Big Talk Little Hero

Wrapping his knuckles on the door, Keino heard movement on the other side.

The door swung open, and a tall man in full armour loomed over Keino. Looking him up and down, the man looked over Keino's shoulder. "Where are the goblins?"

Shrugging, the man reached forwards in a burst of speed, grabbing Keino by his tattered shirt. Pulling him inside, the man threw Keino onto the floor.

"The hell." Sitting up, Keino rubbed his chest. "Was that really necessary-"

Slamming his foot into Keino's chest, Keino rolled backwards, the air being knocked out of his body. Gasping for breath, Keino tried to pick himself up when he froze. Unnatural energy filled the room, unnatural but all too familiar.

"Must I remind you, I would prefer them to be in good condition?"

Looking up, Keino was faced with a purple-robed man sitting beside a desk, his face concealed under his hood. A long white beard stretched from his chin to halfway down his chest. The man's robe had grey markings running the seams. Keino had only seen these markings on one faction before.

Keino looked into the face of one of the Lich's underlings, a Dark Mage.

'If this man is a Dark Mage,' Keino looked at the creature behind him. 'That's got to be an undead… A Death Knight… I need to be careful.'

The Death Knight bowed his head in apology. "Forgive me, master."

Clicking his tongue, the old man took a glass orb from his desk. Purple smoke swirled within the orb.

'That purple smoke is just like the smoke that came from the goblin's corpses… Then it's not smoke, he's collecting souls.'

Regarding Keino with only a vague interest, he looked to his servant. "Where are the goblins?"

"Apparently they left him at the door." The Death Knight responded.

"Useless insects," Disgust was evident in his voice. "Once we have taken all the souls of those people from the caravan, clean out this cave system. Their bodies may be useless, but the soul energy they contain will be vital for my plan."

"Yes, master."

As he held the orb over Keino's head, Keino put a hand up. "Um, excuse me. What are you doing with that orb?"

The man blinked beneath his hood. "What makes you think I am allowing you last words?"

"I mean," Shrugging, Keino rubbed his back as he got onto his knees. "You talk about working with souls, you must be a Dark Mage… I've always had an interest in the forbidden magics, my sister and parents never understood me." Putting his hands together, Keino pleaded with the man. "I've even read up on it in the few texts I could find, I even killed a few animals I found to use their blood to try and gain the ability to use forbidden skills… But," Keino's shoulders drooped as he let out a sigh. "I've just never had the talent..."

The Dark Mage stroked his beard. "Well, this is unexpected. To think those useless goblins would bring me something interesting…" He chuckled, "Learning the forbidden magics can be quite the task, especially starting out. Without a mentor, it could take you decades to reach the conditions to use such magic."

"Without a mentor-" Keino raised his voice. "You don't mean!?"

Laughing, the Dark Mage nodded. "I have been wanting a student for a long time. To think I would find one in this dinky cave."

The Death Knight shuffled around Keino stopping beside his master before speaking. "Master, I'm not sure if what you are doing is smart. He was moments from death, he could be saying anything."

"Oh, silence," The Dark Mage waved away the Death Knight's concerns. "This boy speaks the truth. Can you not feel the aura of forbidden energy that emanates from his soul."

Keino squinted, 'What?'

"This is a fellow follower of the forbidden arts, tell me, boy. What is your name?"

Keino raised his head. "Ke- Lawrence, master. My name is Lawrence."

"Lawrence, take my hand." He offered his empty hand to Keino, "Take my hand and rise as my disciple."

Keino couldn't help but smile. "I can't thank you enough," With one hand he reached for the man's hand, and with his other, he reached for the bottom of his shirt. Taking the Dark Mage's hand, he tightly squeezed it. "For being so gullible." Yanking the old man forward, Keino drew one of the daggers he had hidden under his shirt. Keino slashed the man's other wrist.

The Dark Mage jumped, dropping the orb, in the same moment the Death Knight drew its sword. Catching the orb before it hit the floor, Keino rolled out of the way to avoid the Death Knight's attack.

Squeezing the orb tightly, Keino smiled at the Dark Mage and his Death Knight. "That's always been your problem, you practitioners of forbidden magic. You're always so quick to want to pat yourselves on the back."

[Activate Skill: Soul Absorption F-Tier]

The orb shattered in Keino's hand, the souls that had been sealed within the orb began to circle his body before entering it.

The Dark Mage stood in stunned silence, "What, what did you do."

[Soul Absorption - Success: You have absorbed 347 human souls. Current souls in possession: 349.

Due to the number of souls consumed, Soul Absorption has jumped a tier and been upgraded from F-Tier to D-Tier.]

Shaking, Keino shook his hand, causing small shards of crystal to clatter onto the floor. "Three hundred and forty-seven, you've killed, three hundred and forty-seven people." Keino drew his second dagger from behind his back.

The Death Knight lunged at Keino. Ducking to his left, Keino brought his daggers up to block the sword, causing it to slide forward. Running past the Death Knight, Keino again ducked as the Death Knight swung out one of its large arms in an attempt to hit Keino.

"You useless creature-" The Dark Mage was cut off as Keino threw a dagger into his shoulder, disrupting whatever skill he intended to use.

Reaching the old man, Keino easily knocked him over. "The thing about Death Knight's," Bringing his dagger down into the old man's heart. Keino took a deep breath as he heard the Death Knight collapse behind him. "They only function as long as the caster who created them is ali- I'm talking to myself again." Keino got off of the now corpse of the Dark Mage.

Scratching his head, Keino summoned the system. "What was that about Soul Absorption being upgraded? Open Skill Menu, Soul Absorption."

[Skill Menu: Soul Absorption D-Tier: Hold your hand out to absorb all the souls of those who have died within the last hour in a small area. When absorbing souls, you have a small chance to obtain skills from the absorbed souls.]

"Interesting, an hour up from a minute, and now I don't need to touch souls directly… I wonder if I manage to get this skill to S-tier, will the chance of obtaining skills from souls be one hundred per cent? Well, an upgrade is an upgrade."

Keino took a step back from the Dark Mage, bringing his hand up.

[Activate Skill: Soul Absorption D-Tier]

The souls of both the Dark Mage and Death Knight floated out of their bodies, coming to rest above Keino's palm. Closing his fingers around the souls, they entered his body.

[Soul Absorption: Success. You have absorbed 2 human souls.

Current souls in possession: 351.]

"Aww, no skills? Pity." Whilst Keino begrudged the loss of a chance at getting a free skill, a new screen appeared in front of his eyes.

[Alert: A soul residing within your body asks if it can 'borrow' 300 souls. It says it will pay you back with more at a later date. Y/N]

Keino cocked his head to the side as he tried to understand what he was reading. "What, what an incredibly odd message. What do you mean, a soul residing within my body, and it wants to borrow three hundred? I'd be left with one soul…" Crossing his arms, Keino rubbed his chin as a thought came to mind. "Although, it could give me more skills."

His mind made up, Keino pressed yes.

[Alert: 300 souls have been devoured by the soul residing within your body (Current Souls in possession: 51) By rejuvenating the soul, you have awoken the Lich's soul.]

Keino felt his guard unconsciously go up, reading the word. Stepping back, Keino felt his breath quicken. "The Lich, t-the Lich's soul, is inside me?"

'You've got that right.'

Swinging around, Keino brought his fists up.

'Good luck fighting me, Hero. I'd be impressed if you manage it.'

"Wait, are you? You're the Lich?" Keino clenched his teeth. "What are you doing in my body?"

Lich's voice laughed within Keino's head. 'You're body? You shouldn't even be here, after you and your best buddy killed me, I was trying to run away, trying to link my soul to a faraway corpse to escape. But for some reason, when your best bud stabbed you, he stabbed me too.'

"You?" Keino's memory flashed back to the Lich's throne room, crawling away from Riel. Bumping into something. "That, was you? I bumped into your body?"

'Bingo. I hate to point out the obvious, but whatever skill your buddy used stabbed a hole into both of our souls and linked them.'

Gritting his teeth, Keino looked away. "Stop calling him that Lich, Riel isn't my buddy… And I'm no Hero, not any more."

Keino could feel Lich roll his eyes, 'You two worked for two years to take me down. That's buddy-buddy enough for me.'

"And I'd do it again! Everything you've done, what makes you think I won't kill myself right now? Sure, I can't get my revenge, but at least I'll take you to Hell with me."

'Pff, big talk, little hero. But I'm not your enemy here. Damn, I wish I could walk around instead of being a voice in your head. It hasn't even been a day, and I'm already bored.'

This time Keino rolled his eyes. Walking over to the Dark Mage's desk, Keino began rummaging through the desk as he zoned out the Lich's rambling.

After a minute, Keino stopped as he closed a draw. "You said you're not my enemy? Explain?"

'You really need me to explain who your real enemy is? Ugh, how did I ever lose to you idiots? It's the Church you fool, that's your enemy. The church, the gods. Believe it or not, I was a Hero like you once, but I strayed off the path when I realized what the church really was.'

"You're not helping your case," Keino gestured to the two dead bodies on the floor.

'...' Lich was quiet for a brief moment. 'I may have made some mistakes, but can you really blame me? Everything relatively good is sided with the church. They had already demonized me, painted me as the enemy of their holy divinity… But this body isn't known to them.'

Closing another drawer, Keino raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going with this?"

'Hehe, you ever wanted to bring a religion to its knees?'