Klade kept running, being chased by the embodiments, "Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! What was I thinking?!"
In the bleak expanse of a desolate battlefield, Klade stood solitary, gripping his humble wooden hammer. His opponents, five grotesque embodiments of death, circled him, each manifesting as hollow-eyed, skeletal figures draped in tattered robes. The clash was imminent, a dance with death itself.
[Hammer equipped]
'I did this without thinking of what could happen. I know Glefnir wouldn't kill the others because she went ranting about how she needed the ones with the Embers tree blessing to tame them. As soldiers maybe, I don't know. I led her guards away from her so the rest of them could figure something out. Maybe that could be my ticket ohr too! I just need to survive…can I? With this weak ass hammer, I gotta use it anyway I can. Just stay alive.'
The first revenant of death lunged towards Klade, its movements swift, bone hands reaching for his throat. Klade ducked low, swinging his hammer with precise brutality at its legs. The crack of splintering bone echoed as the creature stumbled, but another quickly took its place, forcing Klade to roll to the side, narrowly avoiding a bone-crushing grip. Klade then surged upwards, delivering a fierce uppercut with the base of his hammer to the second assailant's jaw. An audible snap resonated, the head tilting unnaturally. Yet, no sooner had it fallen back than another deathly figure swept towards him, its hands aimed like daggers. Klade pivoted, feeling the whoosh of air as claws missed his face by mere inches.
"Agh!" Klade grunted, stumbling to the left.
A third attacker approached from behind, silent as the grave. Klade spun, his hammer arcing through the air, meeting the creature's chest with a thud that expelled a cloud of ancient dust from the figure's robes. The force sent the attacker staggering back, but it quickly regained its composure.
'Just strong enough to stagger them. If I was my maxed out self, this fight would've been over in seconds.' Klade attempted to leap back to gain distance, but a fourth figure caught him mid-air, slamming him down into the earth. The ground fractured under the impact, sending shards of soil and rock into the air. Pain shot through Klade's body, a stark reminder of his mortality. Blood shot from his mouth, and he rolled over, saying in pain, "Agh! Crap..that hurt."
As he pushed himself up, blood dripping from his lip and face, Klade swung his hammer horizontally with a defiant roar, connecting with another assailant's ribcage. The bone shattered with a gruesome crunch, the figure collapsing into a heap, momentarily out of the fight.
However, the respite was short-lived. Another embodiment swept toward him, its movements a blur. Klade attempted to deflect with his hammer, but the creature's strength overwhelmed him, knocking the weapon from his grasp and delivering a crushing blow to his side. Wincing in agony, Klady hastily rolled to reclaim his hammer, just as a skeletal foot aimed a stomp at his head. He grabbed the tool and swung it upwards in a desperate arc, catching the creature's foot mid-stomp, splintering bone.
"Not today.." Blood flowed from Klade's face and gut; With no time to breathe, Klade scrambled to his feet, facing another onslaught. He parried, dodged, and weaved through a barrage of blows, each move fuelled by sheer survival instinct, his hammer a blur of motion as he fought back against impossible odds. An embodiment's clawed hand grazed his shoulder, tearing through fabric and flesh. Klade's response was a guttural yell and a frenzied strike to its head, the hammer's head making a sickening thud as it connected. Though victorious in this instant, his strength waned visibly.
Klade's vision got blurry, thinking, 'My stats are so low…I'm already getting tired. Stay up..'
Then, as if seizing the moment, a figure managed to encircle his neck from behind, lifting him off the ground. Clawing at the skeletal arms, Klade kicked back hard, breaking its hold, only to fall into the waiting clutches of another adversary.
His body thrown brutally against the hard earth, Klade coughed blood, spit mixing with the water. He heaved himself upright, swinging his hammer weakly as another figure approached, only to be met with a vice-like grip crushing his wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon again.
"Come on…come on…" Klade yelled as blood fell from his left eye, his legs shaking.
SHINK!
Two embodiments slashed Klade in the back with their blades, blood splattering the water. The relentless attackers coordinated now, their assaults a macabre symphony. Klade was struck from the front and back, his cries of pain lost in the vast emptiness of the battlefield. His face was bloodied, his clothing torn to shreds.
Klade gritted his teeth, his legs still shaking.
'Not yet…not yet..'
Desperation lent him a momentary surge of adrenaline. Snatching his hammer, he let loose a wild swing, connecting with multiple attackers, bones flying. But his victory was short-lived, energy draining rapidly. His movements slowed, Klade could barely lift his arms, let alone swing his hammer. Each breath was labored, his vision blurring as he staggered under the weight of his injuries. Finally, overwhelmed, Klade could no longer withstand the brutal tide. He was struck down once more, each blow from his relentless assailants an agony. He knelt in the dust, the hammer slipping from his grasp as he bowed his head in defeat, a beaten figure surrounded by the swirling cloaks of death.
Klade coughed, whimpering, "I'm not done yet…I'm not done yet…"
The embodiments circled Klade, and Klade stood up slowly, saying, "You bastards won't stop me…I'm not that easy to beat.."
They were about to finish him off, but—
KATHOOM!
KLANG!
Bones flew into the air in white flames coming from this bodies, and Elgard was among them, his axes in his hand. But at the same time, he had Glefnir's scythe in his chest, making him bleed out.
Klade looked at Elgard, "You…"
"Don't worry, brat. It's just a scratch. You just need to get out."
"How do I even do that?!"
"The same way you came.."
Elgard died standing up, his head slumped downward, but his legs still strong enough to stand.
Klade was kneeling in front of him, looking up at his dead body.
'It's not my fault. It's not my fault. He decided to save my life…again. I gotta stay alive, so his sacrifice won't be in vain. Damn I sound like the main character. But I'm in pain..this hurts..I haven't felt pain like this in years. I wanna cry so bad…but I'll get distracted and I'll be laughed at by this crazy old lady.'
Glefnir was walking towards Klade at a normal pace, smiling and her right eye twitching, saying, "I'm a good mother…I'm a good mother. I'm a great mother, right?"
Klade, bleeding out, crawled forward with his hammer, and he placed his hand on a skeleton bone, raised his hammer, and slammed it down on the bone.
The desolate battlefield, now a visual testament to brutality, bore witness to yet another perverse scene. Glefnir approached the beleaguered Klade, her footsteps unhurried and deliberate. Each step resounded with an ominous echo against the eerie silence that had enveloped the area. Her eyes, wild with manic glee, twitched spasmodically as her lips curled into a grotesque smile.
"Look at you, Klade, forging even in defeat. What iron will, what determination! Such traits are admirable," she cackled, her voice piercing the silence. "You see, as a mother, I do understand sacrifice. I've always done everything necessary for my son, everything! Can you understand that, Klade?"
Meanwhile, Klade's battered form worked on the skeletal remnant, his fingers encircling a massive jawbone. Despite the blood blurring his vision and pain wracking his body, determination was etched deep in his expression. His hands, trembling from exertion and loss, began to work the bone with his hammer, each strike a testament to his unyielding spirit.
"I have…to keep going. Fuck this giving up stuff."
'That woman…she stole power from a demigod I've killed before, Named Azra. He could create pocket dimensions, and with a weapon he wields, his enemies get sent there with just a swipe and they have to escape for their lives. But I've never been. But she's manipulated that and even tamed a deity's summon. This royal family has limitless power thanks to them stealing it…but I won't fall to them yet…'
[Smithing Progress: 10%]
[Item Being Forged:* Remnant's Jaws ]
[Rank: Silver ]
[Item Level: Low]
Klade cried, "I don't care if it's low rank…I won't sit back and do nothing.."
The other blessed people on the side watched, saying:
"He's insane.."
"I barely sense any power from him, and yet.."
Each swing of the hammer sent shockwaves of pain through Klade's weary arms, his breaths coming in agonizing gasps. As he worked, a faint red hue started to suffuse the sclera of his left eye. A horn began to manifest slowly, emerging with agonizing slowness, the transformation both mystical and painful.
Glefnir continued rampantly, her voice escalating into a frenzied shout, "This is the essence of our existence, Klade! The fight, the pain, the unbearable sacrifices! All for the ones we love, for the world we must mold in our image!"
[Smithing Progress: 30%]
Structural Integrity: Stable
[Power Infusion: Beginning]
As the bone slowly took shape, steam rising from the points where Klade's hammer met its surface, his tears mixed with the blood on his cheek. Each drop symbolized not just physical pain but the heart-rending anguish of being helplessly caught in a madwoman's vision of destiny.
"You see, Klade?" Glefnir's voice broke through his focus again, her tone a twisted coo. "Every strike of your hammer tells a story. The story of pain, endurance, and eventually—oh, eventually—the story of resurrection for a cause!"
[Smithing Progress: 50%]
[Item Name: Talon of Torment]
[Power Level: Ascending Slowly]
The growing horn in Klade's eye was now a vivid red, a stark contrast to the paling hue of his skin. The physical manifestation of the bone's original owner bestowed upon him a strange and fierce energy, battling with his waning human endurance.
[Smithing Progress: 70%]
Enchantment Bonding: In Progress
Item Potency: Moderate
[User Physical Drain: Severe]
Glefnir's laughter now filled the air, high and unhinged. "Yes, Klade! Let it consume you! The power, the agony! It's euphoric, isn't it? The price of power, the essence of sacrifice!"
[Smithing Progress: 90%]
[Final Forming: Nearly Complete ]
With a final, excruciating effort, Klade raised his hammer high and brought it down in a resounding crash. The bone transformed fully now, emanating a soft, ethereal glow. It had become something powerful, something dangerous.
[Smithing Complete]
[Item Created: The Maw of Perdition ]
[ Rank: Silver ]
Klade fell back, the newly created weapon beside him. His body was drained, nearly lifeless, but his eye with the horn glowed ominously—a stark reminder of the unnatural abilities he'd just invoked. Glefnir stood over him, her wild eyes wide with an insane delight as she beheld the transformation, her voice echoing maniacally across the desolated battlefield.
"Well done, Klade. Oh, how beautifully tragic you are!"
"Shut up…bitch."
Klade stood, his battered form quivering with every heaving breath, gripping the freshly forged bone weapon—the Maw of Perdition. Its mysterious red hue matched the bleeding horn that protruded painfully from his eye, a sinister aesthetic that complemented the newly acquired power.
[Maw of Perdition]
Type: Bone Weapon
Rank: Silver
Attack Power: Moderate
Special Ability: Each blow lands destruction, 20% critical chance with a heavy attack, 10% critical chance for normal attacks.
Durability: Moderate
With a guttural cry born from years of suppressed pain and sudden determination, Klade dashed forward, his strides fueled by a mixture of rage and resolution. From the opposite end of the battlefield, Glefnir charged towards him, her scythe gleaming wickedly, mirroring the madness in her eyes.
"Show me something, boy!"
The intense collision was inevitable, the scythe driving deep into Klade's chest. Blood spurted in grotesque arcs as the two combatants came face-to-face, mortality and madness swirling between them in a dance as old as time.
Glefnir smiled, "Those who have been blessed by the Tree of Ember would've become great embodiments of death for me. Only a true mother would go to such lengths for her son! Nothing will stop him. I won't let it."
'So that's what those skeletons were…people like me and the others, those blessed by the Ember Tree.'
Up close, Klade's voice, ragged but resolute, broke the cacophony of their clashing wills. "You speak of sacrifices, Glefnir," he gasped, the blood foaming at his lips only amplifying his resolve. "My mother... she sacrificed everything, her job, her sanity, merely to keep me smiling in a world that loved to see me break. I was bullied, tormented... but she fought for me. Her sacrifice... It won't be vain. I refuse to be downtrodden any longer…"
As his body slumped, seemingly succumbing to the injuries inflicted by the scythe's brutal embrace, Glefnir leaned closer, her manic grin spreading across her face, believing her victory complete. "Ah, the sweet smell of victory and the even sweeter stench of wasted potential."
But as she began to gloat, a startling grip tightened on the side of her head. Klade, with the last of his strength and a deceptive ruse of death, was far from defeated. His eyes, fueled by both pain and unyielded determination, fixed onto Glefnir's. With a savage twist of force, he hoisted his bone weapon, the Maw of Perdition, and with a monstrous roar, he rammed it downwards, directly into her gaping mouth.
The gruesome impact was met with a sickening crunch, blood and fragments of bone meshing into a macabre tapestry. Glefnir's eyes widened in shock.
"I….am the best mother!!!" She screamed.
'He purposely allowed himself to get wounded by me, to catch me off guard and lure me in close for a shot! That brat! Who the hell is he?!'
The other blessed people said:
"A clean hit…!"
"Should we help him? I don't wanna be like those damn skeletons!"
Klade limped forward, dragging his weapon on the floor, "No…don't…let me solo this bitch."