Runeblade

Kaius downed the healing tonic, feeling the alchemical heat bloom in his stomach as it bolstered his reserves of Health. Glass clinked on stone as he tossed the bottle to the side and readied his grip on A Father's Gift.

That blow had nearly been the end of him, snapping bone and sending him to the ground hard. If Porkchop hadn't dived in to tear away the guardian's attention, he would have been dead.

Watching Porkchop's battle with the Guardian intensely, he felt the burning itch of his Health withdraw as his clavicle popped back into place. Then mana flared within the ogre, bursting out to suffuse its flesh in a halo.

A loud crack echoed across the city's summit as the ogres palm hit paved stone, releasing a crushing wave of dust. Icy dread raced down his spine as Porkchop narrowly avoided the explosive slap. It climbed to maddening peaks when its mana didn't fade.

He was already moving. Sprinting into the fray. The ogre kicked off. He screamed. Porkchop dived. An earth shattering fist smashed his bond-brother flat as the Guardian sailed over him.

Panic clawed at his throat as Porkchop struggled against the ground, clawing away from the ogre as his back legs lay dead and useless. His hips were slumped, spine hanging at wrong angles.

Even with Health it was a brutal injury to heal.
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Alchemical speed fueled him as he moved like the wind. Rage and fear flooded his blood, rising into a song that bordered on madness. Three small vials were pulled free. He raced to his brother, glass clinking as he dropped three quarters of their remaining tonics by him.

One would be enough. It had to be.

It would be.

He tore another tonic from his belt, the red of war barely contained by the alchemical glass. Uncorking it with his teeth, he downed the tonic.

**Ding! You have Imbibed a Tonic: Psychopathic Assault**

The ash of spilled blood and scorched bone filled his mouth, swirling with the hoarfrost of a mass grave kissed by the rising moon that followed war. He swallowed. Alchemical madness tore at his throat, maws built from the teeth of innocents sinking into his flesh.

Reality sharpened. Focus narrowed until there was only the bleeding, half-broken body of a superior foe.

Joy spilled out from his chest, seeping from the marrow of his bones to fill him with radiant energy. He was back.

The ogre shook its head, stumbling as it tried to stand on its shattered leg. It was still dazed. That would help. He raced in, enjoying the way that enhanced stats and alchemy let him almost fly. Silver blurred through the air, parting thickened hide to reveal the beautiful green that yearned to be free.

His cheeks ached from the strain of his smile. He paid it no mind, only hoping that his toy would last long enough to satisfy him.

Howling at his assault, the ogre swiped at him. Kaius jumped, kicking off its forearm. Sailing through the air, he planted his sword in the ogres neck and ripped down, using the full weight of his body to cut his way through the Guardians enhanced flesh. Blood fountained, gurgling like a brook as a slick pool formed on the smooth stone of their arena.

A great cough fought its way free of the ogres chest, a spray of blood fighting its way past its tusks to mist Kaius's face. He giggled, enjoying the slick heat of it caressing his skin. Tongue running over his lips, he tasted the coppery tang as he leapt back, avoiding an enraged retaliatory strike. Scowling, the ogre lashed out again, just barely clipping his lower left arm and hand as he danced away.

His forearm snapped like a twig, bone bursting free from his wrist with a wet tear. Two of his fingers were torn free, the pinky and ring. Kaius clucked his tongue, calmly sheathing his sword as he side stepped around another blow. Using his thumb, he jammed his bone back into place, feeling muscle and meat writhe as they tried to seal around his digit.

The bone healed. He pulled his digit free, drawing his sword once more.

Not much he could do about the fingers. Health did little with completely excised extremities. It was no matter, he didn't need them to play and the flesh had already sealed.

Reaching for his chest with his off hand, Kaius ripped a blink-knife free from his bandolier with his remaining fingers. He didn't know why he had been trying to avoid it, who cared about a class? All that mattered was the savage joy of slaughter, and the sweet song of pained lamentation.

He hurled the blade, already moving to pull another free. Balanced as it was, it flew straight and true, sinking into the ogre's remaining eye in a squirt of clear jelly. The knife tried to jump back. He seized his mana, flooding the artefact to suppress the enchantment with his intent. So simple, so easy. It was a down right embarrassment that he hadn't done so before.

The blade stayed, lodged firmly in the Guardian's orbit.

Its brothers and sisters followed close behind, wet thunks sounding as blades buried themselves deep into both of the ogre's sockets. Kaius grinned. There was no way it would be able to heal when sharpened steel tore at its regenerating flesh.

If only its bones weren't so tough. It would have been lovely to see what its brains looked like.

He'd have to bleed it.

Like a pig.

Blinded completely by his assault, the ogre howled. Flailing in a wild frenzy of smashing limbs as it ineffectively tried to hunt for him. He giggled at its attempts, the noise heightening the Guardian's rage as it lunged towards him.

Skipping to the side, Kaius pivoted on his front foot to twist around a sailing fist. He didn't punish the blow, instead dancing inwards on silent feet to stop below its head.

He thrust. Enchanted steel scythed through the open wound on its neck, cutting deeper into the ruined flesh. What was a torrent became a flood, dousing him in the sticky joys of his success. The ogre gurled, breath and foamed blood shooting from the rent he had left in its oesophagus.

Kaius laughed. He couldn't help it. So much fun.

Then there was a maddened roar from behind him, and something large and fuzzy hit the Guardian's side in a bone-cracking collision. Porkchop tore into its side, ripping through skin and fat to claw at its muscle with his talons in a feral frenzy.

Kaius frowned at the sight, neatly side stepping a stray slap as the ogre lurched at the sudden impact. It seemed his fun had bled across the link. That wasn't all that good. Rage was a part of the music, but it wasn't the whole dance. That was … not good. Anger simmered.

At least the potions he had left seemed to have done their job, his bond-brother was a tougher nut to crack than he'd given him credit for.

Better to end it quickly. He could already feel his delicious tonic waning, and he had little interest in burning his bond-brother's soul in his majesty.

He ran, whirling into a series of savage overhead sweeps as he worked his blade through the widened wound in the ogres neck. He laughed, tasting the ogre's blood as it flailed in an attempt to drive him off.

It was so much fun.

Then, as he saw the white shine of bone through the gore that used to be its neck, he lanced his sword into the wide gap between vertebrae. Thick and stout as they were, there was plenty of space to slip through.

A moment was all it took, his green stained blade feeling the slightest resistance before it cut through a rope of nerves.

The ogre went limp.

Kaius smiled, wide and happy, as he stepped out of the way of its collapsing bulk. He gave its jaw a happy kick. The ogre snarled, snapping ineffectively as its lifeblood pumped free, its breath billowing ineffectively from the rent in its neck as it tried to scream.

Leaping onto its back, Kaius took a moment to check on Porkchop. He smiled and tutted when he saw his brother waist deep in the guardians entrails, tearing out flesh and viscera by the handful. Breathing deep, he savoured the scent of spilled blood and last week's meal. The smell of victory.

"One. two. Three. Four." He counted out its ribs in a singsong voice, walking along its back.

He stopped, feeling the cold grasp of his joy slowly pulling away from his fingertips. He frowned, spinning his blade to hold it in a reverse grip. Raising it high overhead, he slammed it down between the ogre's ribs, throwing his whole weight behind it to sink it to the hilt.

Then he started to rock it back and forth.

It would have been nice for the party to last a little longer, but such was life. The fun things never lasted forever. Blood welled up from the wound. That should have been enough to get its aorta, if its anatomy was similar enough, that is.

Yanking his blade free, he moved down a rib, taking a second to steady his angle before he plunged his sword into the ogres flesh once more.

He sawed, working through the tough hide as he did his best to tear through the walls of its heart. Straining his ears, he could just barely hear that its head was starting to slow in its wild gnashing.

Grinning, he pulled his blade free in a torrent of blood and adjusted his angle. It wouldn't be long now.

….

Kaius slumped to his knees as a series of dings sounded in his mind, the cooling flesh of the ogre's back having a disconcerting amount of give beneath his legs. The psychopathic assault tonic had worn off a minute ago, but he'd forced himself to push on until he'd confirmed the Guardians death.

Still, he had no intention of resting here of all places. Forcing through the weighty blanket of lethargy that had settled on him, he forced himself to his feet and pulled his blade free of the slain Guardians' flesh.

Below him, he could feel Porkchop extracting himself from the tunnel he had carved into the ogre's stomach, and the disgusting way unmentionable viscera had coated every inch of his bond-brother.

Walking to the edge of the ogre, Kaius leapt down to the ground, stumbling slightly as he landed.

"How're you feeling?" He asked, turning his attention to where Porkchop was trying ineffectively to scrape the worst of the goop from himself. "It looked like that psycho tonic bled through our bond.

"I expected it, the bleed-through. It happened a little last time, and that was just with a simple link." Porkchop replied.

"That's good." Kaius sighed in relief. "Unfortunately I didn't manage to get away scott free myself, see?" he held up his hand, wiggling the stumps of his fingers.

Porkchip chirped in surprise, rushing over to inspect the wound closely. "Hells, Kaius, that's going to mess with your sword play won't it? We have healers in the dens, they'll be able to fix it if two-legs can't."

Kaius grinned at his friend, amused at how his face had twisted into a caricature of concern.

"I'll be alright, it's just a couple of fingers. It'll take a little while to get used to, but I shouldn't be hampered overmuch. And yes, we do have healers, it'll just be expensive and take a while to get on a list. I think Deadacre has at least one with regeneration powers, but we might need to wait until we travel a bit further afield." Kaius assured Porkchop, scratching him behind the ear.

"If you're sure… but if it gets in the way and you can't find a healer, we'll head to the dens, deal?" Porkchop suggested.

Just as he was about to formulate a reply, a rolling wave of azure mana washed out from the centre of the plateau with blinding intensity. Dense enough that he could feel a slight prickle on his skin.

Kaius gasped, whipping his head to search for the source of the disturbance as soon as the nearly blinding light had passed. There, at the centre, was a circle of impossibly complex runes. Constantly shifting, their luminance glistened on the polished stone of the surrounding statues.

Their way out. Joy and relief flooded him. They'd done it. Actually and truly done the impossible.

He stood there for what felt like an age, looking at the blinding light of their freedom. Rooted to the spot.

Then the buzz of unread notifications grew louder, shaking him from his revere. No doubt they had earned something of significance for their feat. He looked down, seeing the growing lake of greenish blood that was seeping from the Guardian, then he looked up to the clean statues and floor by the portal.

Kaius cleared his throat, tearing Porkchop's attention away from the mesmerising glow of the charged portal. "Do you want to take a break over there, before we search for our rewards and take the portal?" he asked, pointing to where he had been looking.

Excitement and anticipation flooded across their bond, matching and heightening his own. A wide grin slid across his face as he watched Porkchop positively vibrate.

"Let's go! I wonder what Honour we got?" Porkchop said, splashing through the pool of viscera as he ran to the clean centre of the plateau.

Kaius laughed as he shot after him. He wondered the same thing, because there was no question about it. There was no way they would not have gotten one.

Reaching the middle, Kaius took one last look at the massive runic formation at the centre of the flat stone before he settled in to sit at the foot of a statue of what must have been a dwarven painter holding a brush and canvas.

He met Porkchop's eyes, giving him a single firm nod before he gave in to the insistence of the system.

**Ding! You have slain a Guardian: Siege Ogre - level 36 Wallbreaker!**

**Ding! You have slain a Guardian: Claim personalised reward?**

**Ding! Major Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Kingslayer**

**Ding! Significant Feat of Strength performed under Observation. You have been awarded an Honour: Ruthless Underdog**

**Ding! Major Feat of Strength performed while Unclassed! Processing…**

**Ding! Results Obtained! Assessment period no longer suitable!**

**Ding! Unlocking Class Selection!**

**Ding! Classes Available! Undergo Class Selection?**

**Ding! Phase 1 Integration Objective #7 Achieved!**

**Ding! Processing, Please Wait…**

The world shuddered.