Soulforge Legacy Series

I struggled against whatever hold the demon had on me. From what it felt like, he was using mana backed with a tremendous amount of willpower. Not just on me, but on the whole area.

Which just couldn’t be right. If it was, then our last fight had been akin to a mouse fighting against a mountain lion. It wasn’t even worth being called a fight.

Now, he wasn’t even bothering to hide his power. And from what I could tell, I was well and truly fucked.

But, unlike what on might expect, that revelation didn’t weaken my resolve. It didn’t make me want to up and quit. To give in to his demand. No, it was like someone added a whole tankers truck worth of napalm onto a camp stove.

My muscles strained against his will. Finally, one of my toes wiggled and my sword shook. Still, it wouldn’t be enough. Even if I could move, it wouldn’t be nearly enough to catch him off guard.

No, I needed something else. Something that would both surprise him and break his hold. A giant explosion would probably work.

Unlike my body, my mana flowed without issue. At least, that was until it tried to do so outside my body. It reached the skin and that was it. It refused to move even a micrometer farther. Reach just that much further.

Okay, so it wasn’t that it refused. It just couldn’t. Have you ever tried to add pressure to something like a ballon only for the pressure inside to push back? It felt like that, only a million times worse. In fact, I was surprised that it wasn’t trying to force its way inside of me.

Then again, it if was his mana, he might not be able to. Actually, that wasn’t right. Technically healing magic required one to send their mana into the targets body. To find and repair the damage. Which meant that mana didn’t have issues entering other people. So why was he?

A sudden, sharp increase in the pressure around me brought my attention back to the demon as he yelled. “Are you even listening to me?!” Guess my attention had been a bit too focused. Enough that he had noticed.

Two cries of pain filled the space at the same time as something wet and squishy hit the ground.

While my head was unable to move, I could just make out Michael. He was flat on his back and he didn’t look so good. Every part of his body looked broken and deformed. And given the rapidly growing puddle of blood, a broken bone had likely punctured something important.

Kaelis took a step toward the mess. “Such a fucking disappointment you turned out to be.” He didn’t wind up or anything. His foot shot out at the man. Michael’s body folded around the limb for a fraction of an instant before being launched across the room.

“And you,” he turned to look at where his daughter was kneeling. “To be given everything you could ever dream of. The support of one of the Five and only tasked with growing strong. Yet you were surpassed by a no one. A human turned beast. Something that would have been a boon if you could have at least brought them to heel, but you failed to do even that.”

“But…” Linda managed to croak out.

“No excuses,” Kaelis’s hand lifted as something red appeared on the tip of his index finger. “We will discuss this with your mother when you arrive back home.” Something about what he said caused her eyes to widen and her face to turn ashen.

I watched as the red drop grew and shaped itself into a thin spear. With a flick of his hand, it speared through the center of her chest.

I flinched as he turned to face me. “Now that those two have been sent back to see her mother, where was I?” My heartbeat increased with every word as I struggled harder against his grip. Still, nothing worked. No matter what I tried, I was unable to do anything.

In fact, the only thing that I could do was move my mana around my body. But that was practically useless given it couldn’t move.

Given how damaged my body was, even Body Enhancement wasn’t a viable option. Coupled with the pressure, I would be destroying my body beyond what my body could take. I would die, again. To even stand a chance, I would need something that could provide my healing one hell of a boost without doing more damage.

And like that, I wanted to smack my forehead. Silver Fire worked to speed up each cell. It never said that it was limited to all or nothing. But could I use it to speed up my healing without the other benefits. Only one way to find out.

My mind bent to the process of twisting the skill. Casting, breaking, rethinking, casting. Over and over until I had something I thought would work. What little mana I had left over went into Body Enhancement.

My body practically vibrated with untapped power. Like a spring ready to let go.

The demon’s mana still locked me in place, but I simply pushed it to the side. Sure my muscles tore themselves apart. A few bones even cracked. But those injuries healed nearly as fast as they formed.

Was it painful? Oh god yes. More than anything else I had felt. But I would deal with any pain if it meant that I was no longer defenseless. Completely at his mercy. Especially if I was able to get in a few good hits.

Kaelis’s eyes widened as I took my first steps. “Well, well…” Before he could say anymore, I lept at him.

Either I was faster than he expected, or trying to force his will upon the world had been overly taxing because his clawed hand barely had time to interpose itself between my sword and his face. Red and gold sparks sprayed out as the two hard weapons ground against each other.

With an eye blurring twist of my body, I yanked my blade up and sliced upward. A spray of blood misted the air from the thin cut the tip of my blade inflicted upon him. Both of our eyes locked onto that blood as it suspended itself into the air.

The shock on my face probably mirrored his own. Sure, I had managed to hold him off during our last fight, but that meant nothing now. Especially as I had failed to even make him bleed during that fight. With him going full out, it shouldn’t have even been a possibility.

Yet it had happened. I had managed to make him bleed.

My eyes flicked from the blood drops hanging in the air to his face just in time to see the change.

Every part of his human form fell away. The light-gold tan skin vanished. Replaced by porcelain white flesh free of any visible marks. The majority of the meat and muscle that made him look well-proportioned for a human melted off his body.

Standing there, in full demonic glory, was something that reminded me of various descriptions and depictions of Slenderman, albeit with a bit of vampire mixed in.

As fast as the pressure had appeared, it vanished. Sucked into him as he started to do something.

Between us, the drops of blood rippled. Seeing it reminded me of how he had killed his daughter. I had to stop him before he finished whatever he was doing.

Cracking sounds filled the air as I pushed the planet away from me. Reality blurred as the edge of my blade cut through the very air. And while there was no audible crack of the sound barrier being broken, there was a fair bit of condensation that trailed after the tip.

Blood flowed from his grip, forming into a crimson blade in time to intercept my attack. Bloody chunks flew from his blade as it absorbed and redirected my strike.

A foot punched into the ground as I anchored myself. Used it to turn that deflection into a spinning attack.

His crimson blade met my strike, deflecting it up and away as his tail went in for a strike of its own.

As the sharp point stabbed into my leg, I smirked at him. An act that caused both of the demon’s paper-thin eyebrows to furrow.

Of all the attacks, I had never expected to have to use one I had made up at the start of this whole thing. And even if I did, it was expected that it would have been when one of them had decided to take a drink or such. Still, I was a bit happy that I had taken the time to fill my blood with tiny dots of fire.

Similar to my fireball gatling gun, none of these things were strong enough to do anything on their own. But they were free. Plus they were somehow fairly easy to keep active when they sat in my body. Almost like they were doing all the work.

Now, no longer in my body and without something trying to hold them together, the little flames erupted. Thousands, if not millions, of cell sized dots of fire made their presence known in an explosive manner. The wave of explosions blasted the two of us apart.

As I said through the air, I twisted to land on my feet. Normally I would have tried to roll and dissipate the energy, but I didn’t have time for that. Not when my opponent was likely able to cross the building in but a moment.

Instead, I had to trust that my healing would have dealt with the leg wound enough. That it would have healed enough of the damage for me to react if he did charge straight at me.

Stone splintered as my feet slammed into the ground. Most of the stone around me cracked and shattered as I fought to halt my momentum. Unfortunately for me, it wasn’t fast enough.

My back smashed into and through one column, then another. Followed by yet a third. Stone rained down around me as a portion of the roof collapsed.

Unable to see my opponent through the cloud of dust and falling debris, I was understandably taken by surprise when five spikes of blood stabbed in from multiple sides.

Somehow I managed to twist my body enough to dodge three of the spikes, but that was it. The two remaining stabbed into my side.

I expected the things to hurt, but they didn’t. In fact, other than a tiny prick of pain, I felt nothing.

Given that the demon seemed to love using blood in his magic, I couldn’t let him in. I had to do something before whatever he was trying to do weakened, or even disabled, me.

The world turned a bit grey as I pulled mana and attention from my Body Enhancement. Every bit went into creating as many tiny balls of death as I could. To practically fill my veins with the stuff.

Now, even if I went down, I would die. And if I was really lucky, I would take him with me. A screaming yell echoed around the room. It was war cry filled with a mixture of rage and pain.

The air cleared enough for me to see Kaelis as he turned to the source of the cry. To the man standing behind him. The one that had managed to use my distraction to sneak up on the demon.

Me, I had ignored this person. Dismissed them as a threat. Sure they might have once been forced to work with the demons, but I doubted that was the case. Not now.

With the demon distracted by this new, closer threat, I started to move. Even as the demon’s blade sliced toward the attacker, I used every skill. Consumed every bit of mana I had. Pushed every muscle in my body. All for one final attack.

The very air parted for the dark blue blade. As a vacuum formed and collapsed behind the sword.

The demon’s neck parted with little resistance. From edge to edge. Flesh and bone. Nothing stopped the passage of my blade.

Even as his head hit the ground, his body simply stood there, unmoving. As though it was trying to understand what had just happened. What I had just done.

Finally, after an agonizing eternity, the body crumpled to the ground. When it did, it revealed the person who had just turned the battle. Who had just saved me and everyone here.

Lance stood there, wide-eyes as his hands groped at his chest.

A jagged line of torn and ripped flesh connected his left hip to his right shoulder. Whatever that blade had been, it had done more damage then it should have. This cut was not clean. There was too much damage.

Blood poured out of the wound. With it came chunks of odd white material as well as some meat. Which was bad enough, but the sight of the shredded and destroyed organs told me that he was done. That there was no way he could come back.

Lance’s staggered step broke me out of my trance. While I might not care what the wolf did, that didn’t mean I wanted him dead. Especially given that he had just saved my life. One that I was losing.

I moved just in time to catch him as his legs finally gave out. “I got you.” My voice was soft as I gently lowered the two of us to the ground.

“Thank the…” he stopped to take a shuddering breath. “Gods that…” a tiny bit of blood misted out of his mouth as he coughed. “You survived.”

“All thanks to you.” I said as I tried to do something to staunch the stream of blood that flowed out of him. Sure, I knew there was nothing I could do, but I had to at least try. “But don’t talk.” Something dripped off my nose to fall onto his bloody shirt. “I am sure that one of the healers will be up here soon. They should be able to patch you up.”

One of his hands reached up to grasp my blood-soaked hands. It took a little work to not yank my hand away.

His fingers lightly squeezed as he forced himself to speak. “We both know that there is nothing they can do.”

“Don’t talk like that.” I chastised him as more drops fell. Probably some cloud deciding to let its load loose or something. “Who knows, maybe the priests will be able to call upon one of the gods for a miracle.”

If they didn’t, then I sure as hell would. Surely there was something I could offer the gods. Something to keep him from dying. From being truly dead. Gone.

“All that I ask is…” That was all he managed to get out as his eyes slid shut.

His breaths shortened further. Becoming little more than sharp panting. The rapid beating organ in his chest accelerated. Almost as though it was trying to break some speeding record.

A moment later, his body started to shudder. To spasm.

“NO!” My voice cracked as I yelled orders as the dumb fucking wolf. “You are not allowed to leave me. Not until I say that you can!”

With little other choice, I mentally yanked up my conversation with Inari. I didn’t have the time or willpower to type out a message. I could only yell at the window and hope that the system would carry my voice. My desperation. My anger. “INARI!”

Now, she could have ignored me. Maybe she should have. I was being rude to a goddess so she was well within her right to do so. But she didn’t.

“What?!” She sounded a bit miffed, but she had at least answered my call. Now to see if I could get her to save him.

“He is dying!” I didn’t bother to hide the hitch in my throat as I continued. “Lance is dying! He cannot die. Not yet. Please, save him.” I begged.

“Why should I?” She let out a sign. As if she didn’t care one way or the other. “Was it not a few hours ago that you were begging me to help break your bond?”

“Sure,” I reluctantly agreed as I tried to sift through my roiling emotions. “But that doesn’t mean he should be allowed to die. If he is to die, it shouldn’t be at the hands of a demon.”

“Hmmm.” The woman shot me a look that spoke volumes. I chose to ignore all of it. But then she shrugged. “Unfortunately, there is nothing that I can do. I am not a healing god. None of those who have a hand in that church are. I mean, we can heal, but not to that degree.”

Her face warped as angry tears filled my eyes. As I decided to bring up the one thing that would save him, even if he had to die. “What about respawning? Surely there is a way for it to be used to save him?”

Inari’s head shook. “While I doubt it, I do not truly know. The only one that would is Hephaestus.” With that, her face vanished from my screen.

The world around me started to narrow as I started to hyperventilate. Had she just vanished on me after saying to talk to some other god? Was I on my own to figure out how to contact them?

Before I could even think about how I would even try such a thing, a new window forced itself into being in front of me. Unlike the one that I had used to talk to the goddess, this one was rougher. Almost like it had been created in a rush.

Not that I cared. Not when I noticed three different gods sitting at a table. Each of whom had their entire attention on me.

I recognized Inari and Hephaestus, but the third god was new to me. He looked like a man, but something about him seemed bestial. As if he was a predator playing as human.

Whoever he was didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was saving Lance.

My eyes met Hephaestus’s as I asked one simple question. “Can you save him?

The god didn’t hesitate or blink at the question. “Yes, but I don’t think you underst…”

“Do it.” I interrupted. Not caring for one moment about what this would cost or the consequences this demand would have.

He let out a sigh as he looked to the goddess. “Are you sure about this?”

I wanted to scream at him to stop wasting time. Only, before I could, the body in my hands suddenly went still. “No, no, no…”

Tears streamed down my face as I tried to figure out what I could do. Especially as these three gods looked like they were going to take their time coming to a decision. Time Lance didn’t have.

Somewhere in the background, I heard a new voice speak. It was deep, almost rough in a way. “Were you not telling me that it was about time to do this anyway?”

“Fine.” Hephaestus let out a second, deeper sigh. “Let me talk with Death. After all, he is the one that will have yet more work because of this.”

Without another word, the new window vanished, taking the gods with it. Not that I cared. They had failed me.

As I held his body against mine, I felt it starting to cool down. Lance had died in front of me and there was nothing I could do. Saving him had been outside of my power and what power I did have wasn’t enough to force those with the power to do what was needed.

A part of me broke as I realized he would likely not be returning to this mortal coil. That he would move on.

All the while, I would be here. Well, mostly here. There was a part of me missing. A part that I had never paid much attention to even as it comforted me from time to time. To tell me that I wasn’t alone. That I could get through anything and everything.

Now, it was gone. Taken with the wolf, no, the man that I had been fated to.

Whether it was the bond itself, or the man reaching out to me in his own way, I would never know. And something told me that no matter what I did, who I met, no one would ever fill the hole his death had left.