Wrath Part 5

Many years ago, when Lazlow the Seventh was still king of Ugdual, he had 12 sons, all bastards from different mothers. In an attempt to garner as many strong heirs as possible, the king slept with as many powerful women he could until eventually he produced what he thought would be his magnum opus, his eighth son, Julian the First. Julian was the product of the king's affair with one his top military generals, a half giant. Julian was strong from birth, a prodigy physically and mentally.

He began to crawl a week after he was born and learned how to speak at 9 months and was winning brawls with his older siblings by age 7. Julian's body was surely blessed by Hanor, his muscles were so thick and powerful that he weighed at least double that of a boar at birth and constantly needed new clothes to accommodate his growing muscles. He was on the fast track to success, killing his first bear, barehanded at 10 years old and was stronger than half the palace guards by age 16! And with him being the most likely to inherit his father, no one could mess with him, he was unstoppable! Until...

"What a waste of good muscles..." Gorum said.

Julian remembered that day perfectly, it was his 18th birthday party and nobles as well as royalty came from all around to praise his talents, even two of the braves came to his party despite their busy schedules. Kolda, The Indominable Tower had recognized his strength and talent, even saying he'd make a mighty brave one day! But Gorum, Gorum did not share such ideas. Gorum even said that his muscles were going to waste. That filthy peasant had dared to insult his crown prince's honor in front of everyone on his birthday.

Naturally, the prince was incredibly upset, and lashed out at Gorum, challenging him to a duel of honor then and there. Anyone with a brain would understand the circumstances and decline or forfeit the duel immediately, but not Gorum. NO, Gorum accepted the challenge in full and ended the match with a single blow. A backhand, so swift and fierce it stripped the flesh off the prince's face, disfiguring him for life.

After that incident, Prince Julian was the fool of the family, ridiculed for his stupidity. Even his doting father, who favored him absolutely, had tossed him into the background after Gorum embarrassed him. Eventually, Julian went missing a year or so after that, never seen again, till now at least...

"You have no clue how badly I was waiting for this day; I'll make you pay for ruining my life you filthy peasant!" Julian said, voicing his rage at the top of his lungs as he showered Gorum with punches. He was fully intending to destroy him with his own two hands.

Julians power had risen to an unrecognizable point while training under the order, the thickness of his glorious muscles granted him nigh invulnerability to the point he didn't even require armor. Along with strength to destroy mountains with his punches! Or at least, that was meant to be the case.

"WHY...AREN'T...YOU...DYING?" Julian shouted as he kept pummeling Gorum, to no avail. Somehow, Gorum was guarding each destructive punch with total competency, perfectly gliding the punches to the side using his forearms. In response, Gorum could only sigh.

"I'm disappointed, Julian. Even with such an amazing body, you're throwing it all into the wind with that pathetic head of yours. I thought you would clean up when you ran away, but to see you after all this time and you've become some type of pervert...honestly, put some clothes on." Gorum said with a disappointed tone.

THOOM!

Gorum then smacking away one of Julians punches with a backhand, tossing a counter straight punch right into Julians solar plexus. The ear busting shockwave from the punch making his rock-hard muscles rippling like fat as his giant frame was launched backward onto its ass.

"Hhh..." Julian wheezed as he sat up, holding his chest where a perfect indention of Gorum's fist was present in his flesh.

"Now then, be a good child and hold still while I batter you into bi-" FWOOSH! Gorum was interrupted by a speedy slash that was aimed for the eye slit in his helm; Gorum having to bend his entire body backwards to avoid it. Leaping back to gain distance, Gorum saw a short woman with pale skin and gold hair dressed in extravagant black and red plate armor made to fit her form. Two strange, jagged curved swords present in her hands.

"Lil...Lily Von Marigold?" Gorum said, trying to summon up his memories of her. From what he could remember, she was provincial noble that was secretly a vampire. She was supposed to have died nearly 50 years ago during a hunt on her life.

One may think it was because she was a vampire, but it was actually due to her feeding on her subjects, rather than on criminals like she was supposed to. The fact she was a vampire was secret to the public, but not within noble circles. In fact, it was accepted, as long as she only fed on criminals. Gorum was actually the one in charge of overseeing her execution, but he never actual SAW her die, he just assumed his underlings at the time did their jobs.

"Ah! You remember me?" She said, gasping a bit as an excited/flustered look came upon her face. Gorum had a feeling she was trouble...

"Nrgh...I didn't need your help!" Julian scolded Lily as he got up, rubbing the spot on his chest that had now healed.

"Regardless of needing help, this wasn't a one on one in the first place! Don't be so selfish, all of us commanders have a bone to pick with Gorum anyway!" Lily said, scolding him right back.

"Indeed, young Julian. Do not be so selfish as to ignore the wishes of your comrades." A third voice chimed in, stepping out of the crowd of emissaries over to where Lily and Julian were. It was a pig-orc of rather obese proportions that wore the armor of a church bishop, wielding a large golden scepter.

"And you're...Bishop Hoig?" Unlike the other two, Gorum had to take an extra second to remind himself of the man's name. From his memory, Hoig was just some random Bishop of the Church that was ousted after Gorum exposed some corruption by accident during an investigation of a drug trade.

"Oh, now that's a surprise, we've only met once but you remember me? Impressive memory for an old man. Ah, but my title is 'Grand Hoig' now by the way." Hoig said, softly clapping his hands to congratulate Gorum.

Although it was odd for an enemy to compliment Gorum, he was correct. Gorum had an impeccable memory, to the point that saying he could remember anything he's ever seen or heard wouldn't be an exaggeration. Unfortunately for Gorum that meant he could recall his mistakes and put together that these three being here now was his fault in a way. Regardless though, he wasn't the type to cry over spilt milk.

"Well, I'm glad you're all doing well, but unfortunately this isn't going to end well for the lot of yo-" BOOM! Once again, Gorum was interrupted again, this time by Julian smashing his fist right into Gorum's face, denting his faceplate and sending him skidding backwards.

'What? He couldn't even land a proper punch before so what the hell was that?' Gorum thought, holding onto his head, a headache now present in his old dome. Just as Gorum looked up to keep an eye on Julian, he spotted Hoig applying buffs to both Lily and Julian.

'Ah, I see now. One high damage tank, a hit and runner attacker and a supporter. Good formation...but the buffs are a problem, Julian can damage me now and Lily will no doubt aim for the weak spots in my armor at the same time. I suppose I don't have a choice this time around.' Gorum contemplated their formation, and quickly decided on his tactic.

After Hoig finished buffing them, Julian and Lily came barreling at Gorum. Lily flanking around him with Julian storming his front, winding up a big and hefty straight right. Instead of dodging the strike, Gorum met it with his own, a massive shockwave sounding out as their fists collided. After a moment of resistance, Julians forearm exploded from inside, his bones splintering outward, rendering everything past his left elbow useless.

As Julian let out a wail of pain whilst staggering backwards, Gorum quickly swung his left leg at his right knee, severing his kneecap from his leg, resulting in another pain filled yelp from Julian that was quickly interrupted by a second kick to his neck. With a loud crack accompanying the strike, Julian dropped to the floor unconscious with a heavy thud.

"Sh-Shit!" Lily cursed, backing away from Gorum out of caution, she watched him stand above Julian, looking down at the destroyed Julian. Unbeknownst to her though, Gorum wasn't admiring his work, but rather his condition.

'Shit.' Gorum thought as he struggled to not cough, his insides churning in pain. It had been a long time since Gorum had used a skill to attack with like he did just now, because for some odd reason, they no longer costed stamina or mana. They costed him his health. Gorum groaned internally as he brought up the status screen, something he hadn't done since he defeated the Star God.

Blip!

HP: 112T / 457T

Stamina: 120T / 212T

Mana: 4T / 18T

'This isn't good, using [Destroying Blow] three times just now cost me half my health. This won't be as easy as I thought...' He thought, pondering what to do next, when all of a sudden, he saw Julian begin to rise, his wounds healing at a miraculous rate. Looking past Julian, Gorum saw Idalia smirking like a child cheating at a game.