed to defeat me, because I was weakened. I managed to live after I had gain much power. So now, with my powers given to you, you will be hunted by these beings of Chaos as they wish to chain us up again and prevent us from escaping and bringing about their doom."]
Cyrus couldn't believe what he was reading, shaking his head and looking at his shackle. Thinking about what Fenrir said, he decided to look around the room to locate the orb. That is when he saw something that didn't seem to be there before. Chains spanning the room were knotted together. As something was just hanging above the alter, a chained up blade. When Cyrus got close to the weapon he could then see the orb high above in the statue's hands.
Pointing to the orb, Cyrus managed to get Chase's attention. Upon seeing it, the statue's eyes leaked more of the blood than before. Making it almost a pool of blood below at its feet. That was when a seal had been placed on the door on both sides of the room. Something was coming as the chains started to rattle about. Jerking the chained up blade as creature had come from the pool of blood.
It's long slender body seemed to be that of another vampire. But this one had one thing that Chase didn't, and that was a corrupted left arm. His arm seemed to writhe with shadows and blink as eyes appeared on the dark arm. It's body was twitching a little as it came from the pool. Chase himself looked at it in horror, for he knew who it was.
"Cyrus, that's... that's my older brother Thomas Galihath." He was in utter disbelief as he saw the shadowy limb. "What happened to him?" That's when the chained up blade had shaken again and began to break it's bonds. The pillars it was tied to were cracking as the weapon was called over and over again.
Then it looked up, Thomas' long black hair moving aside to reveal a normal right eye that was blood red and 3 eyes that seemed to look everywhere on his left side.
"I don't know but it looks like he isn't going to allow us to pass." Cyrus said, as he had drawn his Wolf's Fang. He really wanted to get .50GI magazine for this magnum. But it seemed like a luck of the draw kind of item.
That's when Thomas spoke, "Dear brother, it seems you have made a friend with a mortal!" He spread his arms wide and the shadow arm seemed elongated than his right. "Seems like you haven't grown up enough to realize that they are just cattle to us. Drain him and join me to take over the castle."
Chase clenched his fist, drawing blood from how tight he was squeezing. "Our mother was a human, the only one that seemed to care about us! How could you go and say our mother is the same as every human?" He pointed to Cyrus, "I trust this human, they aren't as bad as you and father claim them to be. Maybe in the past, mistakes and errors of human kind have brought the worst out of them. But there is good in humans, just like mother."
Cyrus looked at the two argue, not able to really speak out. He was amazed that Chase was defending him from his own brother. But he also understood that Thomas was corrupted by that arm with eyes. He would do whatever he could to make sure Chase doesn't get corrupted. Just as he decided that, a window appeared for a new quest.
[Kill or Spare: Kill Thomas Galihath to free him from the shadow's control. Or, find a way to sever the connection between the shadow and his body.]
[Rewards will be determined upon the final result.]
Cyrus felt compelled to try and save Thomas, not just for the sake of Chase, but for the sake that if a quest gave him the option. He knew he would struggle to obtain that result. It was who he was, Cyrus struggled for the best outcome and it was always costly. But the benefits for trying were more rewarding than a reward itself.
Stepping forward Cyrus drew his Withered Dragon Sword and pointed it at Thomas, "I will do my best to not disappoint you..." As he finished his sentence, Cyrus could feel a familiar presence within Thomas. The shadow that controlled the Mad Men seemed all to similar, however stronger.
Chase drew his blade, "Brother, this fight is between me and you." The weapon was long and took the shape of a katana. The guard and blade were silver in color, while the hilt had blue wrapping on it. His stance changed to something more dignified, standing with blade held in front of him. His breath long and slow. Cyrus' sense picked up the power beginning to bolster Chase.
Thomas laughed, "Oh ho ho, you think you can beat me little brother?" He continued to laugh, "Why don't you just try an-" suddenly Chase was gone and took the place of Thomas who was flung into the wall. A cloud of dust and debris was flung everywhere. Cyrus had to take cover, or else he would have to get involved in such a fight.
The sound of Thomas groaning as a blackened shield had blocked the attack. However it was cracked and Thomas chuckled, "My my, look who has some strength to back it up. However," next it was Chase who was flung away smashing into a pillar. Chase had received only 20 points of lost health, which meant he managed to block it and only receive the damage from smacking into the pillar.
"My little brother needs to learn who is on top to become the next head of this family!" As the eyes on his left arm started to move and look towards both Cyrus and Chase. Small red balls appeared just off the center of the eye. Cyrus felt the sudden urge to move when he saw that.
Beams of red light exploded from the eyes as they shot at Cyrus and Chase. Managing to barely activate his Enhance (Focus) for his reflexes to dodge the attack. Thankfully he managed to avoid an attack like that cause it put holes through the pillar and cut it in half.
Chase seemed to keep stepping and vanishing with incredible speed. Thomas and Chase clashed with terrible force. Cyrus doubted he would lose in a fight with those two. He decided to see if he could get in and cause some bleed effect on Thomas. Hopefully causing him to weaken with enough damage like he did to Taurus.
Attempting to get close was difficult as the eyes on his left arm. He needed another distraction to occupy the eyes. He decided to summon Grimm and Visne. Grimm floated in place next to Cyrus which he didn't understand why Grimm was so close to him. Visne also hovered over Cyrus, he felt cramped but it was good for them to stay behind cover.
"Alright, Visne, I need you to spray as much of your corrosive gel on Thomas. Weaken his defenses, while Grimm, focus on creating as many Ice Shards as you can to keep him moving. Direct him towards me as best you can." Visne chirped while Grimm blinked. He had to guess that the book understood or else he was going on a whim.
Taking another breath he issued the command. Using his own spell to create a Fire Bolt. The essence of fire started to spark in his right hand as purple flames culminated into a sphere. As he gathered the energy he could control he noticed that it was the size of a basketball. The flames danced in his hand as he ran out from cover with Grimm floating above him. Visne took flight and roared at Thomas.
It was a small enough distraction that Cyrus' Fire Bolt had been launched. As expected the shadows created a shield. But as it did that, Visne swelled briefly as he then expunged the glob of corrosive gel at the shield. The sound of sizzling could be heard but it wasn't enough. Grimm used his Ice Shards to cause them to spawn above Thomas. Raining down the spears of ice onto Thomas made him move. The ice followed wherever he went. Pushing him back and away from Chase.
This was Cyrus' way of fighting back against a really strong opponent. Overwhelm and strike, a simple tactic used by wolves.