Lord Joyde The Madman: Heylo, everybody! How are you all doing?

I should be asleep.

But I can't sleep, this chapter has been bugging me ever since its startup came to mind.

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

Three hours later... - The Training Grounds - Rhean's Point Of View...

So after spending a good three hours looking around for Yomi I've officially given up.

Wherever she had gone, she'll hopefully find her way to me on her own. Anyways, during my vain attempt at finding her, I got bored enough to look through my inventory to find that even if I've received some loot from beating Tevog, I didn't have my Exhuril.

I can only hope that someone from my guild got it, or one of my Ascended npcs. If so, then its most likely to be Charles, my probably-soon-to-be-a-failure general.

Walking into the training grounds proved to be a massive shock, not to me but everyone else present as the soldiers in training and nearby players all suddenly stopped still, almost as if expecting me to cook up a makeshift boot camp for no reason. I tiled my head in confusion."What."

More of a statement than a question, but it worked as Charles himself walked out of the crowd with a hand lamely scratching the back of his head."Uhh, its really nothing sire just that.. well, we have been speaking of the devil, as you Destined One's usually say in these situations."

Ah, they were talking about me, I get it. Shrugging at him, I reply with a massive sigh."Well if you were talking about me and I've just decided to barge in at that very moment, then there must be a good reason for it... So what's up?"

Charles nods before taking out the currently standard issue combat training manual and handing it to me before turning around towards a squire."Soldier! Go into the armory and bring our Lords weapon."

The boy salutes us both and runs off without another word as the general turns back towards me."Sire, I'm sorry for the inconvenience but could you help me learn and then teach a certain batch of skills from the manual? While I did manage to translate most of it, the techniques contained within are sometimes beyond my capabilities, although I am sure that you would have no problem with them."

Nodding at the general, I say."Sure, I could teach you... but it depends on the ability set itself. If its one of the high tiered skills then not even I can replicate them as my old body was much stronger than the current one I bear."

Blinking, he replies."It is a set of skills that once belonged to your Imperial Captains, so I'm sure that its nothing that hard."

"You'd be surprised what mere captains are capable of when they belong to an army which conquered an entire continent and threatened the world." I say with disinterest as I open the manual in my hand.

At first, I see a set of runic and otherwise Norse-like symbols, all dyed a crimson red, detailing one of the paths to power an Imperial Captain of my former Empire might have taken in order to advance in rank. You see, with so many ways to attain power existing in this world, I saw no need to limit it to the usual sword/magic skills. So long as someone brought a balance of power, skill and intelligence to the table, they were capable of advancement. Although, I never really liked the so-called Armchair Commanders.

Sitting in a comfortable chair and issuing commands while your soldiers are fighting a battle, weather a losing or winning one, is bad for morale.

This particular path, is called the Road Of Discord.

... I've never learned the skills of this one myself, but I do know what it was about. It was a class of soldier which served to sow panic among enemy lines, creating allies out of enemies by forcing them to doubt and question their allies alignments and goals.

Imagine a massive shield-bearer, charging into a squadron of soldiers, dressed in crimson plate with a wicked, serrated blade in hand. Looks terrifying just imagining it if you are that persons enemy, kinda cool otherwise, but the real power behind the person is the magic he must master to be effective. While heavy armor, shields and weaponry are all well and good, those who follow the Road Of Discord use chaos magic to mind-control the enemy, causing them to panic, to doubt, to question themselves and their allies at the worst time.

A single blocked blow, usually just a prompt to further assault, will instead usher a question about ones own strength.

The second blocked blow, a smirk as the enemy is surely experiencing pain in their shield-arm, now a cause for panic, rabid turning of the head in an effort to find a way out.

Third time the blow is blocked, a full blown grin as the enemy's shield falls to the ground, turned into an utter surrender or betrayal of everything the soldier stood for beforehand.

Your innate understanding of The Road Of Discord has granted you access to one of its core powers; Beacon Of Doubt! Beacon of Doubt - activates a slowly building aura(+0.5/5s) of doubt around the user which increases in strength depending on the users status.

Upon Activation, all enemies gain a white bar below their heath bar which indicates how much Doubt(0-100) they have and how close they are to panic. Note; being with strong willpower can easily negate the effect entirely. Every time you successfully defend = +5 Doubt Every time you live after a critical blow = +25 Doubt Every time you execute an enemy = +10 Doubt Note that every enemy within the ability radius (20yrds) will increase maximum Doubt by 5.

And now I regret never getting this before. While it would be utterly useless for most PVE scenarios, this would be a heavenly trick to have on any battleground. Granted, the amount of enemies increases the amount of Doubt necessary but I'm pretty good at executing people so yeah.

"S-sir! I've brought your weapon, milord!" The solider boy who ran off before brought me my Exhuril.

Nodding at him, I take the Dragon Glaive into my hands and walk towards an empty area within the courtyard. Taking a fighting stance, I raise Exhuril into the air and spin it around before stabbing its non-bladed end into the ground, cracking it in the process.

Immediately, I feel my new aura-type ability activate as swathes of crimson energy fly around me and I close my eyes."Charles, come closer to me. You too, initiate!"

Throwing a look towards each other, they approach me. Charles blinks as he enters my aura's field but nothing much changes... the initiate however, falls onto his ass as soon as he enters the radius."W-WHOAH!"

I give him a curious glance."Interesting... you've felt danger from my new aura before you were even truly affected by it. Good on you, initiate."

"T-t-thank you, sir..." He says in confusion as he picks himself up from the ground."There's an aura around you?" Charles asks as he looks around in confusion and I sigh."The powers you want me to teach you won't work on those with a strong mind as they effect only those without enough confidence to repel the mind-warping magic."

"So I can't see anything because I'm immune?" He asks with confusion of his own as I shrug and turn towards the initiate."Soldier, do you see the wisps of crimson energy dancing around in the air around me?"

He shakes his head in a predictable negative. After all, there wouldn't be much use to an aura-ability if the enemy could actually see its radius or activation effect. I nod towards the boy."Good."

Turning towards the general, I say."I can't teach you this power, General. You must posses the right state of mind for it to activate... I do believe our Initiate here has what it takes, though."

The boy gulps."W-what makes you think that, sir?"

"You have the eyes of someone who knows what's it like to doubt yourself and the abilities of those around you. It is why you've joined the army, correct?" The soldier blinks in surprise as he clutches his heart and nods in defeat."Y-yes.. I can't rely on other people as much as I used to anymore... I'm too old for that... but I admit, I am a pampered child, so I do not think my own abilities are enough."

"Good, because that is exactly what it would take to awaken this power inside of you... Now open up your manual and read the pages portraying the Road Of Discord, let us see if you can put your understanding of Doubt and fear to good use." Nodding at me, the boy then opens up the manual and begins reading the same runes I've read just beforehand, his eyes glowing with inner understanding as the entire compound stares at him in curiosity and bated breath.

Well, mostly all of the compound. I turned around and re-opened the manual because there has to be more to the road than just an aura.

I turn toward the next page of The Road Of Discord.

A stunningly beautiful and detailed set of images appears on the next page, one portraying a warrior with a steel claymore. He readies it for a strike and the enemy raises his shield upward to defend, but the blow does not come as expected. Instead the warrior pulls his blade back and channels chaos through it, making the blade glow an ominous crimson red.

The enemy lowers his shield with a questioning gaze just in time to receive a glancing blow from the warriors sword, the crimson energy leaving the blade and entering the enemy's head unseen. The Warrior smiles and takes a step back, eliciting a raised eyebrow from his opponent.

Suddenly, another enemy charges from the front with their blade raised and the warriors smile turns into a bloodthirsty grin as he simply waits in silence. His opponent shivers for seemingly no reason as he turns towards his charging ally with wide eyes, questioning, doubting...

Is that person really their ally? What if that raised blade is not for the Warrior but for their own neck... it would be so easy for the charging one to simply push his sword through them and not the warrior.

And so, the opponent screams out in undiluted rage, cleanly severing off his charging ally's head with a singular blow... and as the crimson shower of blood strikes against his face, the opponent wakes from his haze, takes one look at his now headless friend... and falls to his knees.

The Warrior is laughing now, as he lowers his head to whisper into the opponents ear."Its all your fault."

Your innate understanding of The Road Of Discord has granted you access to one of its core powers; Discord Strike! Discord Strike - empowers the users next attack with chaos magic, causing it to deal no physical damage, but confuse the enemy and invoke an effect depending on the amount of Doubt gathered (10s cooldown). 0-20 Doubt = +10 Doubt 20-50 Doubt = temporarily paralyzes the target 50-70 Doubt = reveals target weaknesses 80 Doubt = fears the target 90 Doubt = target goes berserk 100 Doubt = Causes Target Suicide

Blinking at apparently nothing, I feel myself grin at turn around towards the nearest soldier."You there, with the shield! Come."

The soldier in question shrugs and obeys my command. Once he is close enough, I explain."Ready your shield, soldier. I need you to receive a blow from me. Don't worry, I'll hit your shield so no harm will be done to you physically but I need you to explain it as best you can how you feel afterwards, got it?"

With another shrug, he nods and raises his shield up, putting as much strength as he can into his block."Whenever you are ready, sire."

Cracking my fingers, I prepare myself into a stance and channel crimson energy into my weapon as I close my eyes and feel it filling..."NOW!" I hear myself exclaim as I re-open my eyes and strike against the shield of my soldier who manages to hold his ground, even as his arm trembles from the blow..."Strange... I seem to have done it wrong?"

The soldier blinks and grunts in pain as I approach him."Wait, let me see your shield." I say as I take the shield off his hand and finally notice that it looks as if someone burned the area struck. Shaking my head for a moment, I turn towards the soldier and notice the new-burn on his shield-arm.

I didn't do it wrong... the strike deals no *physical* damage, but my weapon... as well as most of my abilities, deal some form of non-physical damage. Good to know that applies to the empowered blow."Lets get that gauntlet off."

Taking of the still-grunting soldiers gauntlet, I promptly decide to try out Zrell's healing lightning on my current guinea pig. Crimson thunder dances across my right hand as my left holds his arm up and I close my eyes to focus and think.

Normally, the alchemical thunder and only forcefully reform/dismantle physical matter, but perhaps it can create it too?

With this thought in mind, I focus the magic in my hands towards replacing the burnt flesh with new, healed and untouched skin and meat. Lightning strikes the soldiers arm."ARGH!" He bites back a scream as I watch his flesh re-form out of nothing, but note the massive drain of my mana as his wound is fully healed.

"Fascinating..." I mutter out as I let go of his hand and ask."Well? Did you manage to capture your thoughts through the pain or not?"

He swallows hard before standing up from his kneeling position and nods."I am not entirely sure if this is what you mean but... as you struck my shield, I suddenly thought that there was no way I could take another blow like that... thing is, I already knew that beforehand... so why the hell did it pop into my mind for no reason?"

He asks in confusion as I nod toward him."Yes, that is exactly what I needed to hear. Although, the damage done to you wasn't in my plan, the experiment was a success. The strike you just received was empowered by chaos magic, made to infuse your mind with self-doubt where there was none beforehand."

An oh sound is my reply as his eyes grow wide and he nods before saluting me and quietly making his way toward the armory, most likely going to get another shield as I broke his current one.

"Uhh, milord? Could I ask you something?" Charles suddenly appears behind me with a question and I shrug at him."Of course, Charles. What is it?"

"W-well, you said that for one to activate this power, they need to know self-doubt and fear... I don't think you have much of either, so how can you do it?" He asks me with a tilted head and I let out a laugh.

With another breath, I reply."Knowing self-doubt and fear is not the only way to activate this power... for instance, knowing what would cause doubt and fear, both in yourself and others, is what truly gives this power. I know what I fear... and I know that others fear me."

I fear nothing. Yet I also fear what others fear.

That's right, I'm terrified of myself. Just imagining having myself as an enemy... both in real life and in game... I really have no idea what the hell I would do if my own shadow came running toward me.

Anything else is equal prey.

Strange? I disagree. Everyone's greatest enemy is their own Hubris... I just have a different way of wording it, is all.

The general nods, faking understanding as he bows."I see... very well then... the initiate you've ordered to read the pages has managed to activate the powers so I shall have him seek out those who can use it. I shan't keep you anymore, milord."

Don't mind me guys and girls! I'm just a line break...

And that is it for this not-originally-intended chapter of EUPHORIA!

I sincerely hope that you've enjoyed it either way. See you soon with the next updates!

Anyways, read and review! And Good Morning/Day/Night to you all! ADIOS FOR NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

19/08/2016 03:41:33EastTuna Wrote: [ -> ]Interesting idea for a skill--style?

wot de fuq?

why is your reply on top of the chapter? LOL