Relic

Closing the distance between him in the King proved more difficult than he bargained for…

But he was able to do it after dodging a great number of swipes. Luckily for Reyes, the gold bracelets the King wore seemed to be on cooldown.

Jumping into the air, he used his aura platforms while dodging all manner of attacks from the massive skeleton and got eye level with it.

With a tight grip on his katanas, he threw out a horizontal swipe directly at the head of the King while maintaining a bit of distance from him.

To his dismay, nothing even happened at all despite the fact his katanas had regained their blue glint again. Distracted, he barely had enough time to react to the King's next attack.

Crack!

Reyes tried to block but it barely did anything to mitigate the hard slap he was hit with. He almost screamed in agony as he felt his left arm snap.

The force of the impact sent him flying through a few large gravestones that stood in the background, screeching to a halt and coughing up blood after skidding across the dirt for a few feet.

Forcing himself to stand, he looked up at the Skeleton King. The gold bracelets were charging their beams again, casting light around the area again.

'Gotta move!'

He wanted so badly to move his legs but they didn't respond.

After having to dodge so many attacks and being smacked out of the air like a fly, his energy levels were so low that he could only stand there in the face of imminent death.

'I won't let it end here!'

Looking at his swords, Reyes made a decision.

With a growl, he stabbed one of his katanas into his broken arm. Time slowed down so drastically for him that he could visibly see the individual blood drops falling from the deep wound in his forearm after stabbing himself.

A burst of pain radiated through his body, almost causing him to puke but he didn't. Instead, he forced himself to rush forward.

His movements were so fast, his entire body became a blur as he streaked up to the King.

Jumping high into the air again, he used every last ounce of energy to form a dense ball of red Ki in his palm and threw it straight into the center of one of the bracelets that had almost finished charging.

Boom!

A massive explosion sweeped through the entire area in a flash of blinding light.

Dirt, dust, and chunks of tombstone were sent high into the night sky forming a small mushroom cloud.

Barely conscious, Reyes lay there alone and bleeding within the massive crater the explosion left behind.

His arm, which had been utterly crushed, sat limp beside him in the dirt. Chunks of tombstone shrapnel stuck out of his skin like manmade porcupine quills. His whole body was in agony but above him, something gave him a glimmer of hope.

As the smoke cleared, a purple Soul Gem slowly descended and landed on his chest. For the first time, he noticed how warm it felt against his skin.

As it landed, something strange happened.

A black shadow with a golden crown appeared beside him. It looked down at him as it shimmered, gradually growing more into focus as the seconds passed.

Before long the shadow became a old man wrapped head to toe in purple robes with a long beard, sharp grey eyes and golden bracelets dangling from his wrists.

"You have given me freedom young warrior. Rise again and claim your reward."

Holding his hands out, the old mans hands began to glow green as Ki flowed through them and over Reyes.

His wounds began to rapidly heal and before long, he was back to feeling like himself again. Sitting up, he was taken aback when the old man handed him the golden bracelets he wore.

"These should help you along your journey young man. Thank you for helping this old man's spirit find peace."

With a smile on his face, the old man slowly faded away as time reversed itself around him, changing his face to that of a powerful young warrior king with long brown braids and fiery grey eyes full of power and wisdom before he vanished into thin air

Taking hold of the bracelets and the Soul Gem, a vivid vision filled Reyes's mind.

He just watched in awestruck silence as he experienced the King's final memories of battle before he was killed. From his point of view within the vision, he was decked out in gold and red robes towering above the armies that attacked his kingdom.

He could feel the power coursing through the Kings veins as he threw blow after blow, killing droves of man and giant alike before his chest was pierced by a large ballistae bolt shot from the distance.

After some time, the vision faded away just like the old man had done, leaving him alone with the Soul Gem and golden bracelets resting on his chest…

…

With all of the undead dealt with, Grim and Leezy rested together amongst the aftermath of their battle.

Overhead, the night sky started becoming darker as the moon began to slowly began to eclipse.

'Tomorrow night, the moon shall become blood red and I will be able to ascend at long last…'

Grim couldn't hold back his excitement. The moment he had been waiting for would finally arrive.

A tap on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, so can you tell me what you know about ascension?"

Leezy was curious to know exactly what it took to become a god. Knowing that he had the opportunity to gain some knowledge about the matter, he wouldn't be foolish enough to let that chance pass him by.

"Ascending for mortals requires certain milestones to be met. To ascend, the person must acquire Kyōran. Secondly, specific locations that have a high amount of Spirit Energy accumulated within it must be reached. Third, you must find a God Relic that can help open the gateway to the higher realms. Lastly, you must satisfy the conditions placed upon the relic you have to activate it which will enable you to traverse the pathway safely."

"Gateways and God Relics? Care to explain a bit?"

"God Relics are items left behind by those who have already ascended. The gateways connecting our realm and the higher realms are made of a unique energy that is lethal to those who are not prepared. This is the main reason why ascension used to take decades. The God Relics have already been exposed to the gateway's unique energy and provides a level of protection once crossing to the higher realms, which is why they are needed. Otherwise, it would probably take many lifetimes for anyone to become powerful enough for them to be able to cross using their own energy as protection."

"So the item that you want to get by coming here is a God Relic?"

Grim's deep gravely voice echoed around the empty canyon as he laughed.

"No, I have already acquired a relic. The specific condition that must be met requires me to fill it with Arcane Energy. From what I read about this canyon, the enemy that will awaken tomorrow should have enough to completely fill it once destroyed."

Taking his helmet off, Leezy sat on a rock and locked eyes with Grim.

"So exactly what enemy is supposed to awaken?"

With a grin, Grim looked back into his eyes but stayed silent.

"Well?"

"…A hydra."