City of Sin

Book 5, 84

Pride And Honour(2)

Listening to Richard describe the situation in the Land of Dusk, the grand mages felt their hearts shudder. They knew just how terrifying the battlefields of despair were, and only the first few of Sharon’s entourage were actually skilled in battle. Most of the grand mages of the Deepblue were researchers, and in a battlefield with no rules nor protectors even a skaven could kill them off with ease.

“You should consider this deeply,” a white-haired grand mage spoke up, the oldest of the group, “You aren’t yet a grand mage, and there are great dangers lurking in there. It would be wisest to go only after you’ve grown stronger.”

However, Richard just laughed it off, “Don’t worry, I’m used to the place. I’ve already lived there for more than a year, there shouldn’t be too much of a problem.” As he said that, his hand immediately shaped up like a knife and thrust forward in excitement.

......

The very next day, Richard was in the Land of Dusk once more. He hadn’t bid Flowsand goodbye this time either; he was still afraid of losing his determination to go if he saw her. He was now confident in dealing with most Daxdians, but fighting legendary beings was still near impossible. He had just promised her he wouldn’t put himself in more danger than necessary, and couldn’t bear to tell her that he could very well be breaking his word.

Standing on the familiar cliff, surveying the earth scarred by battle, he felt a myriad of emotions overcoming him. This was the first time he had come here in an official capacity, as a member of the Sacred Alliance helping the humans win the war. He knew that he might never return, but he was only filled with a sense of pride.

Nostalgia was a strange feeling. Years in the past, he had never expected himself to be capable of it. Now, however, he could feel it almost pulsing in his veins. A mocking smile appeared on his face as he pulled out the dagger form of Carnage, leaping down the edge of the cliff.

As he shot down the cliffside, his arm suddenly grabbed onto a nearby crevice and stopped his body in mid-air. A black blade quietly whipped past his feet, almost cutting the soles of his boots. If he had continued to fly down at the same speed, he would have been cut in half.

Richard simply thrust his dagger downwards, cutting the blade in two before releasing his hand and continuing to drop. The would-be ambusher was a blade guardian, a mantis-like humanoid with a third pair of three-toed limbs.

The blade guardian’s small, transparent wings immediately started buzzing in an attempt to fly away, but Richard grabbed one of its legs and whipped around, tossing it down. The creature turned around in mid-air, but seeing the flames gathering in Richard’s hands it didn’t dare to open up its wings and try to fly once more. It was currently a few metres below him, and closing the gap meant certain death.

The two figures plummeted nearly a thousand metres towards the ground before Richard suddenly smiled meaningfully, extinguishing the fireball and casting Featherfall. The Daxdian roared and finally reacted, but having failed to realise just how close it was to the ground, it crashed down into a splatter of blood. By the time Richard even touched the ground, it had stopped moving.

“So easy,” Richard shrugged, whistling as he started harvesting the corpse. His personality changed the moment he entered the Land of Dusk, something he consciously forced to distract himself from the ever-looming chance of death. He knelt down and opened an enchanted case, beginning to put in the power crystals, wings, and the one remaining front limb.

Just as the blade was placed into the case, Richard suddenly slammed the Twin of Destiny into the ground. A bolt of lightning flashed down and struck a skaven that was trying to ambush him, the grade 6 spell not fatal but strong enough to paralyse the creature in the middle of its pounce. Carnage buried itself into the creature’s skull, and he only grumbled about wasting mana as he finished his work.

A few minutes later, Richard had resumed his journey towards the Unsetting Sun. He didn’t travel fast, instead constantly leaving traces of his scent behind. The scent was all a trap, designed to lure over Daxdians for him to kill.

......

The occasional howl rang through the scarred land as an ursa general bounded towards his target, drool constantly spilling down onto the earth. His roars travelled a great distance, warning other Daxdians not to approach his prey.

The warlord found his prey in a redstone forest, and charged straight at the enemy without even speaking. Richard had nothing to say either, and wouldn’t bother with a language comprehension spell.

This ursa warlord was even stronger than Tiramisu, leaving a huge crater with each missed hammer strike, but Richard used his advantage of speed to minimise the damage taken. The battle quickly reached a stalemate; the warlord couldn’t hit Richard, but a layer of scaly armour below the fur was more durable than epic grade equipment. However, Richard’s hands eventually glowed red and he thrust his blade forward, activating all of his Lifesbanes for a thrust with the elven sword.

The Daxdian roared loudly, swiping at the elven sword to slap it out of the way, but Richard used a gravity spell to delay himself just long enough for the parry to miss. His hand continued to glow as he thrust upwards, blood splattering everywhere while a severed penis flew into the sky. The shouts of anger quickly turned into whimpers of pain, and despite savage pounces in Richard’s direction the ursa eventually bled out. Richard pierced the head with his sword, ending its life.

As he pulled out the elven sword, Richard looked behind himself only to find two wanga sorcerers staring warily in his direction. The male and female inched forward, both reluctant to start a battle.

Richard just pointed at them and gave them the finger, something that was a universal insult to most intelligent races. The sorcerers roared and rushed forward, but instead of getting closer to him they headed towards the ursa corpse instead. Richard hesitated before understanding something, sauntering over to the penis he had cut off and putting it in an empty sealing case. The Daxdians didn’t give chase as he left, instead standing atop the corpse as though it had been their hard-earned victory.

While ursa penis was very beneficial for a human, most Daxdians cared more about flesh and blood. Richard and the two Daxdians had reached a silent agreement; neither would take on a battle they were unsure of.