The Amber Sword

The curtain of fire brushed upon the top of his head as Brendel frantically patted onto the residual flames on his head, yet had to watch as his coat succumbed to fire, akin to one made of the same material. A gust of wind swept onto him, spawns of fire flickered into the air, leaving the young Count topless in the blistering cold of the symphony of rain and hail, lonesomely enduring the frostbiting cold.

Brendel, shaking like a leaf, would have been completely fine half-naked cultivating in the snow given his current stats. But in this realm, the piercing cold seeped right into his bones.

It was all from the Icy Law.

“Fucking hell, now this is the real song of ice and fire!” He couldn’t help but curse at the circumstance he was in, yet applauding his luck for cheating death by evading the Giant Dragon with the Nine Luminaries Sword Art.

Dragon breath was nonetheless still something that would terrify him upon sight.

Even within a radius of dozens of meters, the heatwave that came along with a single flap of its wings would burn him into crisp, one that leaves him with a timely reminder of the malevolence of the Giant Dragons. After having Aloz as the friendly representative of the Giant Dragons around him, he nearly forgot that the tribe was the Soaring overlords of the skies, the most fearsome and dominant presence this world ever had.

Brendel then turned back to look, only to see the two Giant dragons taking flight towards the far direction, with no sign of turning back anytime soon. Right then, he could once again focus his sights on Korfa, whose presence was only a cliff away.

Brendel stopped right by the last pike, his head lifted high.

Dim Korfa stood motionlessly where she was at the edge of the cliff, her pupils seemingly shining through the drizzling overcast sky as their eyes met.

The Frost Giants’ attacks too appeared to be on hold from Korfa’s sole action.

“You’ve seen the Mother?” She solemnly asked, her voice stern but hardly loud, yet it resonated through the battlefield. Dim Korfa at this point had toned down her rage, from her tightly sealed lips and her stone-cold gaze at least.

But deep down Brendel knew she had only concealed her immense fury within.

He nodded.

“Then how did you control the Wolf pack?”

“Why don’t you take a quick guess?” Brendel answered with a smile.

Dim Korfa watched, slightly perturbed at the brash young mortal, “It does not matter, for today you will die here, with me,” The teenager remarked, stern-faced.

“I guess not, because I never planned to die here,” Brendel shook his head as he smiled, broader than ever, “Not just that, I’m also here to save you.”

“Save me?”

Dim Korfa was caught off guard, her immense hatred delved down into a smile as she rebuked, “Hilarious, utter nonsense,” She raised her hand, and what came next was a bolt of lightning slithering through the clouds, lighting up the sky in a blinding flash, followed closely by roaring thunder. Amidst all that was DimKorfa’s stoic command, “Daughters of the sea, demolish your enemies!”

Brendel could see the turbulent waves, crashing onto the cliff on which Korfa stood. Just moments before, across the vast plains, waves came rushing in, swallowing it whole. Next came several elongated skeletons, one after another poking out of the water. They were deep-sea creatures that all shared the same name, the Offspring of Hydra.

Countless Hydras, twelve-headed snakes and fifteen-headed serpents revealed themselves before Brendel, all coming with the waves.

Their gigantic structures towered over the landscapes, like rolling hills one after another, totalling up to over a hundred.

And behind their hill-like bodies, shrouded behind the clouds was a towering presence, seemingly outlining the horizon.

Brendel could instantly identify what it was just from the silhouette of such an enormous being.

Sentient beasts.

However, at this point, she was no longer the Demon of Hati. In this realm, she was the King of Hydras, and as the overlord of the realm, Korfa’s imagination came to her aid.

Watching the terrifyingly massive figure partially shielded behind the clouds, Brendel finally understood the crucial difference between the Ultimate realm and the Divine kingdom.

This was a world of self-sufficient systems.

Except one thing.

“Korfa is truly going mad,” Brendel shook his head in dismay. If her only goal was to see him dead, she had undoubtedly gone beyond the path of no return.

The dramatic scenes unfolding before him were majestic nonetheless, but just to defeat him was absolutely beyond necessary, and by doing so Dim Korfa was just extensively burning her energy.

She knew, yet she insisted. Call it thick-headedness, but it was mostly just for her to vent pent-up rage.

At the end of the day, Hati’s Eldest daughter was just not an actual god.

Naturally, she was still attempting to try her luck in finding the truth behind the nation of the true gods. Regardless, Brendel thought the chances were very small, and from the recorded interactions there were with the prehistoric era, she was never the eternally cunning person. Instead, comparatively, Compassionate Korfa was far wiser and well-tempered than she was now.

Deep down Brendel had the misconception that Korfa was actually the masterminding eldest daughter of Hati, and Dim Korfa was just another side of her that she had hidden away from the world until now. What he could never wrap his head around was how a warm and compassionate young woman would be the commander of the Twilight Wolf tribe from the prehistoric era.

To think the Compassionate Korfa, who wouldn’t risk involving another person into any battle, less so to die in her stead, would summon legions of creatures to their deaths was mind-boggling to Brendel. She was the true peace bringer. Was.

Brendel shook off the convoluting thoughts in his head, for before himself, the Hydras began to creep onshore, slowly surrounding him.

He once again looked up towards Korfa as he took to asking, nonetheless with a smile on his face, “Ms. Korfa, I do have a question however...”

Dim Korfa appeared tense as she curled her brows, not comprehending as to why that bastard of a mortal was not even remotely struggling when his life was at stake, but instead, wasting this last moment asking silly questions.

“Do you have something in mind, or have you given up?” She lightly sighed, but seeing how he appeared to be unbothered for his life, she was more than glad to comply with his questionnaire.

“Questions?”

“What feud does your family have with the Sentient beasts?”

Dim Korfa was stunned, “What do you mean?” She was slightly taken aback, yet uncertain at that moment on how to act. Looking at the muffled grin on his face, seemingly teasing herself instantly fueled the ever-burning rage within her.

“You damned scum, how dare you play a fool of me at the brink of your demise!”

She clenched her teeth, ready to call the attack, but just then, Brendel carefreely leapt off the cliff, and into the Frost Giant’s barricade.

“You’ve given up?”

She just could not fathom what other reason would induce him to do such a thing.

But yet she was spun dizzily by the absurd decisions the mortal chose to take, time and time again. One moment intentionally provoking her, the next seemingly surrendering. What the hell is the meaning of this, is this to provoke me?

But none of it was child’s play.

“Don’t let him die, seize him!” She outright demanded as he ranted, “Dying is too much of a mercy.”

The words were just out before something even more peculiar happened.

Dim Korfa noticed that Brendel, upon taking his back hop off the cliff, had vanished into thin air, no sign of him or his scent.

Dim Korfa was petrified. Worried that she had made a grave mistake, she frantically searched all corners of Milos’ realm, now that it was also hers to own, there was no nook or cranny that he could have hid from her vision. A quick scan with Perception found the scents of the usual few, Ash sword saint Mephisto, Veronica, Ciel, Peja and Yaruta, and no one else.

Then her brows twitched, ever so slightly. She felt a life hidden under the platform, which instantly perked her memory. It was the human priest, she actually managed to escape from certain death, impressive. But these bugs do not matter. Where is he? Where. Is. Brendel?!

Her Awareness scanned through the entire platform like antivirus software. Unsurprisingly, it was still the usual few once again, no other mortal was found in her realm.

“How is this possible?” Dim Korfa was stupefied. Given the current situation, Brendel must have been sent away by a certain spell or transported to a different realm.

But those are impossible outcomes for multiple reasons! Notwithstanding the obvious truth that it is impossible to hide in my realm, this entire platform is fenced off by the Dimension anchor, any Space or realm spell would be locked, how can he achieve such magic under these circumstances!

Her mind was in a frenzy, paranoia of the unknown. A living person vanishing from her realm under her breath, what sorcery was this?

Just then, the voice she was anticipating to hear came from behind her, calm as ever.

“Are you looking for me?”

Dim Korfa at that moment was distraught, like a toddler separated from her mother. Gradually turning to look at the mere mortal that had, through the preceding events became her greatest nightmare, she pointed with her mouth hung wide, “You...this...you….you…”

Whilst she struggled to finish her sentence, her mind was flipping through all the possibilities for his abrupt disappearance and subsequent reappearance. Upon sharing a glance, she realized it was all too simple.

Brendel that appeared before her right then had no human scent at all and was instead covered with overwhelming demon scent. It identically resembled the Hydra she summoned.

“You, how did you do it?” Korfa’s voice nearly cracked.

Many magic skills could mask him as a demon.

But if it was a masking skill it would not have been effective at all in her realm, seeing as the magic surge would expose the skill itself, the same applied to magic items.

And the Brendel before her eyes had no magic surge, neither was there any effect from magic items. What she felt was the real deal, a true demon, without any frills.

Brendel cracked a faint smile once again, yet kept his silence.

The logic was actually rather simple, he was now a Demon, and his Demon energy came from his Elite skills, a skill that on its own was already a Demon-type skill. The term “Elite” however was never heard on a player’s title.

Elite skill: Demonize

Level 1: [Basics] [Expert/Normal]

In what little time, completely masking himself with the scent of a demon, ensuring any demon below the level of Lord would refrain from any attacks unless the user were to attack first.

Unfortunately, if only Korfa did not wipe her own laws clean, if she was still the Chief Warg, Hati’s eldest daughter, and was not currently a god, as the lord of Demons, she would have easily identified him. But history does not offer second chances, ifs or buts, and Brendel was holding in his teasing laughter that coincidences, one after another lined up perfectly leading him to stand where he was, right before her.

He raised the staff, standing in position as beads of chilling rainwater ran down his upper torso, following the structure of his chiselled abs.

“No!” Korfa seemed to finally snap back to reality, channelling electricity to form a whip initiating from her palm.

Upon taking shape, she immediately whipped it forward, seemingly focusing her bottled rage into that attack, with the sole intention of killing Brendel.

At that moment, however, the protection rings around him once again sparked in all its shimmering beauty. The Lightning whip first tore through the fire shield of Bahamut’s blessing, then promptly bored a hole through the Colliding Halo before clawing into the Tree Armor summoned that was acting as Brendel’s last defence.

Brendel grunted from the excruciating pain, one so gruelling it penetrated deep within the innermost corners of his soul, despite his best efforts to tolerate it through his defenses and sheer will.

As his life instantly hung by a thread, the Unyielding Talent was initiated to gatekeep his soul.

But he never once stopped moving forward. What came next was the longsword in his arm, shining bright like a flaming torch, the Colliding Halo, Tree Armor, along with his other defenses instantly vanished, in favor of the Staff of Earth as all energy was channeled into his weapon.

The Crown of Thorns.

Converting all defense power to attack, the ultimate skill of the Holy knight was in a full, vibrant display. The Staff of Earth then abruptly hit onto the Line of Law surrounding Korfa, the huge impact nearly creating a dent on the Line of Law.

Korfa howled in pain- not from Brendel’s attack, instead of from the internal damage caused by the Blood of Sun.

Dim Korfa under pseudo-god conditions was weak on defense but strong on attack. And the consequence of her full power attack had finally taken its toll. The immense pain seemed to latch onto her soul as she nearly began to blabber, even her Line of Laws began to quiver.

And right at that moment, Brendel’s Piercing Strike that was on snooze all this while exploded completely as a piercing beep was heard.

Dim Korfa’s midnight blue Line of Law began to expose itself to human sight, before it rapidly bent, and ultimately burst!

An unwavering Law that had been firmly shielding her all this while crumpled before her eyes. Korfa frantically attempted to retaliate, but all she could see was Brendel’s silhouette as he vanished from before her once again, and in the next second, he could feel a pair of firm hands grasping onto her!

Time...no...space elemental.

Dim Korfa had a disoriented thought in her head. He said that the Power of Order that he had could only allow him to cast once….but he lied! He lied to me, again! And again! Her eyes blacked out, nearly losing her consciousness from the overbearing fury that she bore inside.

She just could not fathom that Brendel would set a trap for her to fall into even when he had the upper hand, for it all seemed too unnecessary.

But it sure seemed to matter now.

Brendel dropped the Staff of Earth, visibly with no intention of killing Dim Korfa since he was not confident at all that he would be able to destroy that damn woman.

Bosses sure as hell gonna have more H/P than that, but the crippling of the Lines of Law only happens once in a blink of an eye, I have to grasp this opportunity!

He then clenched his grip on Dim Korfa’s shoulders and forced her to the ground.

Dim Korfa was not expecting an attack of this manner as she was clamped down on the ground, her visionblurred, horrified that a mortal man had physically overwhelmed her in such a deplorable way.

“How dare you…”

She was both disconcerted and furious, at certain moments entirely caught off guard, completely forgetting that she had to repel him as she watched blanky, what came next was out of her wildest expectations.

Just as her eyes were popped wide from confusion and disdain, Brendel retracted an arm and bizarrely jabbed his finger into his own forehead, leaving a bloody wound.

Blood began flowing down his arms with the rain, a mixture of which went dripping down onto Korfa’s face.

Even though the bloodied raindrops would evaporate upon coming in contact with her lightning-structured body, she was still bewildered nonetheless.

“What do you think you’re doing you, you filthy human!”

She then quickly took to notice the Black crystal from Brendel’s forehead as he was removing it.

Dim Korfa in that fragment of a second seemed to be bewitched by magic as she stared blankly, all she felt were the stiffening limbs from the cold.

“No,” She screamed, “You cannot do this, let me go you rat!”

Brendel, whose face at this point was smeared with blood, cracked a smile at Hati’s eldest daughter, a smile so haunting she could feel the cold seeping deep within her bones.

He then pinched the Black crystal, now too drenched in a fusion of blood and rainwater, and gently placed it on her head, “Miss Korfa, you’re after all the oldest daughter of the late Chief Warg Hati, the chieftain of the Wolf tribe, their chosen leader by birth…”

“You can erase your own Laws, but you cannot wash away the memories and relationships.”

“So, you shall return.”

“No!” Korfa was at this point drenched in tears.

An earth-shattering roar was heard the moment Brendel’s hand came into contact with Korfa’s forehead, as a cataclysmic shockwave was sent across the entire battlefield, wiping all existence, be it the Hydra, the vast plains, the rough seas, the storm clouds, and the lurking presence of an enormous creature behind it, from the face of the realm.

Brendel too was ejected from his position off the cliff, propelled far across the cold, moisture-saturated air. He lifted his head, minced his eyes to catch sight of Korfa being hurled to the exact opposite direction, weakly struggling like a kite in the winds.

But that was sufficient as he let out a long-awaited sigh of relief. The colossal impact came from the repelling of Milos’ Law with another Law, and the fact that it occurred had undoubtedly proven that Dim Korfa could no longer blend into this realm.

His assumption was right, Korfa did murder herself, erasing her own Laws in their entirety.

Depressing, however, she would never know that Brendel would have it in his possession in her wildest dreams.

Hati’s tribulation.

Just like Brendel had deduced, given that she was still the leader of the Wolf tribe, by blending in the Alpha wolf law of the Heart of Hati into her, all her effort would be burnt to ash in an instant. From that moment onwards, the brief existence of Surash was gone once again, and Dim Korfa was once again brought back to this world.

Like himself, the only difference was that now, she too will have her power negated in Milos’ realm.

And what came next, is a fair fight.