Herald of death

Ethan's ears ring out as he comes back from Maelor's influence. "Fuck!" he yells. Russ circles around him, twitching his head to watch every direction. 'If I go back now, I'll have to try another dungeon. And I don't know how likely it will be for me to find another city,' Ethan thinks.

The village turns into a cacophony of destruction as orcs rampage through. Thick smoke billows from homes now engulfed in flames, casting an orange glow over the scene. Villagers flee in all directions, terror etched on their faces.

Ethan's heart and stomach tighten. He falls to his knees, his image appearing in a puddle. His face blurs and turns into that of Maelor before coming back to its true appearance. The chaotic echoes of the battle seem to blend with the internal struggle raging within his mind. With each heartbeat, he feels Maelor's essence weaving itself deeper into his soul.

Gritting his teeth, Ethan pushes against the muddy ground, forcing himself to stand. His breathing is heavy, each inhale stinging with smoke. He stares at the puddle, watching the reflection as it shifts back and forth between his own and Maelor's. "You want to save the weak, the poor, and the unfortunate?! Very well, if that's what makes you go away, I'll kill them all!" Ethan shouts at the reflection.

As Ethan sees a young family cornered by an orc, his heart tightens. He pulls up the dark fate dagger and hurls it at the monster's throat. He falls forward, the dagger releasing dark tendrils of Ether in the air.

Ethan pulls out his dagger, the tendrils of dark Ether edging his skin. As he lets them in, hoping it will improve the power of his hex, his inner turmoil turns silent.

Another orc charges at him from the doorway of a nearby building. 'Strengthening,' Ethan thinks to himself. His sword pierces the orc's armor, embedding deep. As the orc raises its axe in retaliation, Ethan delivers a swift kick to his knee. The joint buckles unnaturally, and the orc collapses onto its other knee. Ethan draws his dagger across the orc's throat.

Russ joins him, unable to keep up with Ethan's speed. Arrows whistle, and Ethan slashes through them, deflecting two to the side. "Melee Weapon (Long sword) leveled up." On the roof of a burning house, three lean orcs prepare another volley.

Ethan expends more Ether to enhance his Strengthening ability. He focuses an ever-increasing part of his mind to absorb more Ether from the air. He propels himself onto the roof, his landing carving a crater in the thatch. He decapitates the first orc. Another orc loses an arrow. Ethan seizes the third orc by the neck and uses the creature's skull to intercept the projectile.

Ethan throws the dead orc at his comrade, propelling both of them off the roof. 'Kill,' he orders as Russ sees the falling duo. He grabs his first victim's bow and quiver, scanning his surroundings. He nocks an arrow, his eyes scanning for the next threat. The bow is powerful, requiring what feels like a hundred and fifty kilos of force.

An orc emerges from a smoking house, swinging a massive club. Ethan releases the arrow, striking the orc in the chest. The monster stumbles backward, looking at Ethan. Ethan shoots another arrow at the orc, piercing his brain through his left eye.

The chaos around him blurs into a backdrop as he focuses on his targets. Using predator's sight, he picks off the orcs one by one, taking them by surprise. "Ranged Weapon (Bow) leveled up." His quiver soon empties, and he jumps off the roof.

Guided by agonizing screams, he sprints toward the village's center. He picks up weapons from his victims: axes, spears, and a makeshift flail.

As he nears the central square, orcs swarm from all directions. Ethan ducks and weaves through the horde. He uses the environment to his advantage, kicking up dust and debris to blind his attackers. He hurls his looted weapons at them, hitting orcs in the neck, head, and chest. He slams an orc's head against a wall, impales another, and pushes a third into burning debris.

He soon stands among a pile of corpses. Some of them grunt in pain, suffering their last moments. An axe spins past Ethan, bringing down a house as it crashes into it. From the shadowed fringes of the square, a massive orc appears, clad in laminated plate armor. Some tanks would pale in comparison to its thickness. The rusted plates glint in the flickering firelights. Each of his steps resonates through the ground.

He towers over Ethan, its face obscured by a helm that leaves only its glaring eyes. He wields a large, serrated axe, like the one behind Ethan. The orc roars, his voice shaking the ground and the buildings.

'Hide,' Ethan orders Russ. He pulls out his KS23 and unloads the four rounds in the orc's face. The projectiles bounce off the metal, leaving dents in their path.

The orc charges, swinging his axe in a wide arc. The axe embeds itself in the paved ground, raising a cloud of dust. Ethan slashes at the joints, but his blade fails to cut the orc's flesh.

As the orc readies another attack, Ethan casts debilitating hex. The black tendrils, empowered by the Ether released by the dagger, dig into the orc. He falls to one knee, his armor turning into a ponderous cage.

The orc roars, and his muscles billow with vapor. Glowing red veins protrude along his skin, and he swells in size. He leaps in the air, as if armor weighs nothing. He lands along Ethan, his axe cutting the ground. The force of the blow collapses the house in the prolongation of his slash.

Ethan dodges blow after blow, unable to breathe for even a moment. Avoiding an axe swing, Ethan fails to see the orc's fist hurling at his chest. In an instant, the blow propels Ethan through a house and one of its inhabitants.

Covered in blood and bones, Ethan attempts to rise from the rubble. His body screams in agony, crushed and pierced by fragments of wood and stone. The dark Ether cursing through him runs out, and so does the hex.

The orc swings at the buildings around him, leveling the square. Ethan pulls out two light Ether crystals and shatters one. As it penetrates his body, Ethan feels a rush of warmth surge through him. He imagines the shimmering runic circle of the Heal spell, each line glowing with a soft, golden light. The light Ether spreads through Ethan's body, targeting the most ravaged areas. With a few pulses, the deep wounds inflicted by the orc mend. Bone knits back together with a faint sound, like a quiet snapping of twigs. Muscle fibers rejoin, sinews heal, and the pain that clouded Ethan's senses ebbs away.

Ethan rises from the rubble to reenter the square. He breaks the second light Ether crystal. The orc gaze turns to Ethan, empty of sentience and ferocious like that of a rabid predator. The chaotic battlefield around Ethan fades as he closes his eyes. He visualizes the runic circle for Purifying flame, each rune glowing with a golden light.

With his sight closed off, Ethan's triggers predator's sight. The pounding footsteps of the orc reverberate through the ground. Ethan listens intently, using the sounds of the orc's movements to gauge his position. The heavy, ragged breathing of the orc and the creaking of his armor become Ethan's guides.

With each breath, Ethan draws more Ether into the palm of his hand, feeding the spell. Ethan dodges instinctively as he feels a rush of air – a near miss from the orc's massive axe. His heart races, but his mind stays clear, focused solely on casting his spell.

The air around him heats up as he unleashes Purifying flame. Even with his eyes closed, Ethan can feel the intense heat radiating outward. He hears the roar of the flames as they meet the orc's armor; the sound is fierce and consuming. As he opens his eyes, Ethan sees drips of molten metal falling to the ground.

The orc movements grow desperate and erratic. Yet he attacks recklessly, hurling himself at Ethan through the flames. Ethan moves backward, keeping his distance from his enemy as the flames consume him.

Sensing his light Ether running out, Ethan grabs another crystal from his haversack. The orc slashes at Ethan; his axe hits the crystal and sends it flying into a wall. The spell, bereft of his source of light Ether, twists and fluctuates in Ethan's mind. He closes his eyes once more, struggling to keep the runes' integrity.

He erases every mention of light from the spell's runes, keeping only its most basic elements. As he stabilizes the spell, Ethan opens his eyes, in time to see the orc lunging toward him. Ethan throws himself to the side, the axe grazing his arm and tearing through his shirt and bicep.

With a final push of will, Ethan channels wild, unrefined flames at the orc. The fire erupts from his hand in a brilliant, chaotic burst, engulfing the monster. It latches onto its armor, finding every crack and crevice the molten metal has exposed.

The orc roars in pain and anger, the flames searing his flesh. He staggers back, swiping wildly, trying to reach Ethan through the blaze. The heat is intense; its blinding light casts flickering shadows across the square.

Ethan's spell escapes his control, draining more Ether than he can gather. His vision blurs at the edges, and his heart tightens as he feels the spell consume his life force. In that moment, the crimson flames turn into a blue jet of condensed fire. It pierces through the air with an ethereal sharpness like a burning lance. The heat is so intense that it burns a clean hole through the orc's thick armor and flesh.

The spell breaks, cutting the flow of flames. The beast staggers backward, a stunned expression frozen in his grotesque face. He tries to clutch the fatal wound, his hand passing through his chest. Ethan falls to the ground; each breath he takes is more labored than the last.

"You learned the Flame spell. You leveled up. Spell casting ranked up. Ether manipulation leveled up. Ether manipulation leveled up. Life force manipulation leveled up (x10)," the feminine voice announces.

Ethan focuses, attempting to channel the surrounding Ether into his heart. His body feels leaden, barely responding to his efforts to even turn his head. A glance down at his arm reveals a network of black veins spreading to his fingertips. As his vision tunnels, the world around him dims, succumbing to darkness.