Second Chapter of the day and last Chapter of Volume 1!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 19: Showdown

Wiping his bloody hands clean, Makoto left the Infirmary feeling a lot better.

As far as he could tell there was no other way to enter or exit the Chapel so without further ado, he traveled down the staircase leading underground.

Torches had been placed every few feet to light up the way down.

It didn't take long until the stairs ended and he was walking down a hallway with grotesque pictures adoring the walls.

Some in frames and others hammered into the stone walls themselves.

The overall hallway was narrow and had a low ceiling even for Makoto who was not tall.

Unsure what to expect he made sure to walk slowly and without making any noise.

Soon enough he entered a room that gave off the strong impression of dark and sinister catacombs, skulls decorated the walls, stone coffins lay all around him, stacked on top of each other and forming row after row.

It was not a place one would enter willingly as the air itself smelled like death.

With one hand against his mouth and nose as to not breath in more than necessary, Makoto held his sword in the other and walked past the sheer endless rows of coffins.

Soon enough he encountered two Priests, casually patrolling between the coffins and without too much trouble disposed of them.

After that he found another hallway leading deeper, he swept the entire room once more to make sure there was no one else hiding before going deeper into the bowels of the earth.

The whole entire underground crypt or whatever this was, had a very complicated structure to it with many rooms looking just like the previous ones, making differentiating near impossible and soon enough he would have been utterly lost if Makoto didn't have his map with him.

He explored an incredibly large area as the entire complex was by far bigger than the Chapel above it.

From time to time he encountered Priests but the actual number of people here was shockingly small.

This also didn't seem to be a dungeon either so Makoto was confused in more than one way.

After maybe killing his 20th or so Priest down here he finally leveled up to 17.

The battles themselves were repetitive and Makoto occasionally used his new Skill 'Aura of the Beast' but the previous vigor for his actions had been lost.

He was still angry about what the Blood Moon Church had done but he had stopped torturing the Priests needlessly as the usual joy he got from it was absent.

Instead a small doubt had started to bloom inside of him.

Was he not just like them?

Sure he was killing evil Cultists instead of Innocent children and women but what was the difference in his actions except his targets?

Was this not just two different kinds of evil?

A strange sense of loss and confusion had entered his mind, doubt creeped into his heart if what he was doing was really the right thing.

His attacks did less and less damage, the blood red shine of his eyes dimmed down until only the normal black from before was visible.

Soon enough he took more damage than his enemies, unable to dodge or react in time, his own mind swamped with insecurity and images of him, doing the exact same or even more cruel things to other people.

His vision taken, blinded by a sea of blood.

The only thing that saved him from dying from the continuous stabs of the Priests around him was his Skill 'Blood Rejuvenation'.

Unable to even stand, Makoto was kneeling on the ground, his eyes empty while all around him Priests attacked him, bringing him pain again and again.

For an eternity Makoto was kneeling on that stone ground, unable to react, unable to think.

Slowly but surely his health bar got dangerously close to nothing.

Without even recognizing his surroundings anymore, all Makoto was able to see was an endless sea of blood with blades that shot towards him, hurting him, killing him.

Before his health hit rock bottom a voice reached his ears, his own voice.

"I will make them pay Boran, trust me."

Remembering those words, many things came rushing back to him and together with the rage inside of his heart a beaming red light returned to his eyes.

With an earth shattering roar Makoto swung his blade around himself, more than 15 windows showed themselves in front of him with one explaining what he had just experienced for all this time.

You have successfully broken free of the status effect 'Illusion'!

His surroundings immediately became clear.

He was inside a gigantic room, morbid chandeliers made from Human bones hung from the ceiling.

All around him was a crowd of red cloaked Priests, stairs at the back of the room led up to a podium with another altar on it.

This one was a lot bigger than all the others and beside it stood a man with an expensive looking red robe, all kinds of gold ornaments adorned the robe showing that he was definitely the leader and in his hands was a scepter, made entirely out of red and bleeding flesh.

The letters floating above this man only confirmed Makoto's suspicions.

Blood Moon Church Cardinal: Elite NPC lvl 20

Makoto could guess that the Illusion he had been put under was the Cardinal's work.

But before he could even look at the man properly, the many Cultists currently around him drew his attention.

Desperately jumping right and left, Makoto tried to bide for a bit more time to let his dangerously low health regenerate to a moderate amount while attacking from time to time.

He had no recollection of even entering this gigantic room but he also did not remember even receiving the 'Illusion' status effect so it didn't really surprise him that he could not remember how he got here.

There was an incredible amount of hooded believers congregating all around him, a mass of bodies stabbing, clawing and biting for every inch of his body that they could reach.

Unable to break free from the ring around him, Makoto started spinning on his heels while attacking everything around him but naturally these NPCs were not stupid like a horde of monsters and simply waited until he was not attacking like that anymore.

Slightly dizzy he noticed that his 'Blood Rejuvenation' was able to catch up and had brought his health back up to 40% again, he now felt a lot more save in trading blows.

Blood splattered all around him as his sword was enchanted with 'Curse Blade' from time to time.

One thing that was left behind from the Illusion he had been put under was the question if he really was so different than these Cultists.

Naturally he was aware again why he did what he did but he was not so sure anymore about the need to torture every enemy he met.

Makoto realized that he had gone a bit too far with his actions.

In the end he decided to occasionally, when he was in a bad mood for example, play with his prey but otherwise only torture the responsible ones, like the Cardinal standing beside the altar for example.

Happy about having a clear conscience again, a smile could be seen on Makoto's lips and with an exhilarating feeling coming from his hand he cut apart flesh, tendons and bones while being bathed in a warm shower of blood.

One could argue that his actions led to a questionable state of mind or even morals but this all happened in a game so why would Makoto even care?

Slowly but surely he was able to thin out the sheer endless rows of Priests all around him.

Multiple times he was extremely close to dying but his Skills and awareness luckily saved him from such a fate.

After activating his 'Aura of the Beast' for about 10 seconds to dispose of the last few remaining Priests, Makoto turned towards the man holding the Scepter of flesh, until now he had not even moved an inch to save his fellow believers.

The man had deep blue eyes and brown hair that was partially hidden in the red hood of his cloak.

A look of amusement could be seen on the Cardinal's face as he watched Makoto walk towards him.

"I see you have finished off the last of my brothers. Now tell me, why have you come here Makoto?

Why do you go against us even though we have never done anything to receive your wrath?"

"So issuing a bounty on my head is not something I should be pissed about?"

The Cardinal chuckled at Makoto's words.

"And disrupting a sacred Ritual and nearly killing every single one of the people conducting it is something that I should just dismiss?

You offended the Blood Moon Church first, my question to you is simply why."

"Did it ever occur to you oh great Cardinal of the Blood Moon Church that what you are doing is wrong?

That there is nothing sacred about killing innocent people, no matter if they are men or women but even going as far as taking the lives of children is simply put, fucked up.

Is that not enough reason?"

Anger flared on the Cardinal's face for the first time during their talk.

"But attacking and killing so many of my brothers and sisters just because you think it is wrong without even knowing our cause?! I think that is the true wrong done here!"

The man shouted while slamming his Scepter on the stone ground.

"Let me tell you foreigner what you are so very close to destroying in your ignorance!

I created this Cult because I saw the wars between the countries, the suffering of the people and my own.

Then, one glorious day the divine being Ezavaris, also known as the Blood God, spoke to me.

He told me that he could give me the power to stop all the fighting, end this suffering mankind and so many other races had to endure.

But he himself needed Power in this realm, there was a need for human sacrifices for the greater good! How could I refuse such a promise for a better future?!

I know the names of everyone who died, know the noble sacrifice they have given to this great cause!

And here you come after we nearly achieved the eternal dream of peace and you try to destroy it all, the Blood God is not happy foreigner!

We are doing this world a favor!"

The Cardinal spat out the last few words together with a mouthful of his own saliva.

A somewhat crazed look was visible in his eyes and one of his cheeks was twitching from time to time.

Makoto just stared at the man for a while and then let out a long sigh.

"Before I end your life you stupid son of a bitch let me ask you this, Cardinal.

Did it ever occur to you that a Blood God who needs human sacrifices could only bring disaster? Or that he could have simply lied to get you to do his evil bidding?"

The man seemed stunned for a few seconds, mindless rage quickly showed on his face.

"How dare you question our savior the Blood God's intentions, die you filthy heretic!"

Shouting and swinging his Scepter left and right, the crazed Cardinal ran towards Makoto.

"Kind of figured arguing with you would be pointless."

Makoto said to himself and got ready to fight against his first Elite NPC.

Wielding his sword with both hands, Makoto deflected the Scepter of flesh and stepped forward to let his blade have a taste of fresh blood but to his own surprise the Cardinal was quicker.

The top of the fleshy Scepter hit Makoto on the side of his head and another swing into his gut made him buckle down.

You have received 256 Damage!

You have received 341 Damage!

On top of receiving quite a good bit of Damage from these two fast hits, every time this strange Scepter hit him, it felt like a fog went through his mind, slowing down his thoughts and actions, dousing the fire of rage that burned inside of him and making him question the need to even fight back.

Rolling to the side and shaking his head a few times, Makoto was able to get rid of the creeping 'Illusion' that tried to bend his will just like before.

"Note to self, getting hit by that Scepter is bad news."

Something else he noticed was that actually hitting the Cardinal was incredibly difficult, not only was the man quick on his feet but had a unique fighting style which made predicting his next move practically impossible, on top of already having high Intelligence and not relying on a fixed pattern.

Makoto jumped to the side and was able to inflict some damage together with a 'Curse Blade'.

After fighting the Cardinal for a good minute or so, Makoto got a bit more confident as he slowly got used to his enemy's movements.

This confidence was quickly shattered with his opponents next move.

"Vile foreigner! I see that you have a strange technique that allows your health to replenish at an incredible rate, let me take that from you!

Holy Light!"

Makoto was wrapped in a blinding light and right away a new message appeared before him.

You have received a status effect!

Blighted: -75% to all regen until the fight is finished.

With wide eyes Makoto immediately knew that this status effect alone was the Kryptonite to his entire fighting style.

He normally would give his opponent a few status effects while evading or simply outhealing attacks that hit him, his class was built for a longer fight and his Skills existed to turn the tide in his favor with an extended battle.

But burst Damage or this status effect removed a possibly long fight from the beginning.

This was a serious issue for Makoto and worry filled him.

That was the big difference between Monsters and NPCs, the former might have higher physical prowess but the later had incredible intelligence, did not rely on patterns and on top of that could use Skills, depending on the NPCs level and status.

Makoto did not have to think long to know which one was the more terrifying.

Swearing the entire time as if it was a chant that would save his life, Makoto tried even harder to evade any and all attacks but was therefore not able to counterattack.

The Cardinal's health had only taken a little damage, he was still over 80% while Makoto was struggling with barely 50% and a greatly reduced healing effect from being 'Blighted'.

In the end Makoto decided to go all out, he had no other choice as there was just no way for him to properly dodge every single attack to begin with.

With little care to how much Damage he took, Makoto pulled out all the stops, he used 'Aura of the Beast', 'Curse Blade' and trusted his 'Blood Rejuvenation' to take care of the rest while letting off a barrage of attacks on the Cardinal.

In the beginning of his onslaught the man still tried to hit back but the continued attacks to his vital areas while Makoto completely disregarded his own defense made the Cardinal hesitate and he blocked more and more.

Without letting up one bit, Makoto kept swinging right and left, up and down.

How the flesh Scepter had not been chopped in half yet was a mystery to Makoto but he did not care.

He kept on attacking until his entire Mana pool ran dry and even then he still kept at it, purely with willpower he forced his tired arms for yet another slash, stab or cut.

Breathing heavily and his arms feeling like lead weights, Makoto's attack speed finally slowed enough for the Cardinal to push him away with an angry shout.

Makoto had no idea how long he had actually attacked for but the man before him was in pretty bad shape.

Countless cuts were visible on the Cardinal's face and his entire robe was in tatters.

One look at the health bar above his opponent made Makoto smile.

18% health left

Sadly his arms would not listen to his command, he could not even feel the hand that was holding his sword but he didn't care.

Makoto would kill the Cardinal, no matter the cost.

Letting out a scream of agony and rage, Makoto strained every single muscle fiber in his arms and while twitching all over he was able to grab his sword with both hands and held it out in front of himself.

If he killed this man before him, he would end all of this madness.

Another roar escaped his mouth and with blazing eyes he ran forward and rammed his sword into the Cardinal's body.

Twisting and turning the blade inside the wound, window after window appeared before him but he had no intention of letting up and jumped after the retreating Cardinal that tried to dislodge the blade that was stuck inside his body himself.

"You swine! Illusion strike!"

The other man shouted in his ear while starting to club him over the head again and again and Makoto continued to stab and twist his blade inside the Cardinal's body.

Just like that, both men stood there, without evading at all and just mindlessly killing each other.

Soon enough Makoto felt the strange effect from the Scepter again and had to muster up all of his willpower to continuously push the lethargy away.

His health reached the last few percent at the same time as the Cardinal's.

Makoto could feel his hands grow weak but somewhere, deep inside of him, at the mad and bloodthirsty core of his, he found the strength to twist his blade one more time and with a disgusting gurgle, the Cardinal broke down, a surprised expression visible on his face.

Breathing heavily, Makoto saw that he was only 20 or so hp away from death but now that the fight was over his 'Blood Rejuvenation' healed him back to full in record time.

With his entire body aching all over, he stepped away with trembling knees.

To his own surprise he saw that he had yet again gained a level and distributed his stats.

A sudden system window appeared before him after he was finished together with some music that seemed to come out of nowhere.

For destroying a Cult with an 'Evil' Alignment singlehandedly, your own Alignment has changed from 'Neutral' to 'Good'.

Quest complete!

For completing the Quest you have received the 'Blood Cult Gauntlets'.

Interested, Makoto opened his Inventory and inspected the new gear.

Blood Cult Gauntlets:Crafted for the highest order of an already destroyed cult, these gauntlets are rumored to have been bathed in the blood of the Blood God himself, giving it's wearer incredible power as well as protection.Defense:20Vitality:10Special Option:Once per day you can put the buff 'Nightmare Manifestation' on yourself.Nightmare Manifestation:+90% chance to put the 'fear' effect on your opponents, +30% increased 'fear' effectiveness.

Duration: 2 Minutes.Durability:50/50Requirements:Level 20.

This was an insanely good pair of Gauntlets.

He sadly couldn't use them yet but the option of being able to buff yourself from an Equipment seemed incredibly overpowered, even if he could only do it once per day.

Well, what did he expect from a Quest that actually showed that it had a difficulty rating.

Makoto naturally checked the Cardinal and all the other dead believers for loot before leaving.

Luckily, the Cardinal himself had dropped a piece of equipment too but Makoto was sadly unable to use it.

Darkblood Wand:A Magic wand, crafted and soaked in sacred blood during a secret Ritual.

Although the cult that crafted this item does not exist anymore, it's prowess is clearly visible with this formidable magic weapon.Damage:46 - 54Durability:35/35Special Option:Increases casting speed of spells by 5%.Requirements:Level 15, Magic oriented class.

Putting everything of value in his inventory, Makoto could feel a bit of regret when he looked at the Cardinal.

In a way this whole incident had been a kind of closure for Makoto, closure for being too late once and indirectly being responsible for the tragedy that happened in Shivercliff...

The Cardinal really had not suffered enough... but sadly he was already dead.

Disappointed over losing such a good opportunity to perform a few interesting ideas he h- I mean, to carry out justice, Makoto kicked the Blood Cult leaders body once more and turned to leave the underground area.

A mountain of corpses was all that was left behind down here and with a bright smile plastered all over his face, Makoto made his way back up to Talis.

.....

"Are you really going boy?"

Dio asked and looked at Makoto one last time.

He only nodded and smiled at the Merchant.

"Don't worry, I'm only going to the Capital, I won't be gone forever.

It is my duty to make sure that you don't get too rich when I'm not here after all."

Laughing while waving the grumpy Dio goodbye, Makoto walked down the main road leading straight to the stone bridge.

It was time for him to see the Labyrinth City of Asuria, Elisante!

With a grin on his face and his blood red eyes blazing for further battle and carnage, Makoto left the Marine City.

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Back to Main Page

And with that the double Chapter and Volume 1 concludes!

Hope you all enjoyed and sorry for it being a bit more than a few hours, fell asleep on the couch. :D

Anyways, I'm gonna see if I can press out the first chapter of Volume 2 and hopefully will see you all tomorrow.

Soooooooo tired but the show must go on! :goodjob:

BTW

My story officially crossed the 50k word mark with this chapter, that is like half of an average fantasy novel you buy in a store done in 2 weeks!

HAIL ME!!! :D