Chaos: Genesis

Spero enters the empty room and takes a hesitant step forward. Suddenly, a deafening CRACK reverberates throughout the chamber, followed by relentless CRACKLE and CREAK of rocks shifting beneath his feet. Emerging from the ground, skeletons rush towards him with menacing intent. He reacts quickly dodging their advances. With each slash of his sword comes a sickening RIP and CRACK as he breaks their bones. Spero is halfway through the group when he hears an ominous clatter. Suddenly, a blade whizzes past him, grazing the back of his shoulder. The skeletons around him are coming back to life - while standing on top of a pile of bones, their ribs suddenly fuse, trapping his ankle inside.

An enemy slices his forearm and Spero boots three away, leaving him surrounded by fifty skeletons. He channels a wave of wind magic that blasts them away. He sheaths his sword, activates Mirage of Shadows, and summons his Sword of Madness. A group of Speros burst out and assault the remaining skeletons. The spirit observing,

He can create illusions, how interesting. The undead are simple. They are attracted to sound and visual stimuli so it shouldn't be a surprise.

Spero looks at the walls and then the ceiling,

Undead: Skeleton soldiers. Usually cast as fodder for Necromancers, weak but in numbers, they can easily overwhelm an opponent. But to regenerate consistently requires either a high-level sorcerer or a large amount of energy. There has to be something causing them to regenerate, without a mage controlling them there has to be a point of mana that is being used as a source.

Spero notices that the spaces from which the skeletons emerged were distributed evenly within a perfect circle, forming a transmutation diagram. He sprints to one of the exits and thrusts his sword into the center of the hole. He unleashes his energy into the circle, creating a block of mana that shatters a dozen skeletons in one fell swoop. Spero moves on to the next point, obliterating each spell until finally all of the skeletons have been decimated and he has completed his first trial.

BOOM! CRACK! RUMBLE! The walls quake forcefully, sending chunks of debris tumbling down from the ceiling. Suddenly, hands burst out from the walls and three stone golems emerge. Spero re-summons his Sword of Madness as he stumbles backward in surprise. The first golem hurls towards him, aiming for his head but he nimbly sidesteps its attack.

Golems: Tough to pierce, heavy damage but slow, puppets created to focus on a single target or objective, mainly used to guard or protect.

He quickly creates his shadow copies, and they hurry towards the golems, only to be neglected and directed straight towards Spero. He quickly dodges a colossal fist that slams into the earth next to him. With a determined swing of his sword, he strikes at the golem's arm, but it merely grazes off its hardened surface. Using his shadow slash, he redirects another golem's attack away from himself. He fakes out his opponents with three fake strikes, but the golem blocks his main attack. Spero is too close, and another golem slams him into the wall. He scrambles to his feet and spits out a mouthful of blood.

My madness isn't working on them. I've only fought a golem once before and that was with help, but now I'm facing three at once. Their joints are weak, but golems were specifically made to reassemble themselves.

The spirit chuckles for a bit,

Illusions won't work on golems, they are purely drawn to their target's energy, if they can sense where their main target is located, they will not stop attacking until their objective is complete.

Spero gets back up and thinks,

Their power comes from a gemstone that is embedded inside their torsos, but for me to break my way in, I need more time, at this rate it'll take too long.

Spero rushes towards them dodging attacks, he slashes and stabs but only chips the surfaces of the golems. He jumps on top of one and pinches his sword on its shoulder, the sword gets stuck for a second and another golem knocks him to the ground. Spero dashes headlong toward the golems, deftly dodging their strikes. He swings his sword and stabs at them but only manages to scar their surfaces with thin chips. Leaping on top of one of them, he attempts to jam his sword onto its neck, momentarily wedging it in place before another golem knocks him to the ground again with a harsh shove. Gritting his teeth in pain, Spero sees one of the towering creatures raise its foot for a crushing stomp - he rolls onto his side and narrowly avoids being crushed.

Screw it, I have to use this...Chaos Variant: Blade of Sorrow.

A blue symbol materializes in front of his chest, and the hilt of a sword slowly emerges from its center. Spero grasps the handle tightly, yanking it out with ease. As a golem's fist barrels towards him, he swiftly uses the blade to redirect it, causing it to veer off to his right with less speed than before. Spero darts between its legs and strikes its ankles, and the golem collapses to its knees.

He quickly turns his attention to the other two golems, "Blade of Sorrow, Pit of Despair"

Spero's whisper sends a wave of energy rippling past them. Their movements slow to a crawl and their attacks become easier to withstand and deflect. The spirit stands in awe,

This blade allows him to slow down his enemies? No, it's a debuff. Is he temporarily decreasing their speed and power?

Spero whirls around to find the first golem slowly rising, its right fist failing to grasp while its left slams down next to it. He dashes towards the golem, leaping onto its back and furiously striking it with his blade, chipping away at its rocky chest. The golem brings its right arm up, but Spero quickly thrusts his blade into the joints of its elbow, freezing it in place. He then delivers a powerful punch into the center of the cuts, shattering the stone to reveal a gleaming gemstone beneath. Spero yanks his sword from his elbow and plunges it into the stone, shattering it and causing the golem to break apart. SMACK, CRASH, Spero is thrust into the air, colliding with the ceiling as one of the golems resumes its original speed. He wheezes as he struggles to regain his breath.

Exposing the gemstone takes too long, and the effects of my sword wear off too soon........Rule 2: Use their teamwork against them.

Spero jumps back to his feet and the golem comes barreling towards him. He somersaults out of the way and grabs a fistful of rocks off the ground, hurling them at the other golem to distract it. The second golem advances on him as the first swings its arm, though Spero slices through it with his blade, hindering its movements. Spero springs onto the golem's arm, and as the other golem advances to strike he leaps off, causing it to break its comrade's arm. Spero unwinds the bandages from his forearms, he sprints between the behemoth's legs and swings around its arm with one long piece of fabric. The golem hurls its fist with such force that Spero is sent tumbling across the air. Taking advantage of this, he uses the momentum to propel himself onto the wall, aiming right for the golem that was busy repairing its arm. Racing forward, he manages to slip past its legs and as it kicks out in reflex, the bandage binding it tightens, and it topples over. Spero directs the golem towards him as he leaps onto its chest. The golem clobbers down, but Spero slips out of the way, leaving the golem's fist to crash into its ally's chest and shatter it open, revealing the gemstone. Spero slams them with another Pit of Despair, slowing their advances. He smashes the second gemstone and lunges his sword at the torso of the last golem. The stubborn creature refuses to give in, but its resistance is futile against Spero's weapon. Finally, it falls and Spero triumphantly celebrates his success in completing the second trial.

Panting and bleeding from his eyebrow, Spero winces as he rubs his injured shoulder. Unearthly noises slither from the shadows of the room, a cacophony of clicks and hisses that echo through the darkness. He spins around, searching for the source, but sees nothing. As he slowly turns back to face nothing but darkness, all is still except for a faint clicking and hissing that lingers in the air. CLICK CLICK CLICK, HISS, HISS...Spero lifts his sword, SLASH! He jumps back in pain as he feels a cut on his thigh, and four Night Stalkers emerge from the shadows and slither closer.

Two retreat to the darkness, while the remaining two pounce with intent. Spero quickly kicks one away and slashes through the other with his sword. The Night Stalker ignores the kick and fades into the darkness, while the other beast injured by Spero's sword moves more slowly and frantically attempts to reach the shadows. Just as Spero charges forward, another beast suddenly appears and he instinctively slides out of its path. The beasts vanish into the night, leaving only a lingering sense of uneasiness in their wake.

Night Stalkers: creatures of the dark that can fade away into the shadows, dog-like beasts. Quiet killers, unpredictable.

Spero stands at the ready, listening intently. Suddenly, Night Stalkers come leaping out of the shadows, and he instantly responds by dodging, blocking, or attacking as they appear. He can't keep up with their relentless onslaught; each time they emerge together he gets cut off and knocked back by their combined force. He stands motionless, eyes closed as he draws a deep breath. When he opens them again, his Chaos eyes appear. Spero stares into the shadows and sees the night stalkers lurking within, their dark forms flickering in and out of sight as if concealing multiple pathways for the beast to spring from. A beast lunges at him and he deftly moves aside, slashing the monster's side in one fluid motion. His eyes scan the battleground, anticipating incoming night stalkers that he dodges with ease. He parries and attacks them all with precision as four of the beasts descend upon him at once. Swiftly switching between his Sword of Madness and Blade of Sorrow, Spero fends them off without breaking a sweat.

Those eyes of his, how unnerving. How is he able to predict their movements?

The spirit questions. With his Chaos eyes, Spero can anticipate potential attacks mere seconds before they occur. He sees all the possible movements the creatures can make, but he must choose the correct actions. He braces himself as a night stalker lunges towards him and he thrusts out his sword, piercing the creature through its heart. He watches as it collapses to the ground with a sickening thud. Sliding to his right, Spero spins and kicks one of the enemies to the ground before stabbing it. The other two lunge towards him simultaneously, but he darts up to his left and swings his sword down diagonally to the right, slicing them both. With this final strike, Spero completes his third trial.