Soul Forging System

The moment the commander's blade dropped, the mountain pathway erupted with thunder.

The skeletal cavalry surged forward, their steeds pounding the black stones with the fury of an avalanche. Spears lowered in gleaming rows, angled to impale the lone figure standing in their path. Dust, grit, and the stench of rotting flesh rose in waves as the charge bore down on Stephan.

He didn't move. His Ossuary Sword hummed faintly in his hand, absorbing the soul energy already lingering in the air. His eyes narrowed as his irises flicked left to right at inhuman speed, calculating every movement, every hoofbeat, every trajectory.

"Come on," Stephan whispered, lips curling into a grin. "Closer…"

Arrows shrieked through the air before the cavalry even reached him. The skeletal archers on the ridges above loosed in volleys, their bows creaking like breaking bones. The sky rained jagged shafts, black feathers cutting across the horizon.

Stephan moved. One step, then he vanished.

The cavalry's first rank hit empty air where he'd stood. Spears thrust downward only to meet the ground with a spray of sparks. Before the riders could turn, screams rattled from hollow jaws as Stephan reappeared inside their formation, Ossuary Sword slicing in a wide arc.

The blade glowed black as it cut through bone, armor, and rotten flesh alike. Horses collapsed mid-stride, their legs severed at the knees. Riders were torn from saddles, cleaved into halves that spun grotesquely through the dust. The Ossuary Sword drank eagerly.

Ding!

[+ 9 souls added]

Another flicker of motion, Stephan ducked beneath a spear thrust and dragged his blade upward, severing both rider and mount in one motion. He pivoted, boot cracking into a horse's skull, shattering bone and sending its body tumbling into its companions.

The charge faltered, but not for long.

"Persistent bastards," Stephan muttered as the second wave of cavalry crashed into him.

This time he leapt high, twisting in the air as arrows streaked past his boots. He landed on top of a rider's shoulders, crushing its spine beneath his weight. With a laugh, he wrenched the skeleton's own spear from its grasp and hurled it like a javelin. The weapon punched through three riders in a line, pinning them into the dirt with a crash of shattered bone.

Ding!

[+ 13 souls added]

"Not bad," Stephan said, eyes glinting. "But still too weak."

The archers above screeched in unison and loosed again. Hundreds of arrows darkened the air. Stephan lifted his sword, channeling soul energy into the blade until it pulsed black. He swung once, a single horizontal slash.

The slash became a crescent of shadowfire.

The wave roared upward like a scythe, meeting the rain of arrows midair. The entire volley disintegrated into ash before it reached him, raining black dust across the battlefield. The shockwave didn't stop there, it carved into the ridges, collapsing archers and stone alike in an avalanche.

Ding!

[+ 47 souls added]

The cavalry screamed as Stephan hit the ground again, spinning his sword in one hand. Dust rolled off his shoulders, and he exhaled, calm and unshaken.

But the foot soldiers had arrived.

Hundreds of skeletal warriors surged forward in rank and file, shields braced, spears angled, swords raised high. Their discipline was eerie, not like mindless undead but like trained legionnaires obeying silent commands. The commander raised his sword again, and the horde accelerated.

Stephan laughed outright. "Now this is a warm-up."

He dashed straight into their lines.

The first shield wall broke instantly under his strike. His blade shattered bone and metal with equal ease, cleaving through four skeletons in one sweep. He ducked beneath a thrust, let the spearhead whistle past his ear, then spun low, cutting its wielder's legs out from under him.

Another soldier stabbed at his back. Without looking, Stephan tilted his head, caught the reflection in the corner of his iris, and slashed backward in a perfect arc. The skeleton fell in two, ribs scattering across the stone.

Ding!

[+ 19 souls added]

Spears jabbed from every direction. Stephan moved like smoke between them, his speed making the undead appear frozen. His irises flicked so fast they blurred, tracking every incoming strike, every stagger, every weakness.

Two skeletons lunged together, Stephan sidestepped, seized one by the jaw, and snapped its skull off with bare hands. He hurled it into the other like a bowling ball, both collapsing in a heap of rattling bones.

Ding!

[+ 6 souls added]

Arrows rained again, this time angled low to catch him mid-movement. Stephan thrust his palm outward. Shadows surged from beneath his boots, writhing like black tendrils. They wrapped around him in a dome just as the arrows struck. The shafts disintegrated against the shield, turning to smoke that fed into the Ossuary Sword's glow.

Ding!

[+ 22 souls added]

The ground shook as more cavalry circled, trying to flank him. The infantry pressed harder, a wall of bone and steel. Still Stephan laughed, exhilaration rushing through him.

"This is nothing compared to the Abyssal Realm!" he roared. His blade pulsed black, resonating with his hunger. "Let's end this round!"

He inhaled sharply. Soul energy flooded through his body. His chest expanded as if he were swallowing the battlefield itself. Then he exhaled one word:

"Whiplash."

The Ossuary Sword howled. A wave of black fire exploded outward, sweeping in every direction.

The cavalry never had a chance, their horses vaporized, bones exploding into dust before they hit the ground. Infantry collapsed in hundreds, shields burning, swords melting into black slag. The wave climbed the ridges again, consuming archers in screaming bursts of ash.

The entire mountain path was drowned in shadowfire.

When the smoke cleared, silence reigned.

Fragments of bone lay scattered across the cracked stones. Black fire smoldered in patches, burning away the last scraps of flesh. The stench of charred remains filled the air.

Ding!

[+ 312 souls added]

Stephan lowered his blade, breathing steady, a faint grin still tugging at his lips. He rolled his shoulders, brushing bone dust from his coat as if he'd just walked through a sandstorm rather than annihilated an army.

His gaze shifted up the path.

The commander still stood.

Unlike his soldiers, he had survived. His crimson eyes burned hotter, his aura flaring with rage. The once-gleaming armor was scorched, but intact. His horse pawed the ground, snorting smoke through its rotted nostrils.

Stephan smirked, pointing his sword toward him.

"Well, Captain… I hope you perform better than the last captain I fought."

The commander raised his sword in silent answer, crimson eyes never leaving Stephan.

The real fight was about to begin.

The Commander's skeletal fingers tightened around his spear. For a moment, the battlefield was still, the only sound the crackle of bone fragments rolling down the mountain path.

Crack!

A jagged spark of violet lightning hissed across the spear's tip. Another followed. Then another. In the span of a heartbeat, the entire weapon was wrapped in a storm of purple arcs, energy snapping and crawling over its surface like living serpents.

The air itself thickened. The scent of ozone filled Stephan's nostrils, sharp and metallic, like a thunderstorm breaking open above his head.

"Well, well," Stephan muttered, lips curling into a hungry grin. "Looks like this one's not like the others."

The Commander spun the spear, and each rotation amplified the storm. Lightning leapt off the shaft, carving jagged lines into the ground, scorching stone into molten cracks. The sound was deafening, a roar of thunder compressed into every flick of the weapon.

Then the purple glow spread.

It began in the Commander's sockets, hollow voids ignited with molten amethyst fire. The glow pulsed outward, veins of lightning crawling through his skull and ribcage, filling his bones with violent, crackling light. Every joint, every fragment of armor shimmered as if reforged under a god's hammer. The lifeless frame had become a conduit, a vessel of destructive energy.

The transformation didn't stop with him. His mount screamed, a sound not made for mortal ears, a mixture of horse's cry and thunderclap. Purple lightning coursed down the reins, seeping into its flesh. Veins of light spread across its blackened hide, weaving into a glowing lattice. Muscle regenerated where bone once jutted, shadows knitting together under the lightning's touch.

The horse's mane erupted in violet fire, each strand whipping like a storm-borne banner. Sparks rained from its hooves as they struck the ground, leaving molten hoofprints in the stone. The beast pawed the earth, every stomp shaking the path like an earthquake.

Now, both rider and steed blazed like a storm given form, an unholy knight wreathed in purple lightning, armor fused with wrath, spear transformed into a thunderbolt forged for war.

Stephan's grin widened, the Ossuary Sword humming at his side.

"Finally," he said, eyes gleaming with anticipation. "A real opponent."

The Commander lowered his spear, the lightning storm around him intensifying until it was no longer just sparks, it was a shroud, a mantle of storm-wrath clinging to his form. His horse reared, violet fire erupting from its hooves, and the mountain path itself cracked under the force.

Stephan didn't flinch. He leaned forward slightly, sword angled at his side, lips still curved in that dark grin. His eyes flickered left and right, tracking every arc of energy, calculating, waiting.

Then the Commander moved.

The beast launched forward in an explosion of thunder, ground erupting into shards of black stone. Purple lightning carved jagged veins into the path as horse and rider blurred into a single streak of incandescent destruction. The roar of the storm drowned out everything, skeleton soldiers, crackling fire, even Stephan's heartbeat.

Boom!

The Commander's spear was a comet, a bolt of divine punishment aimed directly at Stephan's chest. The sheer pressure of the charge tore the air apart, dragging the battlefield into its wake.

Stephan's grin widened, his knuckles whitening on the hilt of his blade.