Grand Saint Alloy

Regis hit the metal carapace of the crab, loading it up with fire essence. It was normally impossible to trigger essence in another person's body, but these crabs lacked whatever made most humans immune. Almost like they were trees. The front half of the crab was boiled, and explosive expansion caused the shelled beast to explode.

Two more had charged into the farmer community turned fortress, interrupting a skirmish between some of the Stone and Forest Caldera’s soldiers. A man across the clearing tore off one of the ghost crab’s legs and stabbed it with its own scythe. Regis approved of that method, it was savage and got the point across that you were not someone to mess with.

Grinning manically Regis charged the tier four. Either the Stone Caldera or the Lake Caldera would be down a civil protector today. The man saw him coming. He was a big guy two heads taller than Regis, his black hair was cut short, and he looked to be just edging past the prime of his life.

“Boss, wait!” Leo yelled, “We need to work as a team.”

Regis ignored the team healer. He was paid to worry and work miracles afterward. Leo was a miracle worker, he had managed to heal Regis’s broken kern by using that silly spear the boy left behind. He was part of the reason that Regis could let loose.

The Stone Caldera lackey smashed his knuckles together. Sparks flew from the point of contact as the earth artifacts started glowing. Regis swung while he was out of range. The tier three sword he held erupted in fire and he slashed it at the enemy. Droplets of flame splattered the big man and the people around him. Regis was taken by surprise when the fire exploded harmlessly off the metal armor, even the grunt soldiers only looked annoyed.

“You like it!” The tier four yelled, “You can’t touch me!”

Regis gritted his teeth, there was nothing he could not burn. He was a flame, metal melts, wind burns, water evaporates, and earth becomes molten. All fall to the power of fire. So he tapped into the new resource he had attained ever since his kern broke. He coated his hands in white fire, dozens of times hotter than normal.

“Watch me!” Regis screamed and punched both of the fire constructs into the enemy’s chest.

Regis was blown back by a fierce explosion. All the grunts were blown away, but the big man only staggered. Eight dents could be seen glowing a rapidly dimming red, but the armor was still whole. Regis cursed, all he had done was leave knuckle dents. At least the common warriors suffered from severe burns and blunt force trauma.

“Damn, you pack a punch,” the man paused a moment as if expecting something from Regis.

For his part, Regis gripped his bastard sword in both hands. He charged targeting the weak points he had created. If he could make a hole and shove his fire through, the man would be boiled alive.

The big man raised both fists and coated them in stone, he had seen those gauntlets somewhere. Regis realized where he had met this man before. His name was Cole and his parents had no imagination. Didn’t they know that coal only fuels the fire?

Regis swung his sword to meet the stone fist. The blade sliced cleanly through all the way to the actual artifact, allowing all the flaming liquid inside the stone hand to explode. Cole’s hand was thrown to the side, but he used the rotation the explosion caused to empower a swinging blow from the other hand. Regis ducked under it, one hit would lay him out, but they were slow. If he was a betting man, he would say the gauntlets prevented anything attached to them from disrupting Cole’s balance.

White flame wrapped around his index finger, and he poked the largest knuckle dent. When he released it, Cole yelped in pain. Regis was unable to dodge the kick aimed at his gut. There was a ludicrous amount of force in the kick, sending Regis rolling backward.

When he finally regained his feet, he was able to witness his handy work. A perfectly spherical hole had been melted just above Cole’s heart. There was more destructive fire in that one finger than in the entire wharehouse fight. His new fire was very helpful. Now that he had done some damage, Regis intended to press his advantage. He would melt the armor off of Cole if he had to.

Somewhere along the way, he had lost his sword. Regis did not need it. Fire was the gift of the gods, why would he need a sharpened stick when he had access to the divine white flame? Laughing madly, Regis rushed back in. Cole was strong and Cole was tough, while Regis was fast and hit with the power of a force.

He slipped around a punch and drove one of his own into Cole’s chest plate. The flame gauntlet detonated, and a ring of fire and burning debris was thrown away. Both were staggered as the explosion pushed them apart. Regis felt his essence levels dropping low, normally that would concern him, but he fed it to the flames.

He hit Cole again and again. By the time the man fell, Regis had still not gotten a killing blow on the man. Half the metal plates were glowing at different temperatures. It was heat exhaustion of all things that had done the tank in. No matter who he faced, the divine flame would reign.

He turned to his men, they needed to witness this historic moment. Regis barely had time to draw his blade and block the armored man attacking him. His hand found nothing, his scabbard was empty, so he settled for using his forearm to block. The enemy warrior was not very far into tier three, but he had a fire kern and moved like a ghost.

Regis’s arm broke. He growled and swung a fist at the man. No fire covered it, he was tired. The man spun into the punch, placing Regis’s arm over one shoulder and with a pop of his hips, threw Regis over his shoulder. It was so unexpected that Regis did not react when the armored man drove a roundhouse into the side of his head before he hit the ground. A lesser man would have died there, but Regis was tier four, he could take a few hits.

When he woke up, only a few minutes had passed, unfortunately, he was tied up now. All his surviving men were kneeling, most of them sporting injuries. They were all lined up, a clergyman praying for them individually, before a holy knight stabbed the prisoner through the heart. Regis snarled to himself, he was blessed with divine flame, why would the servants of the gods sentence him to death?

He infused his bindings with flame, but nothing happened. Confused, he looked for the issue. It did not take him long to find it, there was something powerful draining his essence wrapped around his neck. While he could not see it he could recognize its shape. It was one of the marbles that the temple liked to decorate their weapons with. He was not aware they fed on essence, it had to feed a lot, as the regeneration of essence was fairly consistent between tiers. At least by percentage, a tier four pulled in five times the essence a tier zero would, this had to be a powerful marble then.

Regis was close to the beginning of the line, so it did not take long for the priest to reach him. He wanted to burn the false prophet alive, if he was true then he would have recognized that Regis was chosen. The priest knelt and placed a hand on Regis’s shoulder, their foreheads were almost touching.

This man had a fire kern, and Regis could tell it was only tier one. Even tied up, Regis had a mid-tier four body, he could most likely kill this man with a head butt. The holy knight had a tier-two longsword ready to stop Regis from doing anything like that. Could Regis take the knight while tied up? Maybe, he looked past and saw the rest of the warriors collected around a fire cooking the giant ghost crabs. The man who had knocked him out was there, and he was old. Regis could not believe he had lost to an old man, though he had been exhausted.

The prayer of the clergyman started, “Vent, great god of the sky and prosperity. Furnace, the god of flame and crafting. Ripple, god of water and the fields. We ask you to take this confused warrior into your halls, to safeguard his soul so he might fight for you on the battlefields of the afterlife against the silver demons.”

Regis was about to die anyway, so he might as well take this pompous man down with him. The man’s prayer stopped him though.

“If the servant of the gods wishes to continue fighting, there is a silver devil in the mines of the Forest Caldera. It is the right of all servants to serve, after all, to slay the enemy where he may be found.” The priest removed something from his necklace. Essence started refilling Regis’s kern.

Regis could only stare at the man uncomprehendingly. He only knew of two silver devils. The one by the lake was a purebred monster, there was not much in the Caldera that could touch him. The other was strong, but within Regis’s capabilities, there was a two-tier difference between them. He grinned at the clergyman and nodded slightly.

The clergyman removed his hand from Regis’s neck and placed a hand on his hip. Before he could get confused at the strange motion, the clergyman slipped a note into his belt. He stood and took a step back.

“May your soul be purified and tested by the gods. Now I release you holy warrior to fight for the gods.” It was the same thing he had said to all the other prisoners, but it had a different meaning.

The holy knight kicked Regis onto his back and raised the sword above his chest. When it stabbed down all the onlookers would believe it went through Regis’s chest. In reality, the blade slipped between his arm and ribs. The priest moved on to Leo.

Regis would not leave Leo, he was the last living member of their group. The plan was probably for him to play dead, but he was tier four and light kerns were known for their endurance. So long as they had a head start, they would not be caught. In an instant, Regis burned through his bonds and jumped to his feet.

The clergyman yelped and yelled, “Help, prisoner escape.”

All the people around the fire were on their feet and charging to help. Regis burned through Leo’s bindings and hauled the man to his feet. Leo seemed confused but followed his leader.

“Sorry, can’t blow my cover on the off chance you fail,” The clergyman whispered, “Good luck hunting.”

Regis and Leo sprinted away. With new essence flowing into them, Regis lit the corn behind them on fire, it would dramatically slow their pursuers down. After thirty minutes of running through corn fields, they had lost their pursuers.

Leo was breathing heavily, “So, what now boss?”

“Let me check,” Regis removed the letter. His eyes widened at the content, the clergyman had set aside some of what was called tower armor for him. The marble on his neck was actually a tier six essence reservoir, it had gone from sucking his energy to being an extension of his kern. The clergyman had solved his two biggest weaknesses, defense and endurance.

Regis grinned and waved the note at Leo, “We go collect some armor, grab some weapons, then we are going to kill that silver devil that killed Grant.”

Leo’s eyes hardened in resolve. He hated that boy like Regis hated Eve and Kerri. It would do the man some good to blow up some people.