When they battled long enough, Egor the celestial beast dropped to his knees, covered in cuts and stabs, across from him stood the king of Asaroth, breathing heavily and harmed as he gripped his sword tightly, he almost sighed in relief before he heard the screech of the creature.
The gigantic being began to twist where he knelt, clawing at his own flesh and ripping it apart, only then Roegan understood what he was seeing, Egor was shedding his flesh and skin, a canvas of blood as it tore and clawed on its own flesh until his true form appeared, standing at the same height as before, though he was much thinner and his flesh was flayed, his limbs longer than before, his eyes reducing to a singular eye at the center of his face, his fingers long and clawed, he sacrificed his strength for agility and an unholy presence matched with a nightmarish appearance and a disgusting odor.
Egor cracked his neck, his head twisting and so did his eye while his claws dug in deep into the ground, from the whimpers he made with each move he took, words slipped through his abomination of a mouth. "By what right do you decide who lives, beast slayer? "
Roegan was still recovering, his breaths sharp and short, he choked less on his blood which meant that his recovery is in the procces and would not take much longer, yet he needed the delay thus he answered."The right of my blood, my ancestry and my kingship, pick your choice, or rather your poison, for you will not live to see the night. "
Egor hissed, his saliva dripping into the ground and melting the very formation of the rock, his crimson eye bleeding into his flayed flesh, and his words screeching."I, I, I, I spit on them all! Your kind killed ours, hunted us for no more reason than to hang our bones as trophies! "
"Seeing you, and smelling you, " Roegan insulted. "What they done was mercy, for only a mother can love that face... And that's an if. "
Egor growled as his head twisted, once, twice and a third time in a fit of rage as he screamed, his voice piercing through Roegan ears. "I will not take those words from a lesser being! I shall end you, and gnaw on your seedlings bones for eternity! "
The beast hands dug into the ground as it lowered its body and prepared for a charge, and by that time Roegan had recovered from the injury he sustained, though his body was a tad bit slower, his reaction was all the same, once the creature charged leaving behind a trail of dust and crushed rocks, Roegan jumped to the side and rolled to his feet, narrowly avoiding it's charge and slashing one of his hands fingers off as it went into the wall, smashing into it and shaking the cave with his movements yet it did not end, for Egor scaled his way up the wall proving to be a proficient beast with his remaining claws and long limbs, crawling the same as an insect in a frenzy of rage and hunger, making its way to a higher point on the wall, it jumped down at Roegan, claws forward slashing at where the man stood, but the king had jumped ahead, falling under the creature with his sword in hand and using a swift motion, he slashed at its flayed belly, Egor screamed and screeched as he jumped away into a safer distance, Roegan quickly stood to his feet and huffed heavily seeing that the cut he had made was nothing a but a surface wound and the beast was only far more angrier.
The creature drooled and lunged ahead, instead of a straight, relentless charge, it swung it's claws and clawless hand, from side to side at a quick succession and while Roegan managed to the dodge the first few, the last one came a bit too close and he had no choice but to move ahead and brace for impact, else he would lose his armor, or even worse, his head.
Egor palm clashed with Roegan sword and body, throwing him off into the distance and crashing him into the wall, the king coughed up as every inch of his body cracked under the weight of the strike and his own armor, his blood spilled into the mail veil of his helmet and his fists clenched against his sword as he shoved it down into the ground, maintain his stand and regaining his footing, his ears were ringing and his vision was blurry, dizziness dawned on him as his breath grew heavier and the reeking smell of the beast filled his nostrils, the man had gone too far in a battle worse than the ember scorpion beast that he once fought.
One moment he was standing in a battle to the death, the other he found his mind drifting to thoughts and memories of a time long gone, but the king was not aware of what was real and what was not, all he could see was the marshes, he stood there again, a field of ravaged soil in a valley that served as the only path between the marshes and the imperial province of Sorren, there it would be their last stand where thousands stood, most wore sleeves padded cloth, some wore nothing and the more fortunate either wore half a plate, chain mail or the bone mold. Such as himself, a bone armored young Tatar lordling behind his father, Turik son of Nuvon, he could not recall his face nor the faces of the many others that stood in that battle except for a younger Xao, yet he remembered some of the words said.
Truth be told, he was anxious for his first uneven battle, a last stand, he heard in the hushed whispers of the many around him, though his father assured him. "If you eat, you eat, if you sleep, you sleep, if you fuck, you fuck... And if you fight, you fight, no half measures, no regrets,"
And they battled their last battle, five thousand Asarothians against twenty thousand imperials in a valley where blades crossed with melodies of death and agony, they fought long and hard through half a day but they could only do so much with the numbers they had, he watched as his father skull was split into half, a blade driven deep into his mouth and slicing through the helmet and flesh, Xeroium metal held by one of the empires princes, but that one did not live to see another day, for Roegan had felt the awakening, the sentient state of a hunter, and the rest was history, by the time the battle came to an end, the once clear stream that ran through the valley took the color of red wine, and the valley was named death valley, only two men walked out of that place, Roegan and Xao, and his companion vowed to never speak about the awakening he saw, although both would never forget, and Roegan would never feel it once more.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
But as his mind was brought back to reality, he felt a hint of it, a stinging feeling, a small void near his heart, the sensation that one could expand further than what he was, that he could be so much more, higher than a king, mightier than a Tatar, he could taste it's sweet yet sour scent, his eyes widened, seeing that Egor made his way to him, the monster claws aimed to Roegan's head, but the king seeing through the beast motion allowed him fairly changed his momentum into his side, leaning his head slightly to the right, the claws broke through the side of his helm, the bone of the helm shattered and the veil of mail broke apart, and through the pierce, Roegan lost an ear as it ripped off his head.
Yet the king could not linger, he bit into the inside of his cheek, ignoring the agonizing pain and the leaking wound, from the ground he rose his bone shredder great sword high up into the air before swinging it down and cutting into the clawed arm of the celestial beast, a screech followed from the beast and Roegan sword smacked into the ground, turning pieces of rubble into smaller stones that floated in the blood of the arm he taken, or perhaps his own ear, he did not know, for he knew nothing but how to kill his foe, though it was not an awakening, it was far from it and strangely close to it.
Roegan held his sword over his shoulder, and set his hand into his knee, breathing heavily, he looked forward towards the beast which screamed, cursed and screeched, once their gazes met, the beast held tightly with his fingerless hand into his maimed arm.
"Feeble hunter! " Egor screamed. "I took joy when I watched the imperials slaughter your folk and I would have done so myself if it was not for Haloth order. "
"Haloth order? Haloth the tower whale? He made you come here? " Roegan asked and expected no clear answer.
"No! No! No! No more orders from him! " Egor smacked the ground his hand and cried out. "silenced! His voice is silenced! Now we are free! The call of the first born echoes from castle ember! "
"The first born...? " Roegan was puzzled.
"Agh, it hurts—" The flayed beast squirmed and rolled into the ground as he drooled with acid. "it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts! " his rolling ceased, and he began crawling towards the wall and up where a sword in an inhumane size awaited, he grabbed into it with the only hand he had and pulled it out, he pulled and pulled but the weapon did not seem to end from its sheer length, until it was out and he fell to the ground alongside it, it was as tall as he was, and as he knelt into his feet and carried it upon his back, the air around him took a shift, his screaming turned into fast twitches and never ending mutters and mumbles.
"Come, beast." Roegan exclaimed and an answer shortly came as the celestial took a charge at him but along the way, he circled on himself and swung his long sword around in a tornado of furious attacks that smashed up the ground around him and sprayed rubble around the cave, some came Roegan's way, however the beast slayer deflected them with the side of his bone great sword, then the two forces came into contact, with the beast waving his blade to split Roegan into half, and Roegan blocking the blow with his unbreakable bone shredder sword, it blow him off to the side and into the wall, he felt his brain shake inside his head, he could no longer feel his left side and his knees went limp, but the beast slayer was not done.
Egor sprawled ahead on his bent slender legs, he spat acid where Roegan was, despite the injures, the king warrior warrior was quick to take hold of his great sword with a one handed grip and slashed through the acid, splitting it into half and scattering it besides him, it did not end, for the celestial impaled his sword into the air and at Roegan, the warrior had no choice but to improvise, he was desperate, and with that came desperate measures, a feline would gnaw its paw to escape a trap, and so he would, he would abandon his weapon and leave himself defenseless, he took a breath and threw his sword as he would throw a spear at the abomination face, forcing him to shift his weight, thus the sword of the monster broke into the wall instead of ending Roegan's rein on Asaroth.
"Malynn! My sword!" Roegan shouted as he ran ahead, the celestial was yet to loosen his grip on his own sword, and with his maimed hand, he had little time to react and little to do, the king grabbed into the unholy celestial thigh, climbing into the flayed flesh as the celestial screamed and abandoned his stuck sword, Roegan quickly made his way up the flesh and muscles from the back and climbed into the beast own neck, and as Egor tried to throw him off, Roegan punched and kicked at the beast face.
"Damn you! " He yelled out as he dug his finger into the Celestial singular eye, the beast screeched and reached with his hands for Roegan, but one was maimed and the other was fingerless, it screeched and screamed with despair as it began spraying acid around it in a frenzy of agony and pain becoming desperate, Roegan could not risk it, he unhanded the eye and clung tightly into the neck, choking him with what he had left of might and strength, the grip was strong and he took a few strikes and punches, he felt his ribs Crack but he would not let it end, he came too far, he fought too hard, he was almost awakened, he came close, but he could not achieve it, he closed his eyes and thoughy to himself that the least he would do is to rid the world of one accursed being.
His thoughts and efforts came to an end as he heard a shred through flesh, his eyes opened and under him he saw his daughter, her eyes shaky but her hands firm as she stabbed the sword into the beast chest, the monster gargled and dropped to his back as Roegan pushed himself off, lest the celestial would crush him, he felt the weight of the world dawn on his body as he laid side by side to the beast.
"Father! By the gods no, your arm— your face!" He heard his daughter speak and felt her touch, but he paid her no mind, he looked to the side and watched as the abomination gargled, coughed and cried out with a sword in its chest, too weak to pull it out, the king watched the soul leave the body of his foe, his feline eyes in his state could glimpse it, the soul of his foe, the essence, chained and dragged to gates of stone, and shortly after, Roegan could see no longer and feel no more, the king prevailed, Asaroth prevailed, he told himself one last time.
