3 Damage Check!

Sitting down on my bed, I spent an amount of time trying to talk, which frankly worked as well as it did right after the attack. All that came out was a raspy breath, almost sounding like a balloon slowly leaking air. I could still feel my blood burning the inside of my body, but it no longer hurt. Instead, it just felt like my blood had a mind of its own racing through my body. Overall, I felt stronger, but the loss of my voice had become a rather annoying issue. It seemed that I would eventually need to find a new way to communicate, but for now I should just preach with my actions.

Glancing towards the barred windows, I can see the afterglow of the sun setting in the distance. In the front yard there is my puppet just motionlessly standing in front of the door where I had left him only a couple minutes ago. It feels like a lot of time has passed since I had reached the fortress, but it had only been about two hours since I had stepped through the portal. Or maybe the time in the portal was longer than a second? It had felt like an eternity, but I knew that I really can't trust my senses right now. It feels as if a whole new world was opened on top of this very one. Without having to look at my puppet I could feel them standing outside the entrance of the building. It was a weird feeling, it was almost like a weird sense of object permanence, I could feel them there, and I knew they were there without having to look. Surprisingly, this sense stretched all the way to the fort, and from here I could feel there was something massive radiating Void, I wasn't sure if this was from the many portals stationed there, or something else entirely.

It intrigued me, but I knew there was a more pressing matter to attend too. The patients around me were suffering, and as a herald of the Void this meant that I needed to free them from their suffering and let them gain their freedom once again. Unfortunately, they were being kept alive till they succumbed to their infection, as the bodies of the infected were useless, but the bodies of an undead monster were extremely valuable. The warden earlier had stated that someone had "accidentally" consumed the flesh of an undead creature, but that seemed unlikely, and chances are these poor people had sold their life for some gold for their family. This was basically an undead farm, which was an atrocity that needed to be rectified, as soon as possible.

This was something that couldn't be vocalized too much, so while it was probably the provincial governor who setup this scheme, it was doubtful that I would need to fight everyone in this province, my opponents were probably just the grey knights that were guarding the place. It was strange, why my parents wanted me out of the capital so badly and to do away with me so quietly, and why the hell would I end up here of all places. Chances are they assumed I would be dead in a few days, whether by my own hand or by the poison coursing through my veins. I guess all things considered this place was meant for me to just keel over and die, and it would be a place where I would just in nameless obscurity. Well, then die I shall. It seems that it is time for me to start anew, not as Adam, but as Amos.

First things first, I need to establish my physical might, rescue these patients and either eliminate or conquer the grey knights. It would be fitting, taking this shameful organization out of the shadows and forcing it out into the light, recreating it into a champion of the people. Intuitively I understood the Void had granted me some new powers, but I wasn't sure exactly what they were, and some experimenting would need to be conducted.

Before my accident I was proficient for a fourteen-year-old with a dagger, but outside of that my focus of study in school tactics and administration. Tactics class was basically just going over dubious historical reports of The Empire's past victories marveling at how smart those past generals were, and administration wasn't much better, but much more useful. It was basically just memorizing the laws of the Kingdom, and as I moved up to higher education, I would then focus my study on certain portions of laws.

Frankly, I wasn't built for combat, so I wasn't so sure how to test my abilities or generally where my abilities laid.

I could feel that the Void in my heart could be unleased through my skin, but I wasn't sure how to control the Void to make it leave me heart, or if I could even make it come back once I was finished with it.

Getting up off the bed, I lay down and sit cross-legged on the ground, closing my eyes and slowly circulating my breathing. I could feel the Void in my heart, dancing around almost like it was putting on a show. It seemed to sway from side to side in tandem with my thoughts, there was a psionic link between me and the Void!

Slowly guiding it, I had it rush through my veins and out my fingertips! As soon as I opened my eyes, I could see this dark purple mist floating around me, turning around marveling at the gas cloud of Void that was floating around me. It seemed to move with me, always staying a couple inches off me and spreading out from me. From the outside it would probably look like there was just a gas giant moving around. The cloud wasn't that thick, so it would probably only be able to obscure my identity from a way away. As I'm observing the cloud, I start to smell something burning. Startled I stand up, only to fall through the charred floor below me. Landing on the table I noticed when coming into the building.

With the wind knocked out of me from the fall, I just simply roll off the table and land on the floor like a dead sack of potatoes. Gasping, trying to regain my breath sounds even rougher to my ears than I remembered it. Still facedown on the ground, I hear a door suddenly slam open a way away from me.

Trying to get back up I stumble and almost fall back down, finally stumbling with my back to the front door. Standing by the exit to the backdoor stood a massive grey knight with two hexagrams, one on each pauldron, and in one hand there was a battered and beaten Warden, and in the other there was a battle axe seemingly covered in a bright red fire that seemed to not bother the grey knight but was probably responsible for the wardens burns all over his face.

"Looks like one of the animals has gotten out of his pen, I will take care of this pig, you take care of this one…"

Seemingly directing more grey knights outside, the lead knight simply tossed the Warden outside with a resounding thump, and in that same motion points their molten axe in my directions.

Silently, without any other exclamations and minimal motion the lead grey knight charged at me, barreling towards me, there was no doubt within my mind that if this knight was able to get within range of me with that axe my life and mission would become cosmic afterthoughts.

Following my instinct, I clumsily thrown myself back onto the floor, while pushing the void out of my body quickly and as quickly as I could.

A hazy mist billows out of hand, quickly creating a barrier in front of me! The knight either not sensing the danger, or fatally thinking that this was smoke-based mist, not the Void that cleanses.

Barreling through the mist like they had no tomorrow, the knight reaches me within a few breathes, reaching back with his axe, but once again I smell something burning, looking up at the knight there was a loud thump, as the head of the axe lands behind the knight. With a scoff the knight lets go of the axe handle which slowly fades to dust as it leaves his hands. Reaching through the smog, the knight throws me up by arm, only to rotate on his back foot to kick me with the other one, flying into the wall I spit out blood, showering the knight in front of me! Slamming into the front wall of the building, it breaks apart with easy, having already long been eaten away at by my Void smog. Landing hard on the ground outside, I spit up more blood on landing. Landing back on my feet, I hear the most horrifying of screams come from the knight. It was a guttural scream, the one that is let out involuntarily as great physical pain is brought against someone.

The blood that had landed on the knight had quickly begun smoking and fizzling when it contacted the dull grey armor of the knight. To my surprise and the knight's horror the blood quickly turned from crimson red to metallic purple, sizzling, melting and peeling the very armor off the knight. Instead of slowly losing its reactivity the blood seemed to be getting more acidic, and the melted armor seemed to be adding fuel to the fire, as the small blotches on the armor seemed to be growing progressively larger.

But this wasn't the worst part, no the real horror show began once this toxic pool finally broke through the thick armor of the knight and contacted the knight's skin.

Landing on the knight's skin, almost immediately an unearthly scream was heard coming from the knight's mouth, following which the sizzling seemed to intensify as this purplish bloody mixture just melted right through the knight's body as faster than molten slag melts through ice. The scream only lasted half a second, but even the sound lasted longer than the knight! In mere seconds the knight's armor went from a crumbling defense to a cracked cup filled with acidic blood and toxic fumes. And in a few more seconds, the armor too was gone and all that was left was a sizable puddle of acidic mixture. At this point I'm not even sure how much of my blood was left within this toxic mixture.

With a simple thought, the Void smog that had followed me when I was tossed out of the house entered back into my body through my skin. Thinking back to the previous fight this Void attack seemed too only be effective against organic materials. Too bad these knights are fully armored, or this void smog spread out could be used very effectively.

Looking around I see no signs of the other grey knights, the scream was quick but there was no way they didn't hear it, especially if they were only on the other side of the house. They must have great confidence with their leader or simply assumed the scream was mine.

Suddenly realizing I was in the front yard I looked around the front, looking for my puppet that should still be around here somewhere.

Quickly finding it curled up in stasis mode not too far from where I went flying through the wall. It looks like it had simply wandered around the front lawn before quietly powering down for the night. These things needed "rest" and it had been walking around outside, does this mean that puppets could get bored. The mystery with these things kept getting bigger and bigger.

Reaching out with my hand I shake the shoulder of the puppet. With a start, the puppet starts unfurling from itself before it is standing up in front of me. Standing up at almost six feet, this thing would have been extremely menacing if it wasn't for its lanky frame and even lankier appendages.

Gesturing with my hand I try and motion for the puppet should, but instead it just cocks its head and looks at me funny.

"Sir?"

Shaking my head, I push the puppet back a couple of steps, and carefully controlling the void smog wrote with this smog in front of the puppet

[Shout at the house that the Grey Knight is dead]

Turning away from me and facing the house, the puppet pauses almost as if it was gathering it breathe before shouting, "The Grey Knight is dead"

The puppet cutely turns to face me almost expectedly, like a puppy looking to be praised by its master. It was strangely endearing, even though its "face" was simply a smooth steel plate that reflected whatever was shown into it.

After affectionately rubbing the top of the puppet once, I turn back towards the house and confidently walk forwards the grey knight's doom.