LaughYeAmer

Chapter 53: Silver Eyes [Act 2 Prologue]

The smell of ash and lightning hung in the air, even as Lune was dragged away from the ruined battlefield by the nightmarish knights of the Wild Hunt.

The Eldarin Princess struggled to breathe, black ice clogging her lungs and the gaping wound on her chest. The sword wound left previously by her father had been sealed with blighted frost, preventing her death by blood loss.

But only just. The pain was agonising to behold, no doubt an intent from her accrued custodian.

The sh...

Chapter 52: The Dead Zone Demon [Act 1 End]

 “As far as first negotiations go, it is not perfect,” the Reaper smiled. Despite her words, the joy on her lips was impossible to hide. “But it will suffice as a lesson for you. Remember that a weapon cannot bargain for its fate, so if you wish to become more than a mere tool of slaughter, seek to employ the means of diplomacy wherever you ply your services.”

“If I had known I was getting married today, I would have pre...

Chapter 51: Swear

The Reaper waited.

Time passed. A second, a minute, an hour. It meant nothing.

Axel stood rooted still. His body trembled. His teeth were gritted.

Every fibre of his body fought against him. His mind screamed at him to move.

To make that final choice. To simply turn his head and let the Reaper’s blade part his neck.

Finally, after an eternity, Axel broke.

“I can’t,” he gasped. “God help me, I can’t. I won’t. I can’t.”

The sh...

Chapter 50: Why

Axel gasped awake.

His pain was gone, but so was the sensation of his limbs or torso. He was floating, drifting across empty space.

Darkness stretched as far as his eyes could see. He was standing on nothing, dressed in nothing. Blackness surrounded him from all sides.

“No… No, no, NO!”

He was dead. Axel had died.

The thought should have been a jubilant one. For so long, he carved the embrace of the end, fought for so long to earn that sweet release he gran...

Chapter 49: The Mercy of Death

At that distance, Axel could not miss.

None was close enough to stop him. Not even the King, for all his impossible speed, could have prevented Axel in time.

And so, with a grim determination holding back the spiral of madness, the Demon cleaved Lune from shoulder to stomach, halberd blade severing neck and spine.

Lune gave one final choke. 

Then, she fell over, dead.

It was quick, painless. Once again, a heavy quiet fell over the valley. Axel sighed, breath...

Chapter 48: The Harbinger's Duty

The wind knocked Axel off his feet before he could react.

It wasn’t a blizzard’s cold that struck him, but rather a fiery summer breeze that warmed his bones and mended his frostbite.

Ymir’s magic. The Giant had pushed him out of the way right as the King’s greatsword stabbed for Axel’s heart again.

There would be no time for a third attempt on Axel’s life as the last Sky Titan descended with all the rage of a rampaging beast. 

One of Ymir’s arms was...

Chapter 47: The King of Fae

The last of the Lune’s green fire guttered in the snow, flames dying like whispers swallowed by the wind.

An unnatural frost-blue light came from the mists, illuminating the grounds with a chilling glow. Axel could not help but shiver. His breath steamed in the dark. Every hair on his arms bristled beneath his worn Fae armour. 

He could feel it — the world growing still with every passing second. The wind no longer dared howl in the presence of a God-King.

The eight...

Chapter 46: The Wild Hunt Cometh

“Take the Demon and run!”

Ymir roared out that lone command to Lune before he charged forth to meet the horde, the earth shaking under the weight of his steps as he ripped out the iron pillar and called upon the wind.

The reaping frost was coming, heralded by eighteen spectral riders with their silver-blue lances dipped low for the harvest. At the head, larger than the horde of freezing darkness, was the King of the Wild Hunt, charging straight for Axel with his greatsword rai...

Chapter 45: The Final Frost

Silence. His Reaper was the first to comment.

[... Oof.]

“... That’s it?” Axel complained. “I sacrificed 8 points in all my Skills for this? I sacrificed all those boss loots for this? I could have got a Dragon Sword! I could have had an endless supply of alcohol!”

“Stop being so agitated,” Lune grumbled. “You are scaring the grub.”

The Eldarin was standing beside him. Axel was so distracted by his loot box opening that he didn’t ev...

Chapter 44: More Power

Axel took the time to ponder carefully. Eventually, he shrugged and allocated his points.

~~~

[84 Free Skill Points spent!]

Skills

Remaining Free Skill Points: 0 

Offensive skill

Strength (Str): 73 (42+31)

Dexterity (Dex): 25

Perception (Per): 25

Intelligence (Int): 23

Defensive skill

Endurance (End): 50

Agility (Agl): 100 (70+30)

Serendipity (Ser): 16

W...

Chapter 43: Making Plans

Axel raised an eyebrow. “You’re saying I can save billions of my people out of their individual hellholes right now?”

“Don’t be stupid, it’s not that simple,” Lune groaned. “You can’t just simply become the God-Leader of your people because you decide it so.”

“Is being the strongest not enough? Because I’m ninety-nine percent sure I’m the strongest of my race right now,” Axel said before he blinked and paused. “No, wait, scratch that. Make it...

Chapter 42: Turning of Fates

Axel limped over to the side, cradling a broken arm as he summoned a health potion and drank it. His arm snapped back into place as it rapidly healed, and the wounds surrounding his body were sealed.

Lune walked over, her eyes relieved. She bowed towards the Giant. “Great Ymir, thank you.”

“There is nothing for you to thank me for,” the General grunted. “The decision to spare him was my own. Make no mistake, had he not come to the realisation of his inner self, I would h...

Chapter 41: Do not Betray Yourself

“You damn cheater,” Axel accused.

The Giant snorted. “Says the one who literally revived the dead to fight for him.”

“I don’t think they were revived, per se… Feels more like they were corpses being puppeted,” Axel replied. “Still trying to get the hang of things. A pity I shall not have a chance to master it.”

“You are surrendering, then?” Ymir asked.

“I’m all out of juice,” Axel admitted freely. “Drained dry and out of moves. Don’t t...

Chapter 40: Dead Arisen

Lune was the first to move.

She dragged Axel’s crippled body out of the way, right as the Giant wrestled the feral dragon to the ground. The slithering drake crawled and moved with an insect’s skittering agility, turning the Giant’s strength against it as it scrambled all over his body and raked Ymir with a dozen burning lacerations — courtesy of its acidic, scythe-like appendages.

The two titans roared and fought each other with earth-bending fury. Ymir bodily seized the ...

Chapter 39: I, Your Demon

“You do him no favours for this,” the Giant declared, even as Lune stood between them. “Step aside.”

“He already gave you his answer,” Lune coldly countered. “His honest answer. Is that not enough?”

“It is not. Do not mistake my intent. I take no pleasure in this,” Ymir snapped. “But it must be done. He is broken, and if left alive, the System will mould him into an instrument of their murderous entertainment. Killing him is a kindness — both for h...

Chapter 38: On Even Grounds

The pillar came down — a roaring wall of iron and impossible momentum. Axel rolled, his body rubbing hard against the ground as the massive weapon howled over him. It missed by inches, and the wind of its passing dragged at his tattered armour. The earth shattered beside him with a deafening boom, raining gravel and stone.

Is he trying to kill me or get me to talk?! 

Axel scrambled to his feet, only to see the Giant already turning, raising the pillar again. <...

Chapter 37: Speak Honest Words

AN: Sorry for the delay today. Laptop issues.

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The Giant crossed the distance between them in an eyeblink. 

That statement was not metaphorical. In the span of less than a second, the Giant was standing before Axel. There was no physical way a creature of his size and bulk could have moved so fast. It was as if the concept of inertia had ceased to matter.

Ymir swung his weapon — without a word, without even the faintest sign of effort — as his muscles co...

Chapter 36: Prepare Yourself

Dead silence.

Axel studied the text calmly. The Giant did so too, expressionless save for a slight tightening of his frown.

Lune’s face was practically in a snarl. She was the first to speak: “Those… motherfuckers…”

She had hissed the last word out. Such was the vitriol in her voice that Axel barked out a laugh. “An apt description. Colourful. I approve.”

The Giant smiled, showing fangs. It was not an amused grin. “I believe I am being bribed.�...

Chapter 35: A Moment's Respite

~~~

There was a joke here somewhere.

Three people — a Giant, a soldier, and a poisoner — huddled around a campfire in a canyon, surrounded by the mangled corpses of a Dragon, four festering insect-women, and a dead Prince whose head resembled a raspberry pottage.

The soldier sniffed, eating his cooked rations by the fire. “Anyone want to hear a joke?”

The Eldarin female glared at him. The Giant sitting on a boulder some ways away snorted.

No answer. Axel ...

Chapter 34: One Second of Eternity

The Fae Dragonrider blinked.

He was… Where was he?

A blank space. Darkness. How did he get here? What had he been doing?

He… He was fighting? No, it was barely a fight. He had been playing with his victim. A creature most brutal, yet powerless in his hands, as were all lesser lifeforms.

Yes… It was called ‘Human’. But the way it acted and behaved gave it the moniker fitting of all abnormals within the Great Game. 

Demon.

He had that ...

Chapter 33: Vain Dragonrider

Axel collapsed to his knees, wheezing hard.

He felt on the brink of death. Every part of him was in agony.

But he had done it. He killed that damn dragon.

The Quest to exit the Zone… To free himself of this deathtrap of a gauntlet…

Was complete.

[... Well done. Even I was uncertain you would be capable. But this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt: I was not wrong in choosing you. You have done it. You have accomplished an Impossible Feat — t...