RD 4 Ch 55

The door to the room where Venthra had been staying shattered inwards as a thick-booted foot entered the room. Venthra flinched and ducked low while I moved my body in front of her, standing firm with my arms crossed. My clothes were plastered to me with drying blood. However, my body was perfectly fine, Immortal Body had done its job in keeping me healthy despite all of the stab wounds.

Vidar grinned at the sight of me. "Two of my problems in one place. How perfect," he said. The large Borrson, even taller than me, seemed to bloom as he stepped through the doorway, rising to his full height. He was wearing a set of ranked gear, all of it faintly green, matte armor, with a cloak of fur that swept the floor behind him.

"I only see one problem here." I smiled back. "It seems you've just tried to murder the chieftain of the Borrsons, and I conveniently have a witness." I gestured at Venthra, who had scrambled to get behind me.

"You think they would believe the words of an adopted daughter and an exile's son?" Vidar scoffed at me. "Not a chance."

"Well, we won't know until we try," I replied. "I mean, if nothing else, it would put him significantly on guard. I assume that would make whatever plans you have incredibly difficult. Perhaps the Borrson Clan would send someone else out to deal with the rest of the world? I'm sure everyone's getting a little tired of your ugly mug." I stepped forward to further block him.

Only to realize he had slipped past me. A spear came out of his spatial ring as he tried to drive it straight through Venthra.

I only had a split second to activate Crimson Barrier to catch the edge of his spear as the sphere expanded.

Vidar’s thrust was thrown off course and stabbed through the stone wall behind Venthra.

The scrappy redhead was already scrambling across the room, trying to put my barrier between her and Vidar.

Vidar broke the barrier with a swish of the spear, and I noted a small glow of some ability.

"You'll forgive me for my lack of patience," he said. He turned the spear on me and tried to run me through, but this time I was far more prepared.

I caught his weapon with my Bloodiron Blade and pushed it aside just in time to catch his wrist with my other hand. I leaned into him and pushed like a linebacker against the enemy line.

Vidar's greaves slid across the floor until I smashed him into the wall. "You don't know what you're getting yourself mixed into, exile," Vidar warned. He tried to push back, but I was in the position of leverage, and we were nearly matched for strength.

A gleam of light entered Vidar's eyes.

Knowing he was about to use his ability, I stepped back, releasing him before he vanished. I turned around, thrusting my Bloodiron Blade behind me and towards Venthra.

She gasped and flung herself away, her eyes full of betrayal.

Vidar filled the space as my sword stabbed into his chest.

I rammed it all the way to the crossguard, pushing against the floor with enough strength that the stone cracked with each step. My anger surged as I remembered the puddles of blood throughout the keep.

Vidar gasped and struggled, but I had caught him off guard. Given his constitution, this impact was not going to be the thing that took him down. But I had, in fact, surprised him. He growled and tried to fight against the weapon currently pinning him against a new wall.

He wasn’t the first opponent I had fought who could teleport. I grinned at him.

It was always satisfying to catch a teleporter, to see their own ability used against them. Those I had encountered who could teleport often got too used to relying on it in times of battle.

"Fath— Vidar," Venthra corrected herself. "I've already prepared my statement for the chief. You'll be exiled for this, if not killed."

Vidar turned to her with a grin still on his face as he began pushing back against my sword. He grabbed it with two gauntleted fists, twisting the blade with enough strength that even my Bloodiron Blade was beginning to crack.

"Yes, and who's he going to believe, hmm? A blood family member or an adopted wayward daughter who fights like an assassin and a liar rather than a real Borrson?" He chuckled darkly. "Or perhaps the exiled son?" Vidar grinned like a loon as his gaze shifted to me. "It doesn't matter what you do. Today, I will have you both killed. And even if by some miracle you do survive, the clan might as well be mine. My father can respect a little callousness anyway. After what he did to Thorin, he probably wouldn't respect me if I fought him in a fair fight anyway. The best thing about brutes is that they rely too much on their strength. Only those like him and me who can match it with wit are really meant to lead the clan. The rest of you are nothing more than convenient fodder."

I rolled my eyes as he broke the first blade. I quickly formed another that pierced him lower in the gut. "Is that so, Vidar? The same grunts that followed you here to their death? That's what you really think of them?" I asked.

He shrugged.

"Wonderful," I said, clapping my hands. "Too bad they're all dead." I pulled out the little ball of blood filled with their bloodlines, letting it float in front of me. "I even took their bloodlines, the very thing they used to call themselves Borrsons. I wonder how it'll be when I take yours."

If there was anything the clan members were particularly proud of, it was their bloodlines. Threatening to strip him of that was beyond insulting. It was a thing of nightmares. Not to mention, it would be a fantastic way to take over his identity for me to push my way into the Borrsons.

Vidar laughed. "Of course, you have some ability like that. Now you having a Titan bloodline makes perfect sense. You cooked it up yourself to pretend to be one of the clan, I bet."

I chuckled. "Not actually too far from the truth. I'm impressed. You do have some brains, after all."

Vidar, however, started laughing, and he couldn't seem to stop. "Pitiful fool, you showed too many of your cards. In the end, I will have the Borrson Clan come to take you. I'll chain you and your women to my purpose, but don't worry, I'll let you all live long enough for you to use that ability to build me an army of people with powerful bloodlines."

I smiled at him because, in fact, that was what I was already doing.

Vidar pulled something out of his spatial ring. "And since you have a Titan bloodline, then it's even easier to bring you to heel.” He activated a small orb.

I felt like my Golden Titan Bloodline betrayed me. Sudden weakness filled every inch of my body. My stats for my bloodline hadn't just been taken away; they had been reversed. I gasped, having never even heard of this item in my past life.

Vidar laughed as both Venthra and I staggered on our feet.

"I found this a while ago," he said, confident enough to continue taunting. "I needed something more than just poison to be able to help me with the old man. But I’ll admit, I could use a test run. So nice of you to provide the opportunity."

Vidar was almost giddy as he watched the effects of his item sapping us both of our strength. He slammed into me a new spear in hand.

I didn't have time to worry about Venthra or anyone else. I threw myself on Vidar's spear, grabbing it and pulling on the window I had already shattered on entry. Vidar and I smashed through what barely remained of the window pane. We were both hurtling to the ground.

Venthra cried out, but it faded away quickly as we fell from the tower, and the ground leapt up to greet us both with a hard welcome. As we smashed into the stone below, neither of us had enough strength to do more than gasp amidst the pain and damage from the fall.

"You fight dirty for a Borrson," I grumbled.

Vidar was the first to get up, stumbling to the side and clutching his chest. He wasn't the one with a spear run through him at present though, and I had more to worry about than his next monologue.

I staggered to my feet, ready for his next attack. "But a real Borrson can handle a little fall," I mocked him, gathering my strength even reduced as it was. I pulled out his spear and threw it into my spatial ring.

The wounds from it and the fall already began to heal right in front of his eyes. I knew he had the advantage in stats now, and he most certainly had more tricks in his spatial ring.

However, if I could turn this into a battle of attrition, I would certainly come out victorious. The other man had no ability to heal. Even if he had something in his spatial ring to heal himself, those resources were still limited.

Sure enough, Vidar pulled out a red vial that beat like a thrumming heart. He slugged it back, and his own wound began to recede. "You aren’t the only one with regenerative abilities, even if mine comes from a bottle," he retorted. He put it back in his spatial ring and drew another weapon. This time he chose a massive axe—the same one I'd seen him hurl at Hercules not long ago.

However, as he held the weapon, his face became more ferocious, his eyes sinking into the deep red of some berserk state, going so deep red they eventually turned purple. His eyes took on a deeper purple, starlight speckling in them, and his body swelled with strength and size.

I rushed forward, splattering my blood on him and working quickly to create half a dozen inscriptions that began to show up on his body and the axe.

When his transformation finished, he flicked his wrist. An inscription, a powerful talisman flickered to life for only the briefest seconds before exploding and wiping away my own. "If you think that for even half a second that your meager tricks will work on an esteemed member of a clan, I regret to inform you, Bran, you're walking amongst the dead already," he taunted.

Seeing that, I knew exactly how he’d gotten through my wards so quickly.

I growled and didn't respond as he threw himself forward with his oversized axe, which at the moment looked like it was a fit for one of his hands given his current size.

He swung the axe in a rapid series of strikes, and I met his swings with a Bloodiron Blade.

Within a few hits, it was clear that I could not fight him with these enhancements. My heart pounded in my ears as I staggered back under the weight of each of his strikes.

It was only after he nearly sent me flying that I heard the screams of the Mul Branova chanting: "Lord Bran."

Dozens of women stood outside the fortress, their faces smeared with blood, as streams of crimson stretched across the yard. Unlike my past life, I wasn’t alone. Here I had built something greater than myself.

I tapped into Bloodrage Ascension as all of the blood spilled on my fortress began to creep across the ground to me. I regained my footing as strength flooded my limbs. Each and every drop of blood built me into something greater. As my body swelled, my muscles stretched and ripped my skin open, the power not only of Bloodrage Ascension but of all the Mul Branova's worship continuing to fill me.

Their voices drifted past my ears asking for protection, wishing me strength, but most of all, they demanded revenge.