A low humming filled the dark hall as the monstrosity turned to face him, massive in form yet it made not a sound as it turned.

“I’ll bring forth my own apocalypse. Starting, with your pet!” Vali exclaimed in a hiss, coiling his tail beneath himself as he prepared each weapon he held.

He watched as a misty black smoke entered the monster’s maw, and a familiar voice then spoke from within it. “Then prepare yourself to die, after which, you will be resurrected as the same existence as the minions you’ve been slaughtering!” Krakt bellowed, and the doors suddenly shut closed behind Vali.

The lights of blue covering the monster which lit the dark hall, all flickered off.

Leaving him in utter darkness.

But surrounded by darkness, is where he did his best work.

Immediately he leaped forth with [Coiled Leap], soaring through the air before meeting one of the monster’s legs, arching his weapons down upon it he expected to slice it clean off.

Then suddenly the monster moved, speed beyond what his eyes were capable of following, the enemy disappeared from his sight.

Landing awkwardly, Vali turned to meet his opponent once more, finding it running circles around him but not yet at the full speed he had just witnessed.

“Realised it have you? You’re alone, you’re one foolish creature against a Lich of my power controlling an ultimate beast of my own creation.” Krakt explained with great amusement in his tone. “You could be so great, you have so much potential. Today you go to waste, and it is a shame, but alas…”

The beast suddenly stopped the encircling.

“You have made your choice!”

The monstrosity charged, maw wide open as it belched forth azure flames, it barrelled towards him.

“You’re right. I am a fool, I am fighting against many odds. I did make my choice but…You are also wrong.” Vali mused, his previously calm expression breaking into an unsure smile, Vali grinned at just how mad this all seemed.

As it charged, the beast’s speed seemed to still be restrained, Vali did not know why this was but still he was thankful.

As it gave him time.

“I’m not alone.” Vali said, his smile breaking into a grimace, as pain shot through his mind.

His form then began falling apart, as green and red light cracked through his scales.

The horror was halfway from either burning him to a crisp or trampling over him now, as Vali’s form shifted.

Returning to the dark-skinned, long-eared Elf of before.

No tail, no claws, only two arms.

Even his four weapons dissipated as they hit the floor, all but Nova, who returned to her serpentine form.

“What…the actual fuck are you doing!? What? What! What!?” Kaine asked himself as fury briefly filled his expression.

“Calm down,” He then told himself, returning to standing straight and facing the charging monster, who now paused its charge.

Damn that guy was dramatic though.

Confused at the sight, the dreadnaught looked on at his changed form. “What…Hah, do you perhaps surrender then!?” Krakt asked.

“Surrender?” Jor laughed at the thought, “No, I’m just smarter than the other two. I know rushing in alone, in a bloody rage, even with multiple swords in my hands…It won’t get me anywhere. I’m going all out. No longer holding back in learning skills to get exactly the ones I want. No longer holding back gaining experience to remain in level with my party. I know what I must do now.”

Jor summoned forth a dagger from his inventory, a rusty blade he had recovered from the many slaughtered undead.

“Nova.” He called out to the demon and it flew into his free arm, coiling around it and storing its wings back along its body.

Suddenly Jor grasped the serpent by its head, holding it tight so it did not move.

The demon met his eyes, confused at the gesture, “Master?” it asked.

“I am not your master.” Jor replied, “She is, and as Kaine said before, I’m nobody’s puppet.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” The demon mistress hissed through her minion, a voice so vile it even made Krakt step back from surprise.

“I already have a demon inside me, remember?” Jor said with a wide smirk, “I don’t need you anymore.”

“No you…I off-” The demon tried to say, but it was too late.

Nova’s small body couldn’t escape, as Jor drove the dagger into her head, spilling green blood all over it.

The serpent struggled and struggled as the blade dug into its flesh, trying even to crush Jor’s arm with its coiled body.

But alas it was all for nought, as Nova’s body then fell limp.

“No matter what that was…which spoke through it, but why…Why did you just kill your own familiar?” Krakt asked, at the limit of his confusion.

Jor simply smiled and dropped the corpse, the demonic body dissipating into ash when it hit the floor.

Your familiar [Nova] has been killed!

“Because, this game…this world is merciless.” It wasn’t Jor who spoke now, neither was it Nidhogg.

Krakt had kept tabs on his prey’s different personalities so he knew.

He knew it was neither he faced now.

You have mercilessly killed {Familiar} {Hellbat Cobra} Nova [Level 19]

Martial Experience gained 920/900

It was Kaine, and Kaine knew that this game he lay trapped in used the same experience gain system as the old one.

Which, he knew better than the back of his very numb hand.

Level up!

Martial Level 14 reached!

+1 to all Martial stats.

3 Neutral Martial Points available for distribution!

Total level 20 milestone reached!

Second {Racial} passive upgrade now available through the {Skills Scroll} window!

{Racial} path change available through the {Skills Scroll} window!

“Hah, you crazy fucking fool, I would’ve never thought of that.” Jor mused, before Kaine once more took over. An awkward pause followed, as the two personalities fell at a loss for words.

We can fucking talk later! We’re kinda busy now! Just a bit. Just a lot! A LOT? A LOT! A LOT!?

The voice of Nidhogg surprisingly screamed reason through them, snapping them both out of their daze.

“Alas it doesn’t matter what you do and which ego I face.” Krakt then grumbled, as azure flames once more began belching out of the dreadnaught’s maw. “I’ll burn each of you once I burn that mortal form!”

“Well, I guess I’ll give you the floor.” Jor mused, “Nobody’s watching, so don’t freeze up on us again, aight?” He told himself.

“Hah…” Kaine sighed, watching as the monster he was facing prepared to continue its charge, “We have a lot to talk about, all three of us, but before that…”

He opened up his skills scroll menu, gazing at the four choices laid before him.

{Darkness}

Lord of the Dark, you see all, and they see naught. Mastery over the control of negative energies. The capability of wide range magical prowess alongside vile and disruptive curses. Behold the primal strength of Darkness.

{Shadow}

Adopted to the path of shadow, you are as silent as death and unseen as beneath a veil of darkness. Nothing escapes your grasp, nothing hides from your sight. Become the Shadow as your enemies can only guess at your position, as each attack sent your way is a mere possibility of landing.

{Demonic}

Destructive forces course through your veins as you make your very body your weapon. Unstoppable before the physical, no wall or shield shall withstand your monstrous blows. With the ability to imbue the Demonic into materials and objects, its power upon you is also two-fold the effect.

Looking on at the first three, the choices were obvious to Kaine.

Nidhogg would’ve remained Demonic, as he kept repeating in a mental whisper.

Shadow, was right up Jor’s alley.

But none of those would help with their current predicament, not raw strength and neither evasiveness.

No Kaine wanted both and more, knowing exactly which would give him that.

A choice that lay empty before, as he hadn’t encountered it enough yet.

But now, he faced a Lich and its pet.

{Undeath}

Immortal in mind and body, your unholy magic lays dread and horror upon all who face you. An apocalypse in the making, you lay waste to life and in return gaining unlife. Imbuing yourself and others at a costly price, with immortality. If it’s not living, it’s undead.

Therefore the choice was readily available.

“First, I guess, we shall fight fire with fire.” Kaine mused.