The Cursebreaker stopped just outside the city. I could already see a massive army of shadows with piercing red eyes multiplying by the second.
Right...he's probably a summoner too. They all are. Bastard Avatars...
I turned to the group and let out a sigh.
"Who's coming with me? He's the Avatar of War, so I'm assuming we're going to have to fight."
"Well, you aren't going without us. My sister and I are your personal protectors...nevermind being your wives, my love," Isabella said.
"Me too. I am Triglavikk's opposing force. If things get bad, I can nullify his power...although actually doing that is still quite difficult..." Nirani said.
"This is my realm. And since Lady Nirani is going, I have no choice," Ranis said.
"And Aldaril...?" I said.
"Pass... Please just leave me out of this one. If he sees me, he'll likely go berserk. I kind of humiliated him pretty bad in the Order realm. Without a doubt, he still sees me as an enemy," Aldaril said.
"Suit yourself. The advance force will be myself, Isabella, Cassandra, Nirani, and Ranis. Let's get moving. And Rastair, you should move the ship back as soon as the fighting starts. This operation will be a lot harder if the Cursebreaker gets damaged."
"Aye aye, sir. Only as long as you stay delicious~!" Rastair said with a wink.
"What the fuck does that even mean...?" I mumbled.
Regardless, we made our way to the lift bay and descended to the ground. We approached the army and saw a large, imposing man summoning shadows.
"Be careful, Master. Those are the shadows of war. Triglavikk's personal army. My golems are useless against them," Nirani said.
"Try not to call me that in front of you-know-who, alright? If he learned of your role, he would probably try to kill me. I don't need that right now," I said quietly.
"Y-yes...it will be done..." Nirani said.
She was fidgeting nervously at my words. I couldn't figure out why, because I didn't insult her this time. I assumed it was perverted, anyway...
Nevertheless, Triglavikk seemed to notice our presence and smiled.
He was a very large bear of a man. Likely standing at eight feet tall. His hair was long and gray and he had a grizzled beard. He wore a set of heavy iron and fur armor. His right eye was a hazel color and of course, his left blazed with a deep shade of bloody crimson.
On his back, I could see a massive greatsword. Actually, that weapon looked more like a gigantic cleaver made from a sheet of plate metal used on an armored vehicle. It had a dangerous-looking serrated edge.
"WELL WELL! SO A GROUP OF COWARDS COMES TO SAY HELLO!!!" Triglavikk roared.
"Which of us is the real coward? You're here with an army," I said.
"Laughable. You brought her. As far as I'm concerned, that makes you a coward. And why are there so many women standing by your side? They look frail and weak. More suited to warming my bed than fighting by the side of a scrawny boy like yourself. You fresh off the teat or somethin' little man?"
I was actually speechless.
I didn't think I could remember the last time someone insulted me like that.
"YOU INSOLENT, VILE-"
I held up my hand to silence Cassandra.
"Yeah...I'm definitely at least going to beat this guy within an inch of his life. Don't help me. I won't need it," I said.
I am solving this with extreme violence. End of story.
I was seething. Absolutely livid. I gritted my teeth in rage and stepped forward.
"Oh dear...this doesn't bode well..." Isabella said.
"Is he okay?" Ranis asked.
"No. Mizik is cursed. He has quite a temper as a result of some...rather extreme situations in the past as well. We might want to stand clear. This will get very explosive..." Isabella said.
"It shouldn't be a problem for me. If anything, I'm more worried about him. Triglavikk isn't a pushover..." Ranis said.
"Do not underestimate the Destroyer, you degenerate. We should stand back," Cassandra said.
"The...Destroyer...?"
"I will not repeat myself," Cassandra said firmly.
At once, everyone began backing away.
"Triglavikk...is that your name?" I growled.
"Triglavikk the Unbroken. That is what I am called."
"Fine. I'm-"
"Don't care. I don't learn the names of weaklings. Lady Eris said to destroy this realm and find someone called Mizik Iratus. That's all I care about. If you wanna stand in my way, you're just gonna end up dead like everyone else."
I couldn't help but smile.
And as the pain from my curse flared up, I could only find myself getting angrier.
"Find Mizik Iratus...? Oh...you'll find him, alright..."
"Enough talk. You die now, whelp!" Triglavikk roared.
He grabbed the hilt of his sword and charged forward, swinging it down directly over my head.
I unsheathed the sword Leiso gave me and swung it hard above my head to deflect his blade.
He raised an eyebrow in shock before I teleported behind him and ran him through the chest.
I created a hundred orbs of black lightning and drew them into his body using my sword's enchantment. Then I leaped back as they all violently exploded.
Finally, I used magnetism to draw my sword back to myself.
When I reached my hand out...
My eyes went wide.
All that remained was a hilt.
At that moment, I felt a presence above my head and instinctively dodge to the right.
Triglavikk slammed his sword into the ground where I had just been standing. The earth exploded and I once again moved instinctively to evade the debris as well as Triglavikk's sword. He swung it far faster than I expected him to. As if it were truly made of nothing at all.
"BASTARD COWARD!!! DIE FOR ME, YOU LITTLE WEASEL!!! HOLD STILL!!!" He roared.
I continued to dodge until I decided to create a pair of scimitars out of crystal and deflected his sword.
They shattered instantaneously.
I continued to evade until I saw several shadows dart my way. They began to attack me, en masse.
"Requesting permission to use Vengeance," I said.
[Permission granted, wielder. The Avatars of Tanavol are worthy of my power.]
Triglavikk shot forward and brought his sword down again.
This time...I deflected it with Vengeance.
My power erupted around my body as a mighty shockwave cratered the ground.
"Release restriction level four."
"What!?"
"FLAMES OF RAGE!!!"
My sword burst into flames and covered the surrounding area in a sea of hellfire.
Several shadows tried to attack, but I quickly summoned my second sword and sliced them to pieces with full moon slash.
Triglavikk had drawn back in surprise.
He smiled.
"Haaaah! A worthy opponent! My mistake, I thought you were another weakling. It looks like I was wrong. What is your name, warrior?"
"I AM KING MIZIK IRATUS, THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS!!!"
"YOU'RE MIZIK!?"
"FUSILLADE!!! BLAST BARRAGE!!!"
I switched my swords into twin, bladed shotguns and fired a volley of explosive shotgun blasts into Triglavikk.
He emerged through the cloud and I deflected his sword with an ax I changed my left hand weapon into. Then, with my right hand, I shot forward with a lance and drove it through his torso.
"Vengeance death curse!" I growled.
Triglavikk was blasted away by the force of the curse and I smiled.
He stood up and laughed at that point.
"Perfect...you'll be perfect for Eris. She's going to love you... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! LOOKS LIKE I CAN REALLY CUT LOOSE HERE!!!"
I was confused for a moment, but Triglavikk placed his hand over his left eye.
"EYE OF WAR, RELEASE! I AM THE SHADOW OF WAR! THE MASTER OF BATTLE!!!"
Triglavikk was cloaked in darkness and a red aura began to radiate off of him. His form enlarged as a pair of horns appeared on his head.
He now wielded his sword in one hand. In the other, a massive minigun had formed.
"Well, isn't that something?" I said sarcastically.
He looks like some kind of crazy shadow demon... Either way, I should probably try and end this quickly...
He held up the minigun and it began spinning. Then it let loose with a barrage of explosive bullets.
I shot forward and zig-zagged to avoid his gun. When I got close, I was nearly sliced in half by his sword.
And as soon as I dodged it...I felt a haze come over my mind...
Like an all-consuming rage had covered my mind.
"YES!!! EXCELLENT!!! FEEL THE RAGE!!! LET ME SEE HOW YOU FIGHT WHEN BERSERKING-"
"GRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" I roared.
I sent out an explosion to push him back and clutched my head.
A long time ago, after I had first unlocked the fourth form of Vengeance, I noticed something odd about all of its abilities...
Originally, dual wield could only be used with smaller weapons. And shapeshifting weapon could only create weapons usable in one or two hands depending on how I used dual wield.
That restriction had been lifted upon acquiring the Fury Form.
Additionally, flames of rage, vengeance death curse, wrath possession, and exterminatus had also been modified.
I smiled as I saw Triglavikk's sword burst into flames.
Then, I changed Vengeance's element to ice.
I pointed my sword, now cloaked in frost, at Triglavikk.
"Re-apply...VENGEANCE DEATH CURSE!!!"
A black wind shot forward and knocked him back even further. Ice began to cover the battlefield.
Then, I changed my right hand sword into a greatsword. My left handed sword became a minigun attached to my arm.
Just like Triglavikk.
"GAAAAAAHHHH!!!! WHAT IS THIS!?!? MY BODY!? WHAT'S GOING ON!?!?" Triglavikk screamed.
Vengeance death curse was sapping away his life force. With every moment, he was continuing to wither away. Meanwhile, my own power became supercharged.
He gritted his teeth and pointed his gun at me. As he opened fire, I changed my greatsword into a tower shield and blocked his attack. At the same time, I created a hole and pointed my own weapon through it.
I shouted the name of a new skill I had made a while back as well...
"BULLET STORM!!!"
It worked like an upgraded form of fusillade that included blast barrage and sniper burst as additions to its components.
The bullets I fired multiplied in mid air by a hundred times. The resulting explosions absolutely blew Triglavikk away and encased his body in ice.
With that out of the way, I charged forward with my gun and shield in hand.
"EXTERMINATUS!!!"
I slammed my shield into Triglavikk, shattering the ice encasing his body and unloaded on him again.
But this time, I changed my element into lightning.
Triglavikk was electrocuted and fried where he stood. The resulting explosion destroyed the city walls behind us and most of the gateway platform.
Triglavikk fell to the ground, motionless. He reverted back to his previous form. His armor had been shattered all over, leaving only scraps covering his body.
I stomped on his chest and pointed Vengeance at his eye in the shape of a scimitar.
"Are you ready to die?" I said.
He coughed and looked up at me. Then he smiled.
"If my life...is what you want... Take it. I would gladly...die to a superior warrior... But an Avatar is more useful alive...than dead..." He said.
"Where is Kestel?" I asked.
"How the fuck...should I know...?"
"Fine. What does Eris want from me?"
"A challenge."
"Tch..."
I felt Isabella approach and she smiled at me.
"Feeling better?" She asked.
"Mostly..."
Suddenly, a calming sensation enveloped me. Light shone brightly from Isabella as it happened.
"There we are. All better!"
"By the gods, I love you..." I said.
"Aha...I see it now... She's like you...ain't she? A woman of great power... Looks are deceiving..." Triglavikk said.
"ONE MORE WORD, YOU MONGREL, AND I'LL TEAR OUT YOUR THROAT!!!" Cassandra screamed.
"No need... I know when I'm beat..." Triglavikk said.
"Thank you, Cassandra. Please stop yelling."
"My apologies, your Majesty... I just cannot tolerate such disrespect..."
"It's fine. Now then, Triglavikk, you're going to tell me exactly what I want to know about Eris. If not, I'll just kill you and be done with it," I said.
I stepped off of him and lowered my sword.
"That'd be a waste. If you kill me, you lose an ally... We ain't exactly easy to replace."
"An ally? Didn't you just try to kill me?"
"Sure did. But by my code of honor, I have to acknowledge you as my superior for beating me fair and square. The last time this happened, the Avatar of Death told me to go fuck myself. I was pretty damn mad that day...but you're a lot more worthy of following than he was."
I was having trouble understanding him at this point.
He wanted to be my ally because I kicked the crap out of him? Was he insane? There was no way I could trust someone like that.
"I sense your disbelief. That's fine. I won't attack you again. I'm sure your lady friends would have no issues cutting me down and Nirani could nullify my power if need be. I lost. Simple as that," Triglavikk said as he stood up and dusted himself off.
He gave a hearty smile and laughed.
"And what do you want from me, exactly?"
"Listen...I don't give a shit about all the dark realms this, light realms that bullshit. I only wanna fight strong opponents. And if I get beaten, I wanna get even stronger than the one who beat me. So I'll work for you until I can finally beat you."
"And if you win?"
"I'll go my own way. It'd be dishonorable to kill someone I trained under."
It might be dishonorable to kill you when I'm done with you, but I might consider it an option. You bastards are too powerful to allow to roam free. Whatever...the more help I can get here, the better...
"Alright. But only on the condition that you tell me what I want to know," I said.
"I already told you what Eris wants. She wants to fight you. Whatever else it is, I don't know. All she said was to test you and bring you to the Destruction realm."
"Excuse me, Triglavikk. But does this mean that Eris is incapable of escaping the Destruction realm? She asked you to bring my husband to her instead of coming herself, after all..." Isabella said.
"Ha. That's a funny joke. Eris isn't trapped. She never really was in the first place. Yeah, one of the enemy guys...can't remember which one...put a seal on her realm because she's crazy and wouldn't stop blowing shit up. She took the hint and decided to hang back. But she can break out any time she wants. And honestly, you should expect to see her soon. She's really damn bored."
"I hate this world. I hate it more than Delvandal..." I said.
"Look on the bright side, will ya? You should be honored. The Avatar of Destruction took a liking to you. If you impress her, she might even let you live. Fair warning though, she's a lot stronger than Me, Castra, or even...uh...the Death Avatar...whatever his name was..."
"Aldaril is his name. He's working with us right now, actually. If you attack him, I'm going to erase you. That is your one and only warning," I said.
"Ha! Even that jackass bends knee to you!? This is looking more and more promising by the minute!"
I felt Isabella touch my shoulder at that point.
"Where should we go next? Do you think it would be a good idea to discuss our next destination with everyone?" She said.
"Might be...but I have a feeling that I know where our next destination is..."
"And where is that...?" Isabella asked.
"The Order realm."