Talia grinned wickedly “Nature’s wrath!” the crimson fire quickly formed at her palm.

“Wait!” a fire engulfed blade slashed the channelling fire apart “You aren’t supposed to kill him remember?” Karnage reminded her then turned to glare at the golem.

“Oh I was only helping him get out.” Talia replied with a smirk, she turned to her left and saw more adventurers coming their way “You’re really screwed now, the blockade has returned.”

“Kyll-ix…come out.” Karnage asked solemnly.

“The carriage has been spotted! It’s already over the wall!” Zaahr reported as she blinked into existence next to them frightening Talia.

“Teleportation?” Talia mused as she re inspected her.

“Mindy let it be, we’re in the middle of a warzone right now.” Zaahr whispered to her friend and nudged Karnage out of her daze, Talia was completely ignored.

Karnage tightened her grip on the swords “H-They played us, right till the end. I can’t, I won’t let this go. Kyllix come the fuck out or I’m carving my way in!”

“I can help with that.” Offered Luke as he and the other adventurers walked over, some mages began to chant paralysis spells as they approached.

A chilling laughter emanated from the golem, slowly Kyle calmed himself down and spoke proper “Oh please excuse me, I’m still hung up over what miss hero was just saying.” He laughed a bit more “Yes Karnage we did indeed play every single one of you and you have nobody else but yourselves to blame for falling for it all!”

Karnage slammed her foot onto the golem’s surface causing a small burst of fire “Why don’t you come out and say that to my face you slimy bastard!?” fury briefly flashed through her before being replaced by regret.

Zaahr held her friend back by the shoulders “You and your guild, you’re all awful. Murderers, thieves and conmen.”

Kyle chuckled once more “Murderers? Who exactly did we leave for dead? Thieves? What have we stolen that we did not earn? Show me proof. Conmen? You know we’re not all men in the guild, right?”

“Abusing the system doesn’t make you any better, you lied to everyone and used everyone for your own damn gain!” Karnage lashed out again with a second kick “Why? Why did you do all that? Why did you side with the monsters? Are you really just that cold hearted!?”

Talia smirked as she watched the show from the sidelines “You tell him.”

Kyle only laughed louder “Oh so that’s what it’s all about! You’re really just pissed at me aren’t you? What do you want from me? An apology for not returning your feelings?” he asked in a mocking tone.

Karnage couldn’t reply, she stared at the golem’s surface baffled.

Zaahr pulled her back and out of the way then raised both hands towards the golem, hatred her only expression “Final Arcanium.” Raw mana flowed around her arms, a mix of every element and mana type permeating the air around her. The mana mixed and merged into a sphere of the deepest black, white lightning surged all around it causing Zaahr to wince from the spell’s backlash.

Talia rushed to Zaahr’s side wearing a weak smile “Hey hey don’t kill him…Calm do-”

“Don’t care, fuck off.” Zaahr replied frigidly.

“Heh?” was all Talia could answer with as the black sphere of raw mana grew to a meter width and shot forwards, it ate through the golem’s slime as if it wasn’t even there.

Talia stared at the perfect hole the spell made warily (“No way he survived that…”)

Suddenly the golem’s surface began to glow a bright blue as the entire thing began to shatter.

“Take cover!” Shouted Luke as everyone turned to run for it.

Screams of pain and the tearing of flesh and bone filled the forest as a second golem shredded through their backline, it was also glowing a bright blue.

Zaahr grabbed the confused Karnage and hugged her tightly “Arcane barrier!” she chanted and a pitch black sphere formed around them. No light or sound crossed the barrier as moments later cracks formed on it’s surface, the ground beneath them shuddered violently for a few moments.

As the quaking ended she released the barrier and fell down to her knees breathing heavily from her overuse of mana. Karnage dropped down with her “Lena?” she held her friend and helped her back up.

All around them the snow had been blasted away, in it’s place were two craters covered in frost and shrapnel. Gore covered what the frost did and didn’t, blood, flesh, limbs and other body parts lay scattered and either covered in frost, frozen shrapnel or both. Where the golems once lay only a single cracked shell poked out of the ground, Karnage then realised it wasn’t part of either golem as it flowed open like liquid.

Kyle emerged from the hole, he had protected himself from the blast by pushing his body underground and creating a barrier of his most resistant slimes around himself. He glanced back at them causing surprise to show on his face “You survived that?” he looked away as his expression turned to a grimace.

Karnage was about to charge him but then noticed Zaahr had lost consciousness as she held onto her, she looked back up at him “You…you…”

Kyle snorted “You what? Murderer?...Villain?...Abomination?...Monster? I’ve heard it all before, keep your thoughts to yourself.” He moved to dash away.

“Wait!” Karnage shouted out causing him to stop in his tracks, she glanced down at Zaahr and bit her lower lip. Moving her friend over her shoulder she lifted her up and looked him in the eye as he briefly glanced back, his expression had returned to the usual emotionless façade “Why are you like this? I cannot believe for a moment that you’re just this damn horrible!”.

Kyle shrugged “Perspective, just what is horrible about any of this? We’re running away from a crazy goddess with real mental issues.”

“You’re leaving billions to die as you kill hundreds yourself!” she retorted.

“Again, it’s all perspective. They didn’t actually die, just taken out of commission. As for us siding with the Dezol? We’re simply picking the better faction.” He replied and began to walk away.

“Stronger you mean, you’re picking survival. You’re picking what suits you best, do you really not care about these people at all? You’re really a monster if you side with those demons.” Karnage answered bitterly.

Kyle stopped again, his fists had clenched briefly as he turned around and fully face them “So what?! What have these bastards shown us other than weakness, corruption and fanatics!?” for the first time his act had completely fallen apart. “The two lead churches work with poison and doctrine! The royal family employs mercenaries to do their dirty work while the people suffer, the sheer amount of people living in the slums compared to the nobility…

They simply play the God’s games! Willing to sacrifice us of another world to protect themselves! Cowards who hide behind their ‘Deities’ and ‘Heroes’! They can barely do anything themselves! Draxxer and Rin are just the fucking same too! Broken and depressed by their fucking failures! Then there is the new ‘Heroes’” he chuckled wickedly “Some no balls high born hiding behind his own guild. Some hypocrite bitch acting as the saviour of all!

What do we know about the Devils? What do we know about Demons other than their hideous appearance? Yeah they fucking took over a whole kingdom killing who knows how many! So did us humans, we did much fucking worse back home. Why else is Earth a barren wasteland now? Why else are the Mars colonies a fucking dictatorship?”

Kyle groaned in frustration “All the Devils have shown us so far is how smart they are, their pride, their strength. They stand in there completely cut off from the rest of their forces yet they stay, they haven’t surrendered and lasted for over forty years! If that isn’t commendable then I don’t know what is! Can you truly say we’re better than them? That THIS alliance is better than them?!”

“But…they are the ones that summoned us here in the first place!” Karnage cut in defending her stance.

“Yeah they are, then what?” Kyle kept on walking away as he spoke ”The only times they moved against us ‘Adventurers’ is when WE got in their way. Do you even know why they summoned us? All of us? They didn’t have a choice, it wasn’t them who summoned all of us here. The grand quest demanded six heroes to be summoned but they never planned to make use of us unless we decided to side with them, they simply planned using their own power.

Here’s some advice, stop taking it all for granted. Learn to think for yourself. Find your own way, we already found ours.” He surged away at full speed towards Helix.

----

Shark stood ready as he gazed at his opponent, his expression stern and focused, his blades gripped tight as tendrils of blood flowed around them. Not a single scratch lay on his body, the fight had gone on for a couple minutes yet he stood unharmed.

Sly on the other hand looked at wit’s end, his Aurei form was torn apart revealing his right arm, chest and face which themselves were shredded with cuts and deep gashes. His daggers lay on the ground all around him, his tentacles of aura had been ripped off his back and his left aura-clad arm was all that remained.

“Surrender.” Shark urged for the dozenth time “You’re no match for me, reinforcements will be here soon and you will be subdued then. Do you hear it? Your allies that were rampaging through the campsite have quieted down, your allies flying away right now will be captured by the air force and dealt with soon enough.”

Sly chuckled and winced through the pain ”That’s what he wants you to think.” He charged at Shark and leaned in low to grab a dagger on the way.

Shark smirked and charged too, far faster than Sly he opened his arms wide allowing his blades to appear like wings as they sliced the air itself. He leaped at the charging giant of aura and spun as he did, leaning to the right he spun with his blades like a sawblade that cut right through it’s remaining arm.

Sly screamed in agony as his Aurei form dissipated around him, his left arm fell to the ground sliced off the shoulder. He crashed down into the snow tumbling, coming to a stop he tried to stand as blood gushed out of his stump. The blood flowed away from him in the form of red tendrils and began to gather around Shark’s blades.

“So that’s what your power is…” Sly mused as he sat back “Those tendrils of blood, they’re stacks of stats aren’t they? You keep getting faster with each clash, stronger too.” He held onto his stump and gripped it tight wincing as he did. Violet lightning surged through his palm burning the stump closed, Sly bit on his arm as a muffled scream escaped.

Shark cringed at the sorry sight “Give up.” he look up at Helix and through it’s red transparent walls “Look, your friends are done for too.”

The carriage had flown over the wall but was currently on fire, squadrons of griffin riders and Avians were beginning to surround it too.

Sly stood up “No…” he managed through uneven breaths.

“Then I’ll just have to remove all of your limbs.” Replied Shark, he moved his blades into a stance behind his body and leaned lower readying to charge again.

The very air shuddered as a series of explosions reverberated through the entire forest. Shark looked back through Helix and watched as the squadrons of griffins fell out of a cloud of smoke, they had been incinerated. The Avians flew away unharmed and reformed nearby the explosions, summoning their wind magic they blasted the smoke clearing it away and damaging whatever hid inside.

The smoke cleared revealing a multi-coloured barrier surrounding the unharmed carriage, four figures stood on it’s roof.

As Woody maintained the barrier, rays of light flowed from his body and into the shield.

Death blasted the airborne targets with fire magic, his fireballs exploded not on contact but proximity as he willed them to.

Birse summoned four giant arms of shadow out of the carriage that elongated and chased after nearby Avians and surviving griffin riders.

Skill fire flurries of enhanced arrows sending trails of fire, blasts of lightning, shockwaves of frost and blades of wind at far away squadrons not allowing them to regroup to cast magic.

Shark growled in annoyance showing off his rows of fangs “No matter, we have you surrounded here anyway.” He gestured at the approaching adventurers.

“Well well well, that is a sight I gave been waiting to see.” Mocked Jax with a grin as him and his group landed near Shark.

“What took you so long?” Shark asked the group.

“Hey man we’re the fastest bunch from the blockade, others still far behind.” Replied one of the REKT members.

“Fastest? Just because you laid back in the backlines and had a starting advantage doesn’t make you faster than the one that arrived at the same time.” Explained Regina as she walked out of the shadows, both her tech pistols ready in her hands. The PRED leader glanced at their quarry and smirked “Doesn’t look like you needed help anyhow.”

“Not really, whatever power he gained for being a hero is no match for mine apparently.” Shark replied with a smirk.

Sly straightened up and stared up at the sky “Power?” he began to laugh hysterically.

“Looks like he’s lost it too.” Said Regina as she cringed.

Shark suddenly re-entered a stance and his expression hardened “You…you haven’t been using your hero power at all haven’t you!?” he exclaimed in surprise.

Sly’s laugh ended with a wicked chuckle, he looked down at them “No I haven’t, it’s a power I cannot freely use like yours unfortunately.”

---

Author: Never corner a beast ;P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv6GPwkT2wA

----

Shark inspected him to see that Sly had changed his title.

SlyOkami [{ [Master] Lord of Aurei}] (Cursed hero of the wicked dagger) (RHD Aurei) Level 128

“Like my title? Disturbs me honestly, makes me wonder what goes through that bitch’s head at times.” Sly admitted with a smirk.

Shark charged forwards at full speed.

“As for my power…” Sly crouched down and lightly touched the snow with his fingers, “I am the incarnation of destruction, I am the depiction of the end. Deus Ex Machina!” Time seemed to slow down as aureitic lines of violet flared alive all over his broken body, his skin cracked and shattered into dust revealing the violet flesh and muscle below glowing.

His eyes turned completely black as a set of black horns grew out of his forehead along with the single horn Dagon’s body had. All three horns curved back and grew longer as violet lightning surged through them. Suddenly a brand new arm burst out of his stump just as skinless as the rest of his body.

Time resumed as Shark charged at the repulsive Devil, Sly growled like a beast as he stood on all fours. Without noticing the change Shark continued his charge and aimed for Sly’s arms again, an easier target without the body of aura.

A blast of aura burst out of Sly making Shark hesitate briefly, it went right through him without doing anything. Then the sound exploded out, a vicious roar came out of Sly’s open maw of black fangs. The roar stopped Shark in his tracks causing him a cold sweat, he had lost control of his body and couldn’t move except for tremble.

Sly stood up and walked over to Shark who was immobilised by fear, barely a foot away he stopped and raised his right hand to Shark’s face and grabbed his entire head. Sly began to crush Shark’s head in his hand causing him to snap out of his daze and leap back.

Shark took uneven breaths as he took in the Devil’s new look “The fuck…”

Sly looked at his palm in confusion, something was off with him. Suddenly he clenched both fists and roared up at the sky, his body continued to change as he did. Sly’s form grew to twice it’s original size as a dark-purple carapace covered his skinless body, his fingers grew out into dagger long black claws, face elongated into a snout and a tail ending in a dagger-like bladed tip grew out of his tailbone.

“Now that, is one ugly ass monster.” Regina chuckled awkwardly as she and the rest gazed at the monstrosity that was Sly.

“What the fuck is he anyway?” Jax asked as he inspected Sly.

{Devil} Zeokul [{Descendant Of Wrath}] (Cursed hero of the wicked dagger) (RHD Aurei) Level 128

Zeokul, Sly’s Devil form, growled at them as he slowly approached, his large body too heavy for quick movement.

Shark grimaced “What you waiting for!? Subdue it!” he rushed the Devil aiming for the legs, with incredible speed he reached it within moments and leaned low before spinning with his blades. Shark’s arm-blades slashed the Devil’s carapace causing sparks to appear as they clashed, ending his spin Shark continued to run for a short distance then turned around to evaluate the damage.

Zeokul was unharmed except for a light scratch on his lower leg, he turned back to Shark and charged. With heavy steps the Devil rushed at him, fast but not enough to catch up with the light-footed adventurer as he prepared to evade.

Suddenly Zeokul leaped up sending a shockwave throughout the ground, he leaped with such power that he barely reached the top of one of Helix’s towers having to grab the edge with both hands. The Devil glanced back and smirked, turning back he watched the squadrons of griffins and Avians harass and assault the shielded carriage with magic.

Zeokul stretched his shoulders causing a pair of long wings with dark-purple limbs and black netting to instantly grow out. Briefly he closed his wings and opened his arms wide and up to shoulder length.

A Dwarf stopped himself from flying over the wall by slamming back his axes at the tower’s edge, Soren had somehow propelled himself up to the tower.

Suddenly two white-blue foxes burst out of the camp and graveyard of Dwarven machines, white-blue flames engulfed them as they rushed forward at great speed. Kyle was riding one of them as the other followed closely behind.

“Stop him!” Regina shouted as she raised both pistols and engaged him.

Kyle smirked and swerved away from her as the second fox golem charged straight at her, much smaller than the previous ones but larger than a common wolf.

The fox ridden by Kyle leaped up at the tower and ran up a couple meters before losing it’s momentum, Kyle leaped off it and surged the rest of the way leaving the fox to engage Shark.

Zeokul crouched down and grabbed the both of them by the waist before opened it’s wings wide and leaping off the tower with the same power as before.

Kyle looked back just as Regina killed both fox golems “Au revoir!” he mocked with a salute as the Devil flew away while carrying them.

A burst of dark smoke flew out of the forest and after them like a ball of shadows.