Haki stood atop the building he had awoken in as the sun soared above. According to Maranam, it once served as the seat of the Supreme Dragon and its large dome roof allowed him to behold the unnamed capital of the Age of Dragons.
Standing by his side was Maranam who joined him in beholding their new home.
The dens each Dragon lived in were huge ovular structures resembling bird nests only made of stone.
Haki loved their design and, upon slight internal modification, they could fit several families belonging to smaller races.
The streets were wide and could fit more conventional buildings in between the dens.
Haki’s battle with Kalokaíri had been so fierce, it exposed even the city’s ancient walls which now stood as a barrier between the city and the forest although the settlement in stone was about one hundred meters below ground level.
“We’d be sitting ducks,” Haki muttered.
[Agreed. Mmm… while you’re out, I could have the Dragons clear some of the forestry around the wall and have the Knights erect a bulwark of ice using the [Frost Wall] spell Ober the coming days.]
“Hey… that’s actually a good idea.” Haki nodded before jumping off the roof and to the streets below where everyone else awaited.
“Alright. Herald, Father, you’re coming with me. Mara will take care of the rest.”
“I refuse to let you drag me around any longer!”
Kutsunga cast [Vineal Snare] (-5W, 30HP (Snare health)) eleven times to trap all of his captors. 55 of his 125W.
Haki raised a curious brow as dark vines tore up from the ground before wrapping themselves around him and everyone other than Maranam.
“Knight Herald! Now is your chance to prove that you are worth a damn! Sever these humiliating binds and return me to Ardania safety and I will ensure your execution is painless!”
Everyone turned to Herald who in turn looked at Haki with widened eyes.
“The choice is yours.” Haki’s words were simple and his eyes betrayed his earnesty.
Herald swelled before crossing his arms.
“The knight has decided.” Haki nodded before breaking free from his vegetative prison, prompting everyone else to do the same, much to Kutsunga’s visible horror.
“Also- thank you, father. You’ve just given me an idea. Mara, could we use [Vineal Snare] to reinforce the [Frost Wall]?”
[Yes although I would like to ask when I permitted you to shorten my name?] Her eyes narrowed.
“I thought you’d like it and it’ll make the moments when I do call you by your full name more special.” Haki shot her a boyish smile that caught the goddess off guard, making her pout a little.
[Tell me, boy, what compels you to say such outlandish things to the Goddess of death?] She huffed only for Haki’s grin to brighten.
“Let’s say I tend to develop a liking to women who appear in my bed in the dark of night.”
Herald gasped and it was here that Kutsunga finally realized just who his son was talking to.
Maranam glared at Haki although, as usual, there was no malice.
“You… do you have a death wish?” She hissed only for Haki to nonchalantly walk away.
“See ya later!”
Harald frantically pulled Kutsunga in following Haki south and out of the city.
.
..
“Boy…” Kutsunga called after hours of silently trailing behind his captors as they ventured into the forest deep.
“Yeah?” Haki lazily responded while letting his swords rest on his shoulders as he walked. Oddly enough, even they weren’t able to cut through his gown of golden silk.
“That… those women. Those were the Three Goddesses, weren’t they.” Kutsunga shuddered.
“Yep.”
“And… the one who stood by you… she was the Goddess of Death.”
“Indeed.”
Kutsunga shuddered again.
“So she chose you.”
“I guess she threw caution to the wind after seeing just how many prospective candidates you had killed.” Haki guessed.
“Why did she not appear to me even though I bear the blood of the first Emperor? He who toppled the old order and brought about the Age of Man.” Kutsunga muttered to himself.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The trio walked for Kilometres on end before pausing as a foul smell filled the air ahead.
“Death.” Herald sniffed as Haki’s eyes narrowed.
“And lots of it,” Haki growled.
He was also the sole member of the trio that was able to hear the distant beating of drums but, even as his old instincts told him to turn and run, he pressed forward.
The damp forest floor then grew muddy and the trees were adorned with crude signage and impaled corpses that were far too mutilated for anyone to discern whether they belonged to an animal or otherwise.
“By the Three…” Herald gasped under his breath as his armour loudly clanged behind Haki, much to the young man’s annoyance.
They were in possibly hostile territory and the last thing Haki wanted was to be an easy target-
“Arggg!” Herald cried as a meter-long Arrow shot through his armour from somewhere in the thick wall of vines ahead.
[Name: Herald the Coward
Health Points: 365/390]
Haki could have erected a [Frost Wall] to defend his party but he wanted to make it clear to the hidden Kudamen that he wasn’t prey for them to hunt and so he cast [Ember Burst] (-1W, 10DMG) one hundred times, sending forth a wave of fire that did a collective 1000DMG to anything in its path.
[W: 400/500]
Several bleats and screams filled the air as trees were Blackened inside and out, a fate that befell the twenty or so figures Haki spotted through the fire.
Herald stoically pulled out the arrow that had pierced him before following a narrow-eyed Haki forward.
The young man walked up to one of the wailing bodies on the ashen forest floor.
The Kudamen, Haki learnt, had large goat heads and legs along with long, muscular humanoid torsos that were covered in patches of auburn fur.
[Name: Kudaman Archer
Race: Kudaman
Coalescence Level: 45
Available Cycle Shards: 0
Health Points (HP): 0/540
Willpower (W): 225/225
DPH (Damage Per Hit): 50
Defence Rating: 2%
Equipment: [Corpsebone Great Bow] (50DMG), [Leather Loincloth] (+2% DR)
Skills and Abilities: [Bestial Vigour] (+100HP), [Death Throe Call] (if HP<100, 3x DMG), [Healing Touch] (1W-, +10HP), [Vineal Snare] (-5W), [Vitality Surge] (15W-, +50HP), [Renewal Blossom] (-50%W, +50%HP), [Breath of the World] (-MAXW, +MAXHP), [Ember Burst] (-1W, 10DMG), [Flame Whip] (-5W, 30DMG), [Infernal Arrow] (-15W, 55DMG), [Reignition] (-40W, +80HP)
Artifacts: None]
“You… YOU! How… HOW DARE YOU KILL MY BRETHREN?!” A bellow came from far ahead.
Haki wanted to tell Herald and his father to retreat but before he could even open his mouth to speak, the ground began to shake a little as something charged towards them.
Haki stood completely still as a Kudaman rushed out from the shadows, only his body was adorned with jewellery made from the jaws and bones of other Kudamen.
This Kudaman held a club that was made from the scale of a dragon and his eyes burnt with the vitality of a Max-level being.
Hanging from his next was a petrified horn which was a dull grey and looked like it was about to whither away.
“I… I am Dhreen the Caprine Lord and you… your flesh will adorn my back!” The Kudaman roared prompting Herald to drag Kutsunga behind him as he fled.
[Name: Dhreen
Race: Kudaman
Coalescence Level: 100
Available Cycle Shards: 10
Health Points (HP): 1190/1090
Willpower (W): 500/500
DPH (Damage Per Hit): 100
Defence Rating: 2%
Equipment: [Dragon Scale Club] (100DMG), [Leather Loincloth] (+2% DR)
Skills and Abilities: [Bestial Vigour] (+100HP), [Death Throe Call] (if HP<100, 3x DMG), [Healing Touch] (1W-, +10HP), [Vineal Snare] (-5W), [Vitality Surge] (15W-, +50HP), [Renewal Blossom] (-50%W, +50%HP), [Breath of the World] (-90%W, +90%HP), [Ember Burst] (-1W, 10DMG), [Flame Whip] (-5W, 30DMG), [Infernal Arrow] (-15W, 55DMG), [Reignition] (-40W, +80HP), [Maelstrom Manifestation] (-20%HP, +10% DR and +10% Damage boost),
Artifacts: [Horn of the Ancients] (?DMG taken is converted into DMG)]
“NO… NO RUNNING AWAY!” Dhreen tried dashing after Herald but Haki blocked his path by raising Maranam’s Aruval in front of him.
“Listen up, mutton. Either we talk this out or one of us dies.” Haki growled and this infuriated the Kudaman so much that he swung his club to strike the young man who blocked the attack with his own ancient stone weapon.
Dhreen then punched Haki who tried decapitating the goat-headed being but, while Haki expected the Kudaman to retreat, Dhreen stood completely still and let Maranam’s Aruval lodge itself in his neck.
The horn around the goat man’s neck then flashed red as it activated, reducing Haki’s 620DMG by half and turning that into damage Dhreen could use.
[Name: Haki
HP: 1310/1390]
[Name: Dhreen
HP: 880/1190
DPH: 410]
The Kudaman realized, even with his amulet and damage-boosting abilities, he’d die very quickly if he traded blows with Haki so Dhreen dashed backwards before running into the shadows while bleating loudly.
The sounds of thousands of footsteps then shook the air.
“If… if you want to talk, come to the Bone Woods!”
Haki lowered his swords and sighed.
“He punches me then runs away.”
It was painfully obvious that Dhreen was luring him into a trap.
The Kudamen weren’t mindless animals.
They had archers, planned ambushes and were now plotting something big.
Haki couldn’t help but smile at this.
The boundary between life and death had quickly become his favourite place to be and so, ignoring his instincts to flee, he stepped forward.
The further he walked into the vines and thorns, the more skills he activated until he 3aa fully buffed.
Unlike with his fight against Kalokaíri, he went all the way, pouring all of his focus into activating [Maelstrom Manifestation] (-20%HP, +10% DR and +10% Damage boost), [Maranam’s Breath] (-50HP, +50DMG) eexchanging1300 of his HP for the same amount in damage, [Breath of the World] (-90%W, +90%HP) and then activating [Maranam’s Breath] again, exchanging an additional 1250 points of health, which brought his total DPH up to 3342.
[Name: Haki
HP: 10
W: 50
DPH: 3342]
Haki’s body exploded with power but his body also slumped forward as he had left himself with just the smallest traces of vitality.
But he didn’t mind.
If anything, he loved the feeling.
His vision darkened and his hearing was as if he was underwater.
His heart thumped slowly in his chest as he entered the den of the Kudamen.
A sea of trees that were adorned with bones of fallen Kudamen.
Between these effigies of death were thousands upon thousands of Kudamen who all wildly barked at Haki from the shadows.
The smell of blood, piss and faeces filled the air along with the foul breaths of more than ten thousand goat men.
Hali stood at the centre of this herd of beasts as they snarled at him, ate the flesh of their dead kin and even copulated in muddy masses of flesh and fur.
Standing at the fore was Dhreen who pointed his club at Haki.
“What… what do you have to say now?” The Kudaman wickedly grinned and all the young man did in reply was spread his arms.
Daring any of them to approach and one of them did.
An eager Kudaman charged towards Haki with his horns forward only to be cleaved in two by Maranam’s Aruval, the goat man’s two pieces were sent flying to the side.
This sent the rest of the herd into a frenzy with all that were closed charging towards Haki who met their crude blades, arrows and clubs with a grin.
He was going to die.
Of that, he was sure.
It just wasn’t going to be at the hands of the Kudamen.
