01 initialization, p.27
01. Initialization, page 27
part #1 of Paths Of Power Series
I pulled my spear out of my ring and set my feet. I stood between the two teens and this group of fanatics. Magnus stood to my right, Rukia stood to my left.
“Spare me your lies. I would never trust the words coming from one with a serpent’s tongue. If you do not turn them over now and kneel before me, you will burn in His Glorious Light.”
“Oh my Gods, can you even hear yourself? You have got to sound like the most self-righteous prick I’ve ever heard. Tone down the zealotry for a minute and actually think for yourself. That Bishop asshole was trying to force him on a 16-year-old, and you all seem perfectly fine with that. These two chose to come with us instead of staying in your settlement, which should tell you how bad it is there.
“If two teens would rather risk monsters in the wilds rather than stay with you all, then you all are the real monsters. Now turn around and go back to where you came from, or I will shove my spear so far down your throat that it will erupt out your ass. Don’t try me, I have a family to find, and you and your men are not going to stand in my way,” I declared.
My temper was well and truly up by that point. I’m usually a calm and patient man, but I cannot abide those who would harm a child or stand in my way of protecting my own.
Harold didn’t say anything in reply; he merely nodded towards the roof of the building next to us. I barely had time to glance up, triggering my Identify, when a golden light towards me and impacted me in the chest before I could react. The shot hit directly over my heart.
Paul Taylor
FR 2
HP 84/84
Stam 168/168
Defense: 15
Chapter 25
The glowing arrow had a kick like a mule. First, it impacted and broke through the protection field from the amulet I picked up at the weigh station, then it slammed into and managed to penetrate my leather chest piece. Once it penetrated, it let out a concussive blast into my chest.
The only thing that fully stopped the arrow from penetrating my heart and probably killing me, the very first meridian I opened. The arrowhead managed to pass through my skin, and its tip lodged into one of my rib bones. The reinforced structure of the bone was enough to cancel out the last of the momentum of the arrow.
Even though my stacked defense of fifty-three stopped the arrow from doing any real damage, it didn’t prevent the force of the hit from knocking me off of my feet and causing me to fall onto my back, hard. The shot completely caught me by surprise.
I heard Magnus Roar in outrage, and the sharp crack of snapping concrete filled the air. I glanced at where he was, and he was gone. I looked back up to the top of the building and could see the man standing there, body torqued from the follow-through of his hammer swing.
The archer that took the sneaky shot at me, well, his head exploded. Red droplets seemed to hang in the air, the sunlight glinting off of them like tiny jewels. Pink chunks of brain matter and shards of bone floated among them for that briefest of moments before gravity asserted itself, and they fell to the ground. The archer slumped to his knees before he pitched forward off of the rooftop, landing on the ground with a dull thud.
I shook my head to clear it and, for the first time ever in my life, kipped up and was back on my feet. I pulled out my hand-crafted boar spear and assessed the situation for a brief moment.
I was maybe on the ground for all of three seconds. The church enforcers were staring at their friend on the concrete. Cody and Rowan both looked like they might throw up. The dragonling and little angel were alert, though. Rukia crouched next to me. The softly glowing icicles growing out of her fur let me know she was ready for the fight.
“SNAP OUT OF IT. You can puke after this is over,” I shouted at the teens. They looked at each other and, almost in unison, swallowed hard and readied themselves. Cody brought up his bat, and it emitted the same glow the arrow did. Rowan took a few steps back, standing behind his brother, and started casting a spell. Unfortunately, this one was taking a lot longer than the single second it took to blink step.
The first stage of my movement technique was already going. My spear was fully charged and ready to penetrate the leather armor of these men.
My eyes locked on the leader as he turned his head back towards me. His self-righteous expression changed to one of rage and the promise of death.
“Kill them all,” Harold declared to his men.
“But the bishop wanted the kids brought in to be properly punished,” Delaine said.
“I don’t care. They killed Paul. We can just tell him that these two killed them rather than releasing them to us. Don’t argue with me, just do it.”
“Ok, it will be done,” Delaine said. He raised his hands in front of himself. They glowed the same golden hue that was common among this group of Faithfuls. Then, after a brief moment, a silver horned ram sprang out of them and landed before of him. The ting of hoofs hitting the concrete sounded like they were made out of metal.
The six men wielding a mix of wood axes and maces along with their shields began to advance, their weapons taking on that same glow. It didn’t take a genius to realize that was some kind of weapon buff to increase damage or something similar. They came ready to dish out the pain.
Harold’s Fireman’s axe took on the same golden glow for a moment before the head of the axe erupted in golden flames. I could feel the power radiating off of it in waves. I knew that even with my layers of defense, it wouldn’t stop that thing. It felt like danger incarnate waiting to reap my soul.
I could feel the nerves and fear try to take hold of my gut. I’ve never been in this big of an altercation before. There were ten of them, well nine now. They outnumbered us two to one. I couldn’t rely on the kids to fight well, I only recently acquired the skills to actually fight, and this would be their first true test.
I could not hold back in this uneven fight. Every tool at my disposal will need to be used to its fullest extent. As the grunts in front started to charge at a run with a deep breath, I kicked up my Grace in combat to its second level.
Fifty points of Ki drained out of my pool, it would last for five minutes, but any Ki ability would cost fifty percent more to use. I quickly popped one of my Ki infusions to replace what I just used, dropped the empty vial, and made my own charge forward.
I could see Magnus from the corner of my eye, preparing to leap off of the building at one of the men to my left, so I veered right to give him the space he needed. The wood ax-wielding man, Cliel Myatt, from a brief flash of Identify, was my target. He was at the far end of the line, my right side.
I approached faster than he seemed to expect. He swung his axe like he was chopping wood. I slid my spear up the side of the axe handle, twisted my wrists and looped my spear around. The axe was guided past me, and the point of my spear was suddenly between the man’s legs causing him to trip forward.
Quick as a striking crane, I pulled my spear back while the man was still in the middle of his fall. His arms were stretched out in front of him, preparing to catch his fall. I spun the spear in my hand and shoved it through the gap in his armor, right through his armpit and deep into his chest cavity. I pushed fifteen points of Ki through the spear’s blade and let it detonate inside him before pulling it back out in time to duck under the swing of a heavy-looking mace.
Cliel Myatt
HP 16/126
Stam 168/168
Defense: 15
Status: Severe Bleed Effect-: lose 1 point of constitution and endurance every 5 seconds until healed
Cliel would be dead in about ten seconds, but I couldn’t trust that. These people literally had miraculous and instant healing powers. I had to dance out of the backswing of the mace wielder. “Rukia, finish him off,” I called out. And a bark of affirmation was my answer. She darted behind the man trying to cave my skull in and sank her ice-coated fangs into the downed man’s throat. She gave one jerk of her head and let him drop. He was dead.
Bernell Shaver
HP 126/126
Stam 147/168
Defense: 15
Mr. Mace Fighter was one Bernell shaver. Well, Berny won’t live long once I was done with him. I slashed my bloody spear at his unprotected face. He quickly brought up his shield to protect it when I spun quickly and hit the side of his knee with the butt of my spear. His knee buckled, and his guard dropped just enough. I reversed my spin after hitting his knee and shoved my spear right through the bridge of his nose, and half of the blade sank in.
I was just about to pull my spear out when my spiritual sense kicked in without my conscious control. I could feel the dangerous, holy wrath of fire looming behind me. I used all of my now twenty-two points of strength to fling the dead body around, and in the direct path of the danger I felt.
I could feel the body impact someone and the lick of fire just grazing my cheek as I threw myself back. I went through a full back roll, came up to my feet, and had to immediately use my spare to deflect the burning axe away from me.
-3
Harold wasn’t as fast or as nimble as I was, but he managed to catch me by surprise, and he was relentless. He never stopped moving his weapon. It was always trying to carve its way into my flesh. I needed to get off the back foot, take control of the fight, and put him on the back foot.
In a vicious diagonal slash, Harold brought his flaming axe across, trying to cleave me, shoulder to hip. I used my spear to deflect it further to the side, bringing up the butt of the shaft in the same motion and pushing thirty Ki into it to enhance the impact.
The butt of my spear impacted against his leather helmet, a concussive boom knocked his head to the side, and he stumbled. He looked stunned for the moment. The impact wasn’t as strong as I could have hoped, with the penalty to using Ki along with my second stage Grace in Combat, but it did give me the time to regain my equilibrium.
I dropped down to a low crouch and spun as a mace passed through where my head was a moment before. I kicked out my foot and swept the shield-bearer to his back before springing away to get some distance from the building scrum.
I took a brief moment to glance around and take stock of the battlefield.
Cody and his angel were working together to hold back two grunts, one with a shield and the other with an axe. The angel’s golden shield intercepted their attacks while Cody used his glowing baseball bat to whittle down the men’s health, trying to get past him and towards Rowan.
Rowan seemed to have just finished summoning an electric blue dragonling that was launching lightning bolts at others while Rowan was casting another long spell.
Rukia was fighting the Ram with metallic horns. I took an instant to identify the creature while I was free of immediate danger.
Celestial Ram
FR 2
HP 91/91
End196/196
Defense: 20
The Ram had more hit points, more stamina and even with Rukia’s defense bonus from her movement technique, still had two more defense than she did. I wish I knew what its offensive capabilities were, but it seemed to be a bit stronger than she was in the areas I could see. I needed to clear my group of enemies so I could help her out.
The guy that summoned the Ram was able to call a second one, and that second one was doing its best to keep Magnus away with the help of the last two shield bearers.
The fight hasn’t been going on for even a full minute, but the chaos was astounding.
I looked back to Harold and checked to see how much damage I inflicted with that blow to the head.
Harold Betenson
FR 2
Hp: 85/126
Stam: 157/224
Defense: 15
Status: Stunned 5 seconds (1 of 5 seconds remaining)
When I saw his stun status was just about up, I launched myself forward, spear point leading, and pointed straight for his throat. I could land a massive critical hit and finish him off in one last blow if I was fast enough.
I was only a few steps away from slamming my spear home when the stun debuff wore off, and Harold’s burning axe flashed up and hit edge first just below the head of the spear, cutting deeply into the shaft and deflecting my spear wide.
Leaf Bladed Ki infused Steel Boar spear
Quality: above average- +10% damage and durability
Item rarity: uncommon
Durability: 17/93 (base 88+6 from skill and Ki infusion)
Damage: 8 (base 33 +1/2 Str +4 from skill)x2 damage on critical hit.(-82% from durability)
Weight: 5lbs
Traits: Ki Infused blade- Ki capacity 20
Ki20/20
Ki Effects: Piercing: overcome defense with a piercing strike, -1 defense per Ki Used
Durability: +2 Durability per Ki used
The spear twisted out of my hand and went flying; it bounced off of a shield and then landed point first on the ground, snapping the wood at the gouge left by Harold’s Fireman’s axe, still burning from the holy fire.
“SON OF A BITCH” I yelled in shock as my first real weapon, the one I made with my own hands, broke in front of me. I had to duck and step to the side to avoid the backswing of the axe. “Ok. If that’s how you want to play this, that’s fine. Ok. Let’s do this.” I stepped back to avoid another chop and pulled out my drake bone war axe.
Drake bone War axe
Quality: Exceptional
Rarity:rare
Durability:130/130
Damage:36
Weight:3lbs
Traits:+36% chance to cause bleed 10% dmg every 5 seconds for 30 seconds
Enchantment: Feast of blood: +30% to bleeding effects
Value: c2,837
The axe wasn’t as good as my spear, but it’s better than the unenhanced spears I hadn’t had the chance to add a Ki Formation to yet. The axe blade looked like a shoulder blade, sharpened to a keen edge, and was mounted on what looked like a femur but was close to three feet long and pure white.
Holding the axe in my hands, I could feel the lessons I learned from the Striking Wolf, Piercing Crane Combat Art come to the fore. With that knowledge fresh in my mind, I could see how clumsy and untrained Harold’s movements were. Every swing was like trying to cut down a tree, breach a wall or hit some other immobile object. They were all full swings and brute force, no finesse at all.
Chapter 26
I ducked under a swing meant to take off my head and thrust forward with the axe. I knew from my combat art that one doesn’t need to always swing the axe like a lumberjack. Thrusting with the blade slashes while choked up and other maneuvers were just as if not more effective.
The edge of the axe split Harold’s leather chest plate and dug into his flesh. I felt a pulse of energy, probably mana from the axe’s enchantment, emit from the axe as he began to bleed. The bleed didn’t look critical, but it should drain his health as we went on.
Harold let out a bellow of pain as my attack struck home. “HEALS!” he yelled out as I pulled the axe out and sidestepped an overhead swing.
I had to leap back to avoid a shield bash from my side. The guy with the shield put his hand on Harold’s shoulder with the moment he bought, and a golden glow emitted from him, especially the wound in his chest that was leaking blood. Almost like a zipper was drawn up, I saw his injury close in an instant. The wound didn’t disappear entirely, but it looked more like a shallow cut instead of something that exposed his ribcage.
Fucking holy heals, I can only speed up my regeneration, it’s incredible to heal my wounds in only five minutes, but these guys could do it in seconds. It just wasn’t fair.
In a fit of pique, I Sparta kicked the guy doing the healing, and with my 22 points of strength, he went flying back a good ten feet before he landed hard on his back. His breath rushed out of him, and he lay there gaping like a fish drying to draw in a breath.
I stepped under another horizontal swing from Harold and slashed his leg in the same motion. It cut deep into the thigh and began bleeding. I stepped around him again as I stood and thrust the axe blade into the guy’s shoulder. Harold screamed again from the two strikes in rapid succession. His left arm went limp as I severed something essential, and his left leg collapsed under the strain as he tried to step back.
He looked up to me as time seemed to stretch out. I looked deep into his eyes and saw a mix of anger, fear, and resignation. He knew it was the end for him, none of his allies were close enough to heal him, and it didn’t look like he chose any heals for himself. I brought my axe up and around and, in one strike, cleanly severed his head from his shoulders. I skipped back as blood pumped out of his torso, spraying into the air.
As time sped back up, I heard a sharp crack, and the smell of ozone filled the air, almost masking the scent of blood filling my nostrils. I looked over and saw one of the shield men on the ground with smoke rising from his corpse. The other man looked to be retreating from Cody and a red dragonling spraying fire and launching bolts of fire between Cody’s attacks. They seemed fine for now.
I looked over to my left and saw one of the Goats with Rukia latched onto its throat. It was in the process of falling to its side, looking to be near death. The other Ram was turning into golden motes of light as it dissolved. Its head looked to be caved in, and there was a massive dent in its side. Magnus must have finished it off before perusing the Summoner.
It looked like there were only three men left to deal with; Magnus was handling the Summoner dude, Cody and Rowan seemed to have their last guy managed, and the man I Sparta kicked seemed to have gotten his lungs working and was dragging himself to his feet.
I strode the dozen or so feet to the man getting up.
Damon Gray
FR: 2
HP 126/126
Stam 168/168
