Book 5: Chapter 11 - Final End (RAW)

"Yesterday is but a dream, fleeting as the morning mist; tomorrow, a vision, as distant as the stars. Yet today is the ground where both take root—the moment where dreams are woven into deeds, and visions shaped by the strength of your hand and the clarity of your heart. To neglect the present is to leave the past untended and the future unfulfilled."

- The Book of Wise Tellings from the Land of Streams.

Spears of bone shot forth, jagged white shards striking into the ranks of Geomancers. Most managed to raise shields of earth in time, but the Necromancer’s attack had stalled whatever spell they had been preparing.

“Vincenzio. I should have bloody known,” snarled Canis, the last of his usual composure swept away by fury.

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. “Another variable you didn’t account for in your calculus?” I asked gleefully, a laugh bubbling up almost cheerfully.

Vincenzio stormed toward us, a staff in his hands while his tentacles of bone clutched something. His pace was so swift it looked like a charge. For a moment, I feared betrayal from him.

But then, to my surprise, he stopped abruptly and dumped his burden at our feet. The sight shocked everyone present. It was a body—broken, bloodied, and just recognizable. My stomach churned as I realized who it was. I still felt conflicted about seeing dead women.

“Kaila de Arancrai. The great Mirage of the Sands,” Vincenzio intoned flatly. His voice carried neither malice nor pity; it was as if he were delivering a parcel.

“Treachery finds easy company, it seems,” Canis replied bitterly. “I should have listened to Ezlas, but I always tried to treat you fairly. This must be the price for dealing with monsters.”

The warriors at Canis’s side tensed but did not move. They awaited his command, caught in the strange stillness of the moment.

The Necromancer shook his head and tutted, his tone mocking. “This one? A monster? That’s rich coming from a high priest of Iasis.” He paused deliberately, letting the weight of his accusation settle. Canis’s expression betrayed his shock—unmistakable, even for him. “Did you truly think your little secret would escape my notice? That this one, a heretic to all gods, would not uncover it? That one would bow to the bindings they place on mortals?”

The warriors exchanged uneasy glances, their stances betraying their uncertainty. It struck me then—perhaps even they were unaware of the true origins of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“What? No denial, Canis?” Vincenzio taunted. “Will you not call me a liar? No, you can’t, can you? You cannot even speak of it, so tight are the bindings placed upon you. Isn’t that right?” His laughter was sharp, cutting through the tension like a blade.

“And you thought that one wouldn’t see through your little schemes. You sought to use this one, ”he gestured toward Kaila’s corpse, “a Traveler from beyond with her insidious powers, to place your precious cult at the center of power. But you and your dear goddess have been thwarted, Canis!” Vincenzio’s voice rose triumphantly.

My heart was thrilled at his words. To strike at the gods themselves, to thwart their designs—it was a victory that filled me with savage delight.

“Kill them all,” Canis ordered, his voice cold and sharp as a blade, cutting across my thoughts.

However, it was the voice of a man who knew his death was imminent but determined to make the cost of it steep. It was ultimately the last refuge of the weak.

As if in response to this, Vincenzio cackled, raising his staff high. The ground trembled as a skeletal wall of dread arms and limbs burst forth, clawing their way out of the earth. It was crudely assembled, fragments of bone melded by unnatural force, but it made for a terrifying barrier.

I stepped forward, touching the odd barrier. “However did you deal with Kaila?”  

“A simple matter, spirits see the truth of things,” the pale man answered simply.

It was a good enough answer for me and I grunted in response. “Vincenzio, give me what support you can. I’ll handle Canis. I intend to answer him with a hammer to the face”

“Gladly,” Vincenzio replied, his pale digits twisting in intricate gestures. A surge of bone spikes erupted from the ground, forcing Canis’s men to scatter. “One does believe it is time for us to even the odds in our favor.”

The square descended further into chaos as Vincenzio raised his staff high, chanting in a guttural, otherworldly tongue. The air grew thick with the stench of decay, and an unnatural chill spread outward like a tide. The bodies of fallen adventurers, littered across the square, began to stir underneath the dome.

Dead eyes now glowed with a sickly green light. Broken limbs twisted and snapped back into place, and the dead rose—slow, deliberate, and horrifyingly relentless. The reanimated adventurers, now zombies, shambled toward Canis and his men, their once-loyal companions now reduced to mindless husks.

“You would defile the fallen?” Canis snarled, his curved blade slicing through the air as he decapitated one of the undead, uncaring that it was a former friend or colleague. Its headless body staggered before collapsing in a heap.

His men around him, prompted by their leader's actions soon followed suit, hacking into

“Defile?” Vincenzio’s laughter echoed across the battlefield. “One honors them by giving them purpose once more. Would you prefer they rot in vain?”

“And Canis… one’s magic and minions are not so easily stopped,” he added chanting a few more dread words of power. 

A skeleton burst forth from the headless zombie, the bones ripping apart the dead flesh. Clean bones appeared and formed into the facsimile of a man. Finally, the skull flew up and reattached itself, pulled by whatever mystic forces the Necromancer commanded. Eye sockets glowing an eery green, it immediately it fell upon the Canis’ honor guard once more. 

The zombies too surged forward, their numbers swelling as Vincenzio’s magic fed on the corpses of the dead. The Guildmaster’s men faltered, their discipline cracking as they were forced to fight more of their former comrades. Spears and axes that had once fought beside them now swung with undead strength, their attacks unpredictable and relentless.

“Hold the line!” Canis barked, his voice cutting through the panic. He stepped into the fray, his blade flashing as it carved through another wave of undead.

But for every zombie cut down, a skeleton would arise, given unlife by the Necromancer’s magic. Vincenzio stood at the center of the chaos, his staff glowing with unholy energy as he directed the undead. Skeletal warriors and zombies were a terrifying new element to the fight.

The Necromancer grinned wickedly as he started to weave his magic.

I went with the undead, becoming the hammer, becoming the tip of the spear. The lust for more experience was upon me. The zombies, skeletons, and I jockeyed to gain as much experience as possible. A friendly competition to see who could reap the greater portion of lives.

Necromancer himself unleashed another wave of bone spears, targeting adventurers who had drawn bows and other projectile weapons in an attempt to pick him off from a distance. Falling back, they scattered for whatever cover there was.

Amid the fray, I crashed into the adventurers with unrelenting force, my weapon rising and falling as I hammered down stubborn nails. The undead, although very durable, were lacking in skill and speed but they made for good meat shields. 

Across the melee, Canis and I locked eyes.

Grinning wickedly, I used Improved Rush Strike and Improved Shield Bash to carve a path through the chaos. The undead surged into the gap behind me, falling upon the living.

Notifications flooded my vision, but I ignored them. The harvest demanded more.

I struck out with my hammer, a testing blow that Canis narrowly evaded. Casually, he countered with a slashing cut that seemed to pass through my armor, striking directly at my Health. Still, it would not be enough.

"You'll need more than that," I snarled, swinging Bellringer again.

I was finally beginning to enjoy myself.

"You do not know what you do, madman!" spat Canis.

"If I'm mad, as you say," I replied, bashing one of his men in the face with my Mimic shield and sending him flying into his comrades, "then that's nothing more than stating the obvious."

I moved away from Canis, thinking to save the best dish for last. Beating a boss usually involved dealing with their minions first, so I set about gathering experience from the easier prey.

Easier prey being, of course, Gold and Silver adventurers. It was almost laughable how quickly I had grown in power. Death, Death, and more Death were the fuel. Dismissing my Mimic shield for a moment as zombies and skeletons swarmed around me, I picked up a small iron shortsword.

Smiling to myself, I activated Inferno Bolt as I threw the shortsword into what remained of the Adventurer's Guild's formation—what little was left of it. The burning sword splashed against them, searing flesh as it burned blazing hot. As expected, their higher-level protective magics gave them resistance to my spells directly, but indirectly they had no defense against the molten metal.

I burned through five Mana, grabbing whatever was on the ground or in the hands of the undead and hurling them at the adventurers. More died, the scorching heat too much for them, healing potions unable to keep up with the raw damage.

More notifications glorified my new tactics—a confirmation of my greatness.

In the end, victory was inevitable. Vincenzio had dealt with the Geomancers and the ranged combatants directly, while his minions and I had mopped up the heavy infantry. All except for Canis had now been cut down. He glared at us, defiance still lighting his eyes.

"Any last words, Canis? You do know you really brought this upon yourself..." I asked civilly now that the day was all but won.

"You think me beaten, whelp..." he spat back.

"One does think that looks like the way of it... Kill him now and be done with it. One can question his spirit later, willing or not," advised Vincenzio dryly.

"And you too, corpse-lover..." Canis grinned. "The Goddess has not yet abandoned me..." His hand went to his neck, and he ripped off a necklace.

There was a shift as I sensed something, something familiar, fill the man. He was about to release a great spell or something, and I did not want to see him finish it. "Have a taste of the First Spell... so simple even I can cast it!" he laughed crazily. "And now... I no longer need to worry about those who have sworn the oath!" he added wryly, mouthing a few lines in a language I did not know.

"Vincenzio!" I cried as I used Rush Strike to close the gap, striking out with my hammer.

Canis parried the blow, a crazed gleam in his eye as more power—the very song of Mana—filled him. It was the gaze of a man who had accepted death and was intent on taking down as many as he could with him.

Seconds later, a spear of bone flew at the Guildmaster, but he casually rolled aside, launching a swipe at me which my Mimic shield blocked.

This man was stubborn as a mule. Dread came over me as I could almost feel the spell nearing completion. Desperation driving me, I dismissed my Mimic shield, and it disappeared into my body in a flow of vine-like threads. Hooking my hammer, I attempted to grapple Canis.

He took the opportunity to stab me in the gut, his arcane weapon piercing through my armor with its ghostly touch. A full two hundred Health drained from me, and I could taste blood in my mouth.

There was no time to worry about it. Before he could stab me again, I grabbed him with my overwhelming Strength. He tried to struggle, but I was unrelenting.

With titanic effort and unheeding of the precipitous cost to my Stamina, I used Improved Power Strike in both arms simultaneously, launching him at the miniature dome where Zariyah lay trapped.

And Canis simply exploded—a great explosion that tore at the very air and ate at the fabric of reality. A great keening sound of pure magic as the First Spell manifested in the world.

Automatically, my Mimic shield came to my defense, reforming almost instantly in a great tower shield, a single spike stabbing into the ground as the full force of the explosion crashed over me. We held for a few seconds as new waves erupted from where Canis had unleashed the spell. Notifications flashed across my vision, and I ignored them all save for one.

Quickly, I spent my attribute points on the only thing that could possibly save me, Constitution, before even I was blown away by the next wave. I crashed against the wall of the dome, trying to fight against the blackness that threatened to overwhelm me before I knew no more.

Just before I unwillingly entered that realm, I thought I heard the taunting laugh of a hateful goddess.