Chronicles Of The Crafting Hero

Teno, staring down the abyss of impending doom, reacted with a desperate surge of adrenaline. He knew his ultimate skill, *Counter*, was the only option. Time itself seemed to compress as he channelled its power. The faint red glow bloomed across his skin, a visual testament to his resolve, and mirrored the fiery intensity that had ignited his eyes. *Counter* was a skill that allowed him to counter any physical attack with his shield once, no matter the attack power. With a defiant bellow, he brought his shield to bear, parrying Tyler's lethal strike.

Tyler's fist, a blur of impending death, slammed against the shield, a collision of raw power. A shockwave of force radiated outwards, a ripple of displaced air, but the shield *held*. Tyler's eyes widened in momentary surprise as his attack, instead of shattering the defence, sent him reeling backwards, the momentum nearly unbalancing him.

Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Silvia unleashed the power of her skill, *Gap*. She blurred forward, becoming a phantom, and the distance between her and Tyler was instantly erased. Her sword, a gleaming silver serpent, arced downwards in a devastating stroke to the left, a triumphant smile playing on her lips as she thought, *I've got you!*

Anna, watching from a distance, felt her heart hammer against her ribs. This was it. This assassin, this embodiment of death, was about to meet his match. But instead, her sword met an impenetrable barrier, a resounding *TING* echoing through the ruined courtyard.

Silvia's expression shifted from triumph to shock, her eyes wide with disbelief. Instead of sinking into flesh and bone, her sword had struck against Tyler's neck, only to be deflected by hard, white scales. The scales gleamed under the dim light, deflecting the blow with effortless ease. Her eyes locked with Tyler's crimson gaze. The sword, still pressing against the scales, began to tremble in her grasp as she continued to press the blade.

"What... are you?" she whispered, her voice a mixture of awe and abject terror.

The scales that formed Tyler's mask, which covered the lower half of his face, peeled back. They retracted, gathering just below his ears, revealing the entirety of Tyler's face. Silvia's surprise, and that of everyone present, was a tangible thing. Every single person in the vicinity could now see Tyler's face, even the vice-captain. Tyler's smile, a cruel mockery of human expression, stretched across his lips as he muttered.

"Something you can't kill."

As the words left his lips, Tyler launched himself backwards. At the same moment, the scales that had been protecting his face and neck shimmered a brilliant blue before vanishing into his inventory. The sword, no longer impeded, slid down his neck, leaving a shallow cut as he retreated.

Silvia, her mind reeling, thought, *Huh, why would he do that? Why would he let it cut him?*

Then she saw the sword. From the tip to the edges, it was steaming, a plume of vapour rising into the air. Tyler's blood, acidic and potent, was melting the blade.

"What the..." she began.

Suddenly, Tyler vanished in a familiar puff of smoke, reappearing mid-air, directly in front of her. He was launching a spinning kick.

Silvia reacted with desperate speed. She crossed her arms, activating her skill, *Knights Resolve*, increasing her defence by 50%. The kick connected, a brutal impact that sent a jolt of pain through her wrists. She was launched backwards, but with practised agility, she flipped in mid-air, landing in a crouch, her legs skidding across the grassy ground.

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She raised her head, but Tyler was already there. But before he could launch another attack, the arrows struck the ground where he had reappeared, detonating in a blinding flash.

Anna had been waiting for this moment. She had timed the shots perfectly. The concussive shockwave sent both Silvia and Tyler hurtling backwards. Silvia slammed onto her stomach. Tyler landed on his back.

The Vice-Captain, his heart pounding in his chest, knew he could not leave Sabrina. She was blind, vulnerable, and at risk of getting murdered.

The vice-captain's desperate call for Jason was swallowed by the chaotic clash. The last time he'd seen his son, Jason, was a brutal spectacle – a body launched into the shadowed embrace of the surrounding woods. Now, only silence. A chilling fear gripped the vice-captain, a father's dread, as he struggled to banish the thought that Tyler had claimed another life.

But when he saw Tyler sprawled on the ground, momentarily vulnerable after the explosive assault, a surge of predatory adrenaline coursed through him, eclipsing all other concerns. This was his chance, he thought, the time to end this nightmare. Ignoring Sabrina's pained cries, her face a mask of agony, the vice-captain unleashed his *Gap* skill. He became a blur, a fleeting wraith of movement that spanned the distance to Tyler in an instant. Simultaneously, Teno moved, the warrior's face a grim mask of determination.

Tyler, attempting to teleport, found his power blocked. A sense of wrongness, a sudden, chilling void, enveloped him. He was trapped. He'd landed near Alec, and the battered youth, his one eye swollen shut, the other alight with a defiant, electric blue, gripped Tyler's foot in an iron hold. A small, feral smile played on his lips.

The vice-captain and Tenno, a symphony of righteous fury, unleashed their fury. They roared as they swung their blades towards Tyler. At the same moment, Anna's arrow, a second volley of destructive force, arched through the air.

Silvia's mind raced, her eyes focused on the trapped Tyler. *We've got him,* she thought, the hope of victory momentarily shining.

Sabrina's father, channelling his rage into his blade, ignited *Cursed Attack*, his weapon pulsing with a dark, malevolent energy. As he prepared to strike, Tenno unleashed *Grim Reave*, a skill that promised a single, devastating blow. Then, a shimmering light suddenly spread across Tyler, and the scales *appeared* all over his body, a sudden, chaotic shimmer of energy. The scales seemed to pulse with a life of their own, as if reacting to the impending doom.

Tyler raised both hands, a shield of last resort, crossing them in a desperate gamble. *Shit, I can't teleport*, the thought a hammer blow as reality closed in. *I only have one option,* he thought, the words a silent scream within his mind. The scales, a tide of potential defence, now moved at impossible speeds, a living armour in motion. They traced a path to his arms, coalescing on his wrists. A desperate, chaotic energy was unleashed, as if a force of destruction was about to occur. A millisecond before the combined assault, they became a perfect, hexagon-shaped shield of living armour.

The blades of the furious men met the shield. The arrow found its mark. A shockwave, a scream of pure energy, erupted as Tyler's back met the unforgiving earth. Dust, a choking, roiling inferno, erupted, as the soil itself was torn asunder. The explosion, a thunderclap magnified to a cosmic scale, echoed throughout the town. The sound alone promised complete destruction.

The earth itself buckled and convulsed. The men were flung away as though they were nothing. Even Silvia was cast back, the very ruins of the mansion were swept aside. From the heart of the crumbling remains, a body, buried for a moment under the rubble, was flung into the air. It was Mani. She tumbled through the air, a broken doll, landing far off in the distance, silent and still.

The vice-captain who was hurled back, his breath stolen by the blast. Teno, too, was sent sprawling. He scrambled to his feet, the dust, a suffocating shroud. He coughed, his voice a ragged whisper. "Sabrina," he gasped, a desperate plea. Teno groaned, pushing himself upright, his gaze sweeping across the desolation.

He heard her, a whisper of sound across the battlefield of ruin: "Father..." The vice-captain, propelled by a terror that consumed him, a father's instinct, surged forward. He fought through the swirling dust, a desperate search for his daughter. Then, he found her. Sabrina was walking towards him, each step a testament to her waning life, her gait uneven and her eyes glazed. Blood, a scarlet curse, poured from her mouth, staining the dust a gruesome red. He reached her just as her knees threatened to give way, catching her in his arms. The crimson dagger, a cruel monument to betrayal, protruded from her back, a final, brutal punctuation mark. Her back was a crimson waterfall, the life draining away. "No...no...no..." The words were torn from his throat, a broken prayer to a deaf god. "Please, don't die..."

But the silence of her stillness was the answer. He gently turned her, her face a mask of frozen agony, her eyes wide, yet seeing nothing. A scream, a raw, animalistic howl of pure devastation, ripped from the depths of his soul. "This can't be! You killed her! You killed them all!" The words were a storm of anguish. A broken sob, a whisper born of a shattered heart, escaped his lips, the sound a chilling lament. "You killed all my children… my family..."

He looked up, his vision blurred by a tempest of tears. Through the crimson haze, two points of burning light emerged, piercing the gloom. Crimson eyes. The shadow solidified, taking shape, but the gaze, the intense, unyielding crimson stare of Tyler, was all that mattered. It was as if Tyler was not a man, but a predator made of night, a walking manifestation of punishment and finality. Death personified. Tyler's chuckle, a sound devoid of humour, held a strange echo of sorrow. "Now you understand," he said, each word a cold, cruel caress as he moved closer, his form fully emerged. "You know the feeling, don't you? Just like what you did, all those years ago, right?"