“Oh.”

Some start clapping, thinking it is part of the event.

“Interesting! Tolumn. I will donate a two gold coins to your orphanage if you kill him with a single attack, ten if you leave him alive.”

A two and a half meter giant, in full plate mail armor and a two-handed sword at least as big as himself, walks to me with solemn expression. It does not look like he likes what is happening here.

[But he is here.]

I can see him mumbling a ‘sorry’ as he attempts to make an over head downwards chop. His body and armor split into two as an explosion of blood and innards fly around.

My sword is broken in a single strike. I throw it at the nearest attacker and leap to catch the falling two-handed sword.

Rage pills are a failed attempt to recreate a specific skill. But even in that failed state they are able to bring about 15% of that original skill. Blood Rage. It is sometimes called Berserk Rage, or just Berserker. It requires a lot of internal mana and even more training. This was the only skill I could use. The only thing I had.

And I polished it to near perfection.

Last two yellow orbs I had already exploded into yellow-red anti-magic gas, which filled about a third of the room.

I won’t need them anymore.

I will die but erase their very existence.

Only after about half dozen gruesome deaths of the Enforcers, did the nobles start moving. The door behind me is locked, and to get to it you need to go through me. Therefore they went back into the rooms they came from, under the protection of about a quarter of Mages and Enforcers. The mages left in the room, are very careful with their spells as the room itself is not big enough for large scale magic, and I am too close to them and their allies.

I do not feel my pulse. I am not even sure if I am breathing. My world is covered in red as explosions of magic and blood fills the room.

They all will die

There are less than half left, but I can barely walk. My burned left hand stopped moving quite some time ago. The ice icicle stuck in my back restricts my movement even more, and the blood flowing out of the wound it created is too severe to ignore.

They are protecting the path where nobles went. And the toddlers that run with the nobles start coming back while their bodies morph. Demon pills.

Anti-magic gas already dissipated and I can see several mages gathering together to cast a powerful spell. I try to stop them but a number of skilled Enforcers with shields stop my advance. The two-handed sword requires too much strength, but if I try take anything else they will use that moment.

As they nearly finish the spell I realize that something must be done this instant. As I was trying to reach them again, another Enforcer with shield stood in my way. My sword split his head horizontally and I heard the yelp of mages is back.

The lead ones were desperate and focused but the others had faces of pure horror. When my eyes met with the one of single mages in the back, he shuddered and made an error as his spell backfired causing and explosion, throwing everyone around him. Which on it’s own caused a chain of disrupted spells. In the end one of the lead mages was consumed into biggest spell, and the spell destabilized into enormous explosion.

White. I feel as my skin and muscles melt.

I see nothing, feel nothing and the high frequency buzzing in my ears won’t stop.

I try to move or feel anything but nothing happens.

I am in world of darkness.

[So, we died huh? Isn’t this what you wanted? Dying for the grand cause. In epic fight for righteousness, for all the good, against the evil guys.]

[SAY SOMETHING!!!]

[WE ARE DEAD!!! WHATS NEXT?!!]

[WHATS NEXT?!!]

[SOMEONE WILL TELL A TALE ABOUT US?!!]

[WHO WILL?!! WE ARE DEAD!!! EVERYONE WE CARED ABOUT IS DEAD!!!]

[WE SAVED NOTHING!!! ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING!!!]

[TELL ME!!!]

[COME ON, CONTINUE!!!]

[EVERYONE IS DEAD!! WE FULFILLED NOTHING!!]

[WE EVEN FAILED IN THE MOST BASIC TASK!!]

[TELL ME!!!!!!]

[You changed nothing. Everything was left absolutely fucking the same. That hell will exist for all eternity.]

[Oh, you think you destroyed that cult? It was a small branch. You weren’t even able to destroy a small FUCKING branch!]

[Change the world my ass.]

[Even in death I won’t leave you. I will make you into evil spirit. I will make you into vengeful ghost.]

[You will never rest.]

[You will continue hunting them.]

[We will.]

[WE SHALL NOT REST!!!]

[This is not enough. It will be never enough.]

Through pure willpower I return to the world of pain.

Pain. I am alive. I won’t just die. Not yet. NOT YET.

Checking the internal status of organs I wince. Eyes and lungs are severely damaged. Burns across my whole body.

I take the nutrition from bones and muscles and begin healing the critical locations. I need to start moving as fast as I can. One eye for now will be enough.

After what feel like eternity my body starts moving and ringing stopped. My nose is assaulted by smell of burned meat, and lungs can barely suck in limited air in the room.

“…kill him…”

Shit my eye is not ready. By foot steps I determine how far the attacker is.

The moment the person gets close, and I feel the strike coming, I leap with all strength available in my right hand and leg. Left part of my body is still not working.

Together we fall down on ground and I hear sound of metal armor clanging against stone floor. A burning feeling in my left side tells me that something was just embedded there.

FUCK.

Can I even hurt someone in plate armor right now?

My palm somehow finds something warm, exposed flesh. Instincts scream to attack the exposed part with everything I have. But I have nothing… My teeth clench with an enormous strength at the exposed area, at least jaw muscles are still working.

The screech I hear right under my left ear tells me that the attacker is a woman. Sliding my right hand between us, I push us apart.

A large chunk of meat comes out clenched between my teeth. A unison of scream alarms me that there are still many enemies, as sound of gurgling and warm liquid flowing out can be heard under me.

I swallow the chunk hoping to get as much nutrition and mana as I can for what is to come. Its instantly starts dissolving in my stomach as a bit more strength return.

Only now do I notice that my left eye started seeing. But sometimes you wish you didn’t. The floor is littered with several dozens of charcoal bodies and body parts are mixed with the bones that lied before. To top it all, at least dozen mages have spells ready to fire. Not waiting for the actual cast I lift the body under me to protect against the coming spells.

The next instant explosion of fire and I am thrown back several meters.

There is no time to whine or rest. I stand up as feelings from my left side are returning and notifying me that there is still something stuck there.

As I plug the short sword out of my side, I notice that several Enforcers are already near and I have but few seconds. I send mana circulating into to limbs knowing full well that death awaits.

With inhuman bellow I leap at the new target. By the look of it they did not expect me to be able to move so well. One by one I evade their attacks and jam the sword into gaps between their body armor.

At the same time I evade any spells I could, or put someone else into the trajectory between us. Mages switched to curses, but they are useless against me. Few of them hit people around me, as they crumble while blood flows out of their ears and eyes, some just fall down not being able to take a breath.

They are mages with offensive skills. But they are not battle mages.

With each dead my body slowed down more and more. I cut, slice and stab until all Enforcers are dead and I am covered in their blood.

Some of the mages run away into the backroom, others fall on ground exhausted by their nonstop barrage of spells. Other even have audacity to start praying for salvation and help.

My body is about to give up. I lick the blood from the face and sword to get even a tiniest boost.

Not yet. NOT YET.

After everyone in the room is neutralized, I go around and start carving them apart.

Making it as painful as I can.

They beg for mercy as I rip them into pieces one after another, with new one more brutal than previous. Dislocating their legs and arms, ripping their genitals and shoving them in their own mouths, plugging their eyes with fingers as they scream, strangle them with their own guts.

I am frustrated as many died and turned into charcoal the moment huge explosion happened, my hands didn't get to them.

Their wails fill the room. But I am not finished.

Sight in my right eye finally returned and body becomes more stable. Taking new sword and several daggers lying on the floor I start going to the backroom.

Time for the main dish.

I limp through another hall, as I get close to a big door, engraved with skulls and enchantments, I see huge fireball flying in my direction. I jump aside as fireball hits wall and explosion of fire sends me even further.

The moment a face looks out, my dagger embeds into his skull. As he drops on floor a series of screams come from the backroom.

I go get a shield from the big room and return. With shield in left hand and short dagger in right hand I jump into the room. Quick glance around the room tells me that the most dangerous one is in he center, as she sends a sharp icicle at me, which explodes hitting the shield, she fall down with dagger embedded in her neck.

A quarter of the nobles have swords in their hands, nearly everyone else continue to assault me with spells.

With several dagger throws and bashes of shield the Elemental attacks stop. Everyone continues to fire curses at me with smiling face as if I am about to drop dead.

I throw shield to side, which brings grin to nearly everyone face.

“Curses do not work on me.”

Few faces were confused others did not even comprehend what was happening. But most just continued to look at me in horror.

Truly ‘dark’ magic works a bit differently. They overpower internal mana of enemies in pin point location and cause significant internal damage. Coughing you lungs out, bleeding from your ears and eyes, dropping dead because your heart or brain were damaged. Using their magic they corrupt and manipulate the bodies of enemies as they please. Most of their spells are invisible and because of that, ‘dark’ class of spells is considered one of the most dangerous offensive spells.

But they are useless if the amount of mana in the point of attack, is more than the mana spell has applied on the that point.

Basic math.

That’s why they prey on the weak.

One of the leaders tries to say something, but I stop him.

“There is no need to speak. I know who you are.”

They were always good with their tongues. Lying all their lives.

“Slaves of Moloch and Minerva”

They all stopped breathing. And finally truly looked at me, not as a beast, but something more, as if realizing that all those curses they cast did not work.

“I know exactly what you are. And know what you were doing here.”

“I have hunted your kind for a really long time.”

I smile.

“And the funny thing about it all. Is that you truly believe you are some kind of higher race. That everybody else is just a cattle created for you.”

My face morphs from grin into rage.

“You steal and breed children as cattle. You rape and torture them, gathering that dark energy into black crystals for future use. You exchange children between yourselves as if they are simple furniture.”

“And when they reach a specific point you kill them. Bath in and drink their blood, eat their bodies to extend your accursed lives. Use them in dark rituals that contribute to your objective. And repeat that again and again.”

“It works. It had worked for millenniums. I won’t deny it.”

“Your kind has evaded judgment for those actions for a really long time.”

“But did you truly believe, that it will never come to end?”

After a shout from the local Lord, several of them with sword and barehanded leaped at me to subdue me. But I just ripped their arm and legs in shower of blood and gore. Their wails filled the room. As the blood puddles on the floor increase in size I start moving towards them.

“This is reality. I am your GOD now.”

…

I do not know how much time has passed. No one came down. There is only one exit from this place. The way I came. Maybe everyone was told to in no case to come down.

They should protect their secrets… Or should have.

I tried to extend their suffering as much possible.

But that was not enough for me.

They deserved more, much more. Even though they look relatively young, most of them are really old. Dark magic and blood of children can make you look half your age.

They have tortured and consumed countless lives.

One lifetime is not enough to punish them. Therefore I did something more.

Old magic is strange. It behaves a bit different, and there are different requirements. Many cults tried to use it, but nearly everyone failed.

But for those few successful ones, I had to read, learn, prepare. If you know how they work, you know where to hit.

Even though I can’t use mana, it doesn’t mean that there is not enough mana around, for a, special, old, ritual.

There is plenty, just not mine.

I dragged all bodies except the morphed toddlers into the circle, which I drew. The abundance of blood helped in it. I am not sure if the ritual worked. How can you even check the state of a soul?

It is said that it takes 40 days for the soul to leave this world. And it is also said if soul is in unnatural state it will be in ‘pain’.

I really hope that this is true.

The circle should suck and hold the souls, the marked ones, in the center, and the ones similar to them. Not allowing them to go to afterlife. It should. The vortex will suck and grow for years, centuries, maybe even millenniums, until someone comes and closes the vortex.

The only entrance to this place is the way I came in. I should make sure no one will be able to enter and disrupt the circle. Easiest way to do it, is to crumble the entrance.

Explosion. But I don’t have any explosives with me. And getting them will take at least a day, someone may find this place.

Looking through the room I find nothing. Only torture devices, tools and a lot of dark crystals. Some of the nobles have jewelry, not coins, but later on, I can use them too.

My body still looked like over-roasted piece of meat, and only few pieces of burned clothes were still attached to it.

I guess I have no other option.

…

I looked out and saw the late dawn, it is hard to believe that I spent there only one day. I waited until it was dark to get out of castle.

It is still hard for me to comprehend that there is no constant patrol. Well, with constant patrol it is hard to hide some stuff.

Dressed in the clothes of one of nobles I limp to inn. It was closed but I was able to get in through the open window.

I fall on the bed asleep.

…

Waking up to the sound outside I find out that it is already past noon. My body is in much better state than yesterday, but I still look like a failed piece of steak.

…

“I need a decent explosives.”

“Friend, you look like someone who should never touch explosive.”

“Well, you see, last merchant, gave me bad quality product. I will pay decent coin for decent goods.”

“But, if, something goes wrong, well, lets both of us hope it doesn’t, because some say that merchant disappeared.”

“Yes Sir.” the merchant started sweating at my threat.

I find out that the caravan has already left in the morning, I still can catch up to them. I buy a good horse using one of the nobles trinket, greed does horrible stuff to some merchants.

That night I return to that basement and place all the explosives at the area where I believe the weakest pillars are located. I ignite the long cord and travel outside of city as fast as I can.

Sitting on the horse outside, looking at the castle, I await the explosion. Maybe the fire didn’t reach, or was the amount of explosive too small? Maybe that merchant screwed me up in the end. After thinking for few minutes about returning and punishing the merchant, a huge explosion levels down a quarter of the castle.

OK, maybe I even overdid it with explosives. Anyway, I am still about a day behind the caravan. I should hurry.

While traveling in the direction of the caravan it finally hits me.

I am alive. Yes overcooked piece of steak, but still. Alive.

[But the kids aren’t.]

Kids aren’t.

One more day. Please. One more day.