Chapter XXXV: The Slums (6)

Here it is folks, the long awaited ending to The Slums saga. Before you start reading just a few notes:

1- I deleted the old MC status page and posted 2 new ones in the auxiliary volume titled MC Status, and Memories and Echoes for ease of access.

2- Grab a drink of your choice and maybe a snack cuz this beast is +10k words long.

3- Enjoy!

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(Period of time spent in Leonia: 3 months)

He sat there sporting a terrible frown with his legs crossed in a meditative position. His eyes were shut in concentration as droplets of sweat trickled down his pale forehead and his back. Every few minutes, the youth's head would jolt abruptly as if he had been struck with something sharp.

With every moment that passed, the frown grew deeper and deeper; so much so that it wouldn't have been strange if it got permanently etched onto his face.

After an unknown amount of time had passed, William let out a shaky breath, and his eyes opened to reveal two pairs of cerulean eyes that seemed to be faintly glowing in the darkness of the room.

"Finally, it got engraved," he muttered as he brought up his runes to check for the fruit of his torture.

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Memory Name: Profane Grimoire

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Tier: -

Memory Type: Tool

Memory Enchantment: [Magic]

[Magic]

Enchantment Description: The owner of this grimoire can cast spells written in it by consuming essence.

Spells Learned: [Prestidigitation], [Light], [Mental Acupuncture], [Shroud of Death], [Doom Bolt], [Comprehend Languages], [Crown of Madness], [Sound Barrier], [Arms of Hadar]

[Arms of Hadar]

Spell Description: You invoke the power of Hadar, the Dark Hunger. Tendrils of eldritch energy erupt from your location and attack all creatures around you (A.N. AOE is 10 feet {~3m}). The tendrils bind those it comes into contact with and devour their souls as sacrifices to Hadar. (A.N. This effect can be avoided as long as the target overpowers the grip of the tendrils in time or if their soul rank is higher than the caster.)

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He looked at the spell description with a heavy gaze. He reread the spell description several times while trying to come into terms with what he had just done.

He still didn't think that it was a wise choice to have anything to do with whatever eldritch monstrosity this Hadar was, but beggars can't be choosers; especially those in his position.

Moreover, with his Mental Fortitude reaching the rank of E-, the process of engraving the spell into his mental tower slowed down considerably. Whenever he tried inserting the Mental Acupuncture needle, he would experience great resistance that sometimes managed to break apart the needle entirely. Thus, it had taken him countless tried before he fully engraved the spell.

A sigh escaped him as he willed the floating runes to vanish. Getting up to his feet, he began doing some stretches, which caused his entire skeleton to pop audibly as an indication for just how long he had stayed in his meditative position.

His eyes glanced over the simple white, metallic ring on his middle finger, and his mind wandered to wandered to the description of his newest memory acquisition - or rather lack of it.

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[Pale Ring: ???]

Memory Name: Pale Ring

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Tier: IV

Memory Type: Tool

Memory Enchantment: [Subspace], [Void Walk]

[Subspace]

Enchantment Description: You can store non-living items inside the ring's subspace and retrieve them at will. The size of the subspace is dependent on the wielder's soul capacity.

[Void Walk]

Enchantment Description: You can teleport in a flash of pale light. The distance limit to the teleportation depend on the wielder's soul capacity.

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First was the creature's name and now the description of its memory; something was smelling fishy about its entire existence, and William didn't like it one bit. Hell, even items pertaining to Daemons didn't have question marks in place of the description.

On the other side of things, the memory did provide two enchantments that were incredibly useful. Ignoring the [Void Walker] that was not usable until he was an awakened, the [Subspace] enchantment allowed for him to store up his acquired soul shards so that he didn't have to find new chests whenever the old one filled up. Moreover, he even put the other items from his previous base of operations in it so that he has a mobile base from now on.

It proved useful, especially now that both species of nightmare creatures have moved from their previous areas of influence and have been aggregating at no man's land as if preparing for a big battle of some sort.

If his assumption was true then, it was possible for him to enact a plan that had been swirling in his mind since he discovered an essential piece of information from one of the memories given by the Darkspawn Soldiers.

There were two criteria for him to be able to enter into the noble section through the inner wall gates: One, recover the War Saintess dead or alive from the cult's clutches. Two, eradicate the cult of the False Shepherd.

The trick was that one couldn't be done without the other. As long as the corrupted War Saintess lived, the cult could continuously replenish their numbers through their grotesque ritual.

Thus, for him to accomplish the first criteria and to actually start reducing reducing the cult's numbers, he needed to eliminate the corrupted War Saintess.

Of course, he was not delusional enough to believe that the cult will leave their most important asset unprotected even when they go to do some sort of grand battle. He was going to have to go against a veritable number of nightmare creatures to get inside of the ziggurat but if he didn't do it now, he didn't know how long it would be before another opportunity would arise - if any.

If he were in any other position, the best pragmatic course of action would've been to farm the ever-replenishing cultists until he was a Dormant Titan; however...

William looked at the Teardrop Talisman that was hanging around his neck; it had been protecting him from the corruption of this place since the moment he awoke here. The blue gem nestled in the center of it, which was crystal-clear once now had several motes of darkness floating in it.

If he had to make an educated guess, the memory protecting him was not as infallible as he believed. Thus, he had limited time before the talisman became obsolete. Moreover, he was uncertain about what effect this had on the spirits of Arthas and Jaina inside the gem. He hadn't seen the two ancient heroes since he got to this place, and he was starting to miss them. Well, he was starting to miss having human conversations with someone who is not the product of his mind.

All in all, he was in the ass-end of shit creek without a paddle.

Great.

Peachy even.

Just as he was about to move outside of his hiding place, the air erupted in a cacophony of sounds as what seemed to be hundreds of horns blared. The air vibrated, and so did the ground beneath his feet. His ears could pick up the sound of tens of thousands of nightmare creatures marching.

"It's time.... Let's do this," he spoke in an effort to hype himself up for what seemed to be a suicide mission by all means. Leaving the house he had holed up in, William didn't waste time and immediately leaped to a house roof and started running towards the direction of the ziggurat.

Thanks to his enhanced physique and having already adapted to this form of travel, it didn't take long to reach his destination.

He moved from one rooftop to another until he reached an area that was not completely engulfed in darkness thanks to the multitude of torches burning with blue flames. He followed the lit path until he reached the clearing where the ziggurat stood.

The clearing itself appeared more spacious now that it wasn't packed with thousands of nightmare creatures.

Observing the imposing building of wood and stone, the first thing he noticed were about ten groups of nightmare creatures patrolling in close proximity around it. Each group contained at least a hundred Warped Caprigors and ten Warped Juggernauts.

Moreover, the two extra-large Warped Juggernauts from the previous ritual were standing guard at the top where the entrance to the building - and the War Saintess - was.

From the start, any notion of a stealthy approach was out of the window due to him being a 24/7 nightmare creature magnet.

Next, he surmised that a frontal assault was a fool's errand. It was possible, but he would have to die a few times to do so. That was..... sub-optimal.

He could try taking out one patrol at a time but that would be too time consuming and the noise would have a high chance of attracting the attention of the other patrols.

A third option was for him to sow chaos among the patrol groups by using the [Crown of Madness] spell. It had proven to be exceptionally effective on the Warped Juggernaut thanks to their [Simple] attribute. Then, he could use his Warped Juggernaut echo to throw himself over the nightmare creatures and directly towards the steps of the ziggurat.

After that, it was simply a matter of being fast enough to kill the two nightmare creatures guarding the entrance and accomplish his objective.

Thus, with the semi-manageable plan ready; William raised his hand wreathed in arcane energy and focused his sight on one of the Warped Juggernauts that were surrounded by the most nightmare creatures.

[Crown of Madness]

The arcane energy formed a magic circle and a jagged, thorny crown of bloodied iron formed on top of the Warped Juggernaut's head. It stood there for a moment, dazed, before it suddenly let out a manic cry of anger and started beating up all of the nightmare creatures around it.

The Warped Caprigors were mere Dormant Demons and were ruthlessly crushed under the raging assault. The other Warped Juggernauts tried to stop their raging kin but were punched and slashed instead by other Warped Juggernauts with jagged crowns floating over their heads.

In the end, it turned into a chaotic battle among the Warped Juggernauts that even spread to the other patrol groups. Pained bleats resounded in the clearing as some of the Warped Caprigors were thrown around, crushed, or even used as improvised weapons by their raging larger kin.

William, moderately spent, stared at his handiwork with a satisfied expression. 'Now for the second phase,' he thought as his echo got summoned in a swirling cloud of spinning stars. The Warped Juggernaut echo stared at its master with its usual soulless expression.

"Run," he commanded while pointing at the ziggurat.

The echo turned its head to look at the scene of chaos before its eyes and began charging forward with heavy steps.

William waited for a few moments before following directly behind it.

The chaotic crowd of nightmare creatures was ignorant of the echo rushing towards them while the two beefed up monsters on top were too busy staring with confusion at the carnage happening below them.

Once William determined that they had gotten close enough, he yelled, "Stop! Turn! Back!"

The series of one word commands with spaces between them was the only way the youth could make his echo do more than one thing at a time.

The echo's charge screeched to a halt and it turned backwards to face the still running Sleeper.

"Hand! Platform!" (A.N. I really didn't know what command to write in this situation.)

Once he was only a few steps away from the echo, he shouted a new command, "Lift!"

William stepped onto the echo's hands and felt himself rising as the echo lifted him of the ground with its perverse strength and caused him to soar over the rampaging crowd. The echo immediately dispersed into a cloud of swirling stars after having done its job.

Under the surprised gazes of two ziggurat guardians, William landed half-way up the steps of the ziggurat and immediately running up with Frostmourne brandished and ready for battle.

The two guardians quickly got over their surprise and grabbed the enormous axes hanging from their backs. With a loud battle cry, one of them charged down at the advancing human while the other took a defensive stance in front of the ziggurat's entrance.

William looked at the mass of muscles charging at him with its axe but he didn't show fear. Switching the grip of his weapon to his prosthetic hand, his organic hand glowed with a dull light signifying the casting of a spell. Inside his mental tower where his spell circles were engraved, a particular circle began spinning and lighting up.

[Shroud of Death]

A wave of necrotic energy erupted from his hand and washed over the charging nightmare creature, briefly depriving it of its sight and hearing. Having lost two of its most essential sensory senses caused it to lose its footing as it rushed down and began tumbling down the stairs of the ziggurat down to the rampaging crowd on the ground.

William jumped to the side to avoid the tumbling ball of proteins and continued his way up to the top of the ziggurat.

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The remaining guardian looked on with caution, its axe held tight in its hands' as the Sleeper approached it. Even if its mental faculties were not the best out there, seeing its fellow guardian roll down the stairs like a bowling ball made it feel apprehensive about its opponent. It was ordered to guard the entrance with its life and that was its intention. After all, the Shepherd's orders are absolute.

Thus, with a huff, it brandished its axe and cautiously advanced towards the intruder. One second, it was observing its opponent; the next, it felt something foreign wash over it briefly and suddenly its vision went dark and its hearing got muted. It tried shaking its head in an effort to shake off whatever was blinding it - but it was all for naught.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

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The Warped Juggernaut let out a pain cry as black blood spurted from the deep wound on its neck from Frostmourne's kiss.

William had the reach and was on the clock so it would have been idiotic not to go for a beheading. Alas, the thick muscle fibers protecting the nightmare creature's neck were too thick to be cut by one swing.

The white-haired Sleeper had to back step to avoid the axe that came down and smashed the floor where he was standing into smithereens. Looking up, he saw the Juggernaut holding its weapon with one hand while the other was pressed against the wound in an effort to ebb the flow of blood. From the looks of it, he may have nicked whatever these creatures had for a carotid artery.

However, unlike an average human, an Awakened Monster won't just keel over just because they were leaking a few liters of their blood.

The juggernaut was staring at him with eyes full of hate and malice which also signified that it had shaken off [Shroud of Death]'s effect. He could recast it, but he was already plenty spent in the essence department and didn't want to run himself dry just yet. Also, the angered bleating bellow from downstairs reminded him that the other guardian was still in the game and it was pretty pissed off.

His hands tightened around Frostmourne and its sole rune glowed more vividly in response.

The wounded nightmare creature reversed its grip over its axe, dislodged it from the ground with a huff, and swung it wildly at the the young man. He dodged and weaved through the barbaric swings that displaced the air itself with their ferocity and waiting for an opportunity to strike back. The seconds were ticking and with each one passing, the risk of something going wrong increased more and more.

Thankfully, the moment he was waiting for came when the beefed up juggernaut made for an all-or-nothing downward swing with its lumbering axe that smashed onto the the ground with a loud Boom! Crash! sending debris and dust everywhere.

Without wasting a moment, William activated [Mantle of Death] and leaped at his foe with his prosthetic hand morphed into a sharp claw. Once it looked at the Sleeper, the juggernaut flinched and its expression turned horrified and brought its bulky hand before its face in a defensive position.

All of this lasted for a second, and a second was all that was needed for William to land on its shoulder, rip into the open wound on its neck with his claw and embed itself into it. Moreover, the embedded bony claw extended like vines in to the body of the nightmare creature; then, elongated thorns burst out from the vines dug deeper into the flesh.

The creature let out an ear-piercing cry of pain and tried to shake off the Sleeper like a frenzied bull. However, it was for naught as William was secured in his position thanks to the implanted claw.

The youth raised his wicked weapon and brought it down on the monsters neck. Once...twice....thrice.... like a butcher's cleaver, the mourneblade hacked into the nape of of the nightmare creature's thick neck. The monster retaliated in rage - or it would've if its spine didn't get injured by the first strike. Paralyzed and helpless, the nightmare creature simply stood still as a brick wall as Frostmourne's edge came down for a fourth time and beheaded the sorry creature.

The goat head flew in the air leaving a trail of black blood through it, and unceremoniously tumbled down the steps of the ziggurat. Meanwhile, a geyser of life essence spurted out of the monster's head less body as it fell forward and crashed onto floor with a meaty Smack!

William released his hold onto the body before that happened and landed safely on the ziggurat's floor just as the voice of the Spell whispered the all too familiar words into his ear.

[You have slain an Awakened Monster, Warped Juggernaut Prime.] (D100 = 8)

[Your soul grows stronger.]

'Prime, huh? What? Is it some sort of variant or something?' he thought offhandedly as he glanced at the disintegrating corpse before his eyes. Then, he shook his head dismissively, he didn't have the leisure to think of such things right now - especially with an mad-goat-headed hulk wannabe running up the stairs to face him.

With but a thought, the bulky Warped Juggernaut echo appeared next to him from a cloud of spinning stars.

Pointing towards the charging Juggernaut Prime, William uttered a single command, "Fight."

The echo looked at its foe with its soulless eyes and immediately charged at it with reckless abandon; it's weapon, a thick wooden club, clutched in its hands.

'This should buy me a few minutes; better be quick,' thought William as he walked toward the entrance into the ziggurat. He came before two massive doors

fashioned from dark stone. One door had half the carving of a goat's face, probably the False Shepherd, engraved on it while the other had the second half.

Surrounding the face were various unknown runes and symbols that he couldn't make heads or tails of. It was strangely artistic - in a cultish way.

Yet, William wasn't here to admire the artistic abilities of a bunch of deranged goatmen. With a hand on each stone door, he poured every iota of his strength into pushing the door open. It didn't budge at first but after a few seconds it began giving in. Soon enough, the stone doors opened enough for him to pass through.

The inside of the ziggurat was dark but once he stepped inside, the darkness was dispelled by multitude of torches that immediately began burning with blue flames.

The first thing that he noticed was the smell. A very potent rotten, rancid odor smacked his olfactory receptors like a sucker punch. He felt like he was going to actually die from the horrible stench. No one would've been able to pay him to stay in this place for more than a second. Alas, he had work to do so he had to tolerate the offensive smell.

The room he found himself in was what he imagined a cult leader's lair would look like: various icons and effigies depicting various creatures and humanoids decorated the walls and the ground was painted dark with... something. If he were being honest, William didn't want to know what his feet were stepping on. Looking at the far end of the room, he could see a throne made of various leathers, bones, and pieces of faded jewelry. Coincidentally, his target was also there.

Behind the macabre throne was the woman from the ritual floating in midair with her back to the wall like some sort of twisted hunting trophy. Unfortunately, that was all he could see because, inexplicably, there were no torches illuminating that portion of the room. William walked deeper into the room and with every step, the stench seemed to intensify two folds. At one point, it even began to make his eyes burn inside the confines of his pale helmet. Regardless, as he got closer to the Saintess, his organic hand glowed with a dull arcane light.

[Light]

A luminous, baseball-sized orb of light manifested itself on the top of his palm and floated to stabilize above his head. The darkness of the far section of the room immediately got illuminated by the arcane light and revealed to the youth things he would've rather never seen.

{Warning for those who are eating while reading this or have low threshold for being offended. Skip to the second line of asterisks (*)}

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As soon as the sound of him approaching got to the Saintess' ears, she immediately raised her head to look at his direction. It would've been much like a scene from a old horror movie if she wasn't bound to the wall.

The Saintess wasn't actually floating as he previously assumed. Instead, she was stuck to the wall via four metallic clamps that gripped her limbs.

She looked much like he saw her last time during that grotesque ritual: grimy, stranded red hair, sunken face with a inverse pentagram scar on her forehead, and sewn shut eyes and mouth. Moreover, the most prominent feature before his eyes was her morbidly swollen belly the was in the last throes of pregnancy.

"MMMRRRPPHHH! MMRRPPPPPPHHHHH! MMMRRPPPPFFFF!"

It appeared as if she wanted to say something but her sewn mouth made whatever she wanted to say turn into loud, drawn-out moans. For whatever sanity he had left, he didn't want to interpret what emotions were mixed with those sounds. She probably thought that he was the False Shepherd anyways. Also, he highly suspected that she had anything coherent to say considering the condition she was in. He was here to kill her, which is mercy enough as is. Whatever happened in this damned hellhole of a kingdom, he didn't give a flying fuck about as long as it didn't help him escape.

William turned a deaf ear examined the woman examined and the area around her searching for any traps that may trigger from what he was about to do. He found nothing indicating the presence of such mechanics; instead, he found something that made him disgusted to his core.

The lower clamps that held the Saintess' legs were attached in such a manner that made her legs stretch apart in an obscene position devoid of any human dignity. Also, directly under the Saintess and along the wall reaching to her genitals was coated with a heavy layer of stains from which the stench of the room emitted from. In addition, the Saintess herself was quivering every time she moaned and an unidentified strings of fluids would flow down her quim to the floor below her.

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"I fucking hate it here," he whispered to himself. The woman suddenly stopped moving and making noises and turned stone still as the cold edge of Frostmourne pressed against her neck.

"I hope you find your peace in wherever you end up."

With a swift slash, the wicked edge of the mourneblade decapitated the Saintess. A fountain of blood erupted from the beheaded neck as the body-less head rolled on the ground. The young Sleeper momentarily saw a relieved smile on the Saintess' face before it and the body turned into dark mist.

[You have slain an Awakened Tyrant, Saintess of Depravity] (D100 = 96)

[You have gained a new memory, Icon of War]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

Before William could sigh in relief that his objective was achieved, the Spell's voice gave him a new chilling notification.

[Your echo has been destroyed.]

After the notification a loud war cry erupted from the hundreds of nightmare creatures outside of the ziggurat which made the air vibrate from the intensity.

With a dejected sigh, the youth dismissed the runes before him. The echo had done its job and brought him the time needed to accomplish his objective. Now, he had to escape while fighting off the horde of nightmare creatures outside. In hindsight, he should've thought of an escape plan.

'As they say, hindsight is always 20/20.'

William quickened his pace and exited the stench-filled room into the open air outside. Standing right at the steps of the ziggurat was the Juggernaut Prime that tumbled down the said steps. He noticed that one of the horns on its head seemed to have been broken. Either from the fall or during its battle with the echo he surmised.

The nightmare creature certainly didn't seem too enthused to see him by the murderous look it had in its eyes and by the anger-induced tremors of his hands.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

It cried in rage as it charged at him with its axe swinging blindly. Unfortunately for it, William had already did this song and dance with its partner and thanks to his [Eidetic Kinesthesia] attribute, it wasn't hard for him to dodge and weave his way out of the nightmare creature's attacks. The ice-cold edge of Frostmourne flashed with sinister light and a deep gash formed on the arm of the Prime's arm. Unfortunately, true to its berserker nature, the monster ignored the pain and continued on its attack resulting in one of its strikes landing on William.

Thankfully, his Awakened armor memory withstood the impact and its defensive enchantment largely decreased any damage from it; however, the Sleeper found himself being lifted off his feet by the force of the impact and falling down the ziggurat.

After a few seconds in midair, the youth landed onto the ground with a dull Thud! causing his entire skeletal frame to rattle from the fall. He opened his eyes through the ache his body felt and had to immediately roll to the side to avoid the big hoof that crushed the location where his head was at previously. He pushed himself up upright and found to his dismay that he had landed right in the center of the previously chaotic horde - with every nightmare creature staring at him with bloodlust in their eyes.

"Shit," he cursed under his breath as he dodged a club that wanted to bash his face in. He was surrounded, that much he knew. The situation looked bad but there was a silver lining in it that he could possibly exploit. Thankfully, he had enough essence to spare for a final Hail Mary.

Cutting down several Warped Caprigor that was aiming to ram into him, William's hand lit with an ominous green-black glow and a similarly colored magic circle appeared under his feet. In the center of the magic circle was a star as dark as pitch with countless crimson maws dotted over it. It was the symbol of Hadar, the Dark Hunger.

The magic circle began glowing brightly and then countless green tendrils of eldritch energy sprang forth from the magic circle and held onto every creature in a three meter radius around him. The nightmare creatures tried to fight back against the tentacle's hold, which would have saved them from the spell's effect. However, the young Lich King didn't use so much essence just to have it go to waste. Thus, he activated his [Mantle of Death] ability.

All nightmare creatures that had him in their sights froze up and stood stone-still due to the horror they were experiencing in their mind. Due to him being just a Dormant awakened, the effect of his ability was only momentary when it came to Awakened rank nightmare creatures. Thankfully, these few moments were more than enough time for the spell to take effect.

Before his eyes, he saw the green tendrils wrap around their targets and simply drained them until not even their skin and bones remained - at least, that's what happened to the Warped Caprigors. The same thing didn't happen to the entangled Juggernauts but he felt that they became somewhat.... lesser than they were before.

In the final moments before the spell ended, the youth could swear that he heard the sound of something being swallowed.

"■●□○■■○°~●"

An unnatural chill ran down his spine and he smelt something metallic flowing down his nostril as a low, raspy voice spoke words beyond his comprehension.

Then, the Spell decided to give its two cents.

[You have slain a Dormant Demon, Warped Caprigor.](x34) (D100 = 76, 82, 82, 84, 88, 94, 100) {x1 weapon memory, x2 armor memory, x1 tool memory, x1 garment memory, x1 echo.}

[Your soul grows stronger.] (x34)

Runes also appeared detailing that he had received various memories and possibly an echo but he chose to ignore it at the moment.

With the nightmare creatures in his immediate vicinity dealt with and most of the other ones in the group shaking off the effect of [Mantle of Death], William found that as an opportune time to get his ass out of there before the main body of the cult returned from their battle with the Darkspawn Soldiers.

With an impressive athletic ability, William started using the heads of the Juggernauts as platforms to jump from one to the other to avoid the need to cut a path through the throng of nightmare creatures.

Of course, it wasn't a walk in the park but the countless hours spent parkouring through the slums made him quite proficient in finding impromptu platforms to boost himself from. Moreover, the hundreds of Juggernaut heads popping out from the crowd also helped.

While he was escaping, he head a loud booming sounding from behind as if something particularly heavy fell down from a great height. The incensed battle cry that followed made him pretty sure who it belonged to. Well, that was none of his concern now as he had reached the part of the clearing devoid of nightmare creatures and started running as fast as his feet could take him to escape into the winding alleys and streets of the slums.

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Several minutes before the death of the Saintess of Depravity....

The False Shepherd watched with apparent glee as its forces overwhelmed the soldiers of the royal family through their sheer numbers and unwavering zeal. For every one of those royal scum suckers there were, ten of his children ready to rip them apart muscle from tendon. The whole battlefield was crawling with their numbers.

The soldiers' defense line held strong against their initial assault but after a charge made by thousands of his Juggernauts, their solid shield wall fell apart like wet parchment.

Truly, his Juggernauts possessed prodigal strength thanks to the Lord's blessing. It was a shame that their mental capacity had to suffer in return.

The False Shepherd shook his head, it was not his place to question the Lord's motives. His job was but to obey his commandments and free him from the seal the Royal bastards had put him in through trickery and deceit.

With a creepy chuckle, he watched from his throne at the rear of his army as the Darkspawn leader as he struggled to keep his forces from caving in against his most holy army.

Sure, they had suffered from innumerable losses in this battle, but unlike the Darkspawn army, his children could recuperate their numbers thanks to the sacred seed the Lord bestowed on him. Through countless battles, he had managed to deal countless losses to the Royal dogs that their numbers were not as plentiful as they were before.

He could feel his Lord's will guiding his forces. Today will be the day they finally break through to the inner gates.

Flushed with fervor, the False Shepherd stood up from his throne and the eyes of his cultists landed on him in anticipation.

"Break them, my children!" it commanded and his forces replied with a thunderous roar that shook the earth. Then, he motioned to several hooded goatmen holding staves and chanting in gurgling tones.

"Provide full support for the front line, I will personally go to finish them off," he said in a commandeering voice.

"At once, your Holiness," replied one of the hooded figures. They too were his children, but unlike their stronger kin, these were blessed to be able to wield a miniscule amount of the Lord's power and were much more intelligent.

After that, he gathered several Juggernaut Primes he held back in reserve in the rear and charged towards the frontline.

The False Shepherd reached the thick of the battle and started ripping apart any Darkspawn Soldier that came in front of him. Their dark armor crumbled like gravel under the onslaught of his blessed claws and their puny spears couldn't pierce through his sanctified skin. It was one-sided slaughter, simple as.

Suddenly, he heard the death cry of one of his Juggernaut Primes and turned to see its bisected body body fall before dissipating into dark mist and revealing its killer.

There stood a creature similar to the Darkspawn Soldiers but it was better armored and its helmet was fully enclosed with only two slits glowing with an eerie red glow. In its hands was a longsword that was dripping black blood.

(Image)

The False Shepherd knew the interloper; after all, they had fought against one another for so long. It was the commander of the Darkspawn Soldiers.

The Darkspawn Commander brandished its sword and charged at him with murderous intent.

He dodged the attack and retaliated with a his claw that was promptly parried by the commander. The two leaders continued to wail at each other with their weapons of choice and were at a standstill for a while. They both knew each other's techniques inside and out after facing each other for so long. Thus, it wasn't easy for either to injure the other - or so it seemed.

The False Shepherd was getting tired of this song and dance that they continued doing for so long. His Lord wanted him to win this battle, he knew it in his blood. He was calling for him from beyond the wall!

The black-furred nightmare creature let out a fierce battle cry that spread throughout the entire battlefield. Then, the cultists began to exhibit strange changes. Their eyes became bloodshot, their muscles inflated, and a red haze started rising from their bodies.

The [Bloodlust Battlecry] of the False Shepherd made its followers remove their limits and revel in their bloodlust in return to consuming their life force.

Many of them may die to win this battle, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

The sudden buff given to the cultists by their leader completely shattered the already precarious defense line made by the Darkspawn Soldiers. This caused the commander's attention to lapse for a moment, which was promptly taken advantage off by the False Shepherd as he pierced his claw right through the weakest point of the commander's armor, resulting in a grievous wound that made the it stumble back a step.

He was about to press on his advantage and kill the damned soldier once and for all to attain victory when he felt it.

Suddenly, the False Shepherd, ignoring that he was right in the middle of a battle, turned his gaze to look at the direction of his base of operations. He felt the connection between him and mark he engraved on the Saintess get severed. It could only mean one thing, she had died.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he let out an enraged cry at the Saintess' death. Without her, the cult couldn't replenish its numbers to free the Lord from his seal. All his plans and ambitions went out of the drain in a single second!

'Could I be wrong? No, the effect of the mark is absolute. Then, How could this happen? Did they send an assassination squad? No, no assassin could have went past the thousands of guards he left there to protect the ziggurat. Moreover, they were too undermanned to risk sending an assassination squad to his base. Were they all dead? Impossible.....' countless thoughts passed through his mind in a feverish pace as he tried to make sense of the sudden turn of events.

His train of thought was interrupted by sudden searing pain in his right shoulder followed by a strange feeling of weightlessness.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

The False Shepherd held onto his right shoulder where the only thing left of his arm was a stump that leaked black blood.

The sword of he wounded Darkspawn Commander had managed to successfully lop off his arm while he wasn't paying attention.

"Y-You dare!" he yelled in outrage at the audacity to harm its blessed body. Enraged, he attempted to attack the offending party with its remaining claw but the commander dodged the clearly hasty, telegraphed attack with ease and swung its sword - this time aiming for a decapitation.

Panicked, the False Shepherd attempted to avoid the attack but was only semi-successful. He was able to avoid having his body beheaded but he had his left eye gouged out by the commander's sword in the process.

Having lost an arm and an eye in such quick succession, he realized that the tables have turned. If he gets killed now, all that he had done over the countless centuries will be all for naught.

Thus, he made a decision and cried out an order to his forces, "Retreat!"

After a period of bewilderment at the unexpected command, which the Darkspawn Soldiers utilized to regroup and further cut down their opponent's numbers, the cultist began a chaotic process of falling back. Meanwhile, the Darkspawn Soldiers were chasing after them like sharks who have smelt blood in the water.

The cult leader commanded one of the Juggernaut Primes to take him to safety while the others were left behind to distract the Darkspawn commander so as not to follow after him and finish the job.

The humiliation he felt couldn't be described in words anymore. The battle was supposed to be his! The day his forces wins over their most hated enemy and take the first step to release their Lord from his imprisonment. Now, the remnants of his once mighty force were running for their lives while being hounded by the dogs of the royal family.

He will find the one responsible for this disaster and when he does.... He's going to make them pay!

==================================

Two months later.....

William stood on top of one of the fire towers of slums and observed as countless Warped Caprigors and Juggernauts broke through the wooden houses of the slums and left them in shambles. They have already destroyed a third of the entire slums which is not an easy feat considering the sheer size of this place. It appeared as if they were searching for something.... or someone.

'Probably me,' he thought, before he observed a group of Darkspawn Soldiers emerge from one of the alleys and fight the cultists.

After killing the Saintess, the slums entered into a period of chaos never seen before causing such skirmishes to occur much more frequently. The False Shepherd went into hiding inside his ziggurat after being heavily injured in his last battle and heavily increased his base's defenses. Meanwhile, the remaining cultists roamed everywhere destroying everything in sight at the command of their injured leader in order to smoke him out.

Moreover, they had thrown all caution to the wind despite their numbers having greatly decreased from before. From tens of thousands of nightmare creatures, now only a fraction of that number remained; and even that amount was decreasing fast with the constant attacks of the much stronger Darkspawn Soldiers.

Not that the Darkspawn Legion was in any better position. From what he saw after scouting out their region of the slum close to the inner wall, only a few hundred of them had remained after their battle with the False Shepherd's army. From what he could see, the commander of the Darkspawn Soldiers didn't seem to be injured like the False Shepherd.

All in all, both groups of nightmare creatures were at a ledge and William was all too glad to give them the last push to fall down.

Thus, as per his previous agenda, he had been hunting down groups of cultists and darkspawn that wandered too far from their region or those that survived their frequent skirmishes. He was like a vulture that took strips off a carcass to feed itself - a very well fed one too.

(268 Warped Caprigors slain) {x12 weapon memory, x22 armor memory, x13 tool memory, x14 garment memory, x10 charm memory, x3 echoes}

(Loot Rolls Log)

(134 Warped Juggernaut) {x6 weapon memory, x5 armor memory, x10 tool memory, x8 garment memory, x7 charm memory, x2 echoes.}

(Loot Roll Log)

(78 Darkspawn Soldiers) {x2 weapon memory, x4 armor memory, x3 tool memory, x1 garment memory, x7 charm memory, x1 echo.}

(Loot Roll Log)

Having a physically inexhaustible body really showed its usefulness in these kinds of situations. Without the need to eat, drink, or sleep, he was akin to war machine jumped from one battle to the next without the need to rest. Moreover, his [Undead Resilience] allowed him to maintain peak combat efficiency even with multiple injuries. Also, the acquisition of his most recent echoes helped alleviate the pressure from fighting alone against overwhelming numbers.

As a result, he progressed much due to his recent hunts. Making him ever more powerful.

With a mental command, a series of shimmering runes started appearing before his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name: William

True Name: Malevolent Star

Rank: Sleeper

Class: Monster

Soul Cores: [2/7]

Soul Fragments: [1932/2000]

(A.N. skipping over the memories and echoes since I can't be bothered to copy & paste all that shit. Check the auxiliary chapter for them.)

Attributes: [Fateless], [Eidetic Kinesthesia], [Adaptive], [Living Undead], [Monarch Beyond the Grave], [Mental Fortitude (E)], [Muscle Evolution (E-)]

Undead Monarch Abilities: [Mantle of Death], [Undead Resilience]

Aspect: [Living Lich King]

Aspect Rank: [Semi-Divine]

Innate Ability: [Anomaly]

Aspect Ability: [Raise Undead] - [Bind Royal Guard (0/3)]

Aspect Legacy: [Frostmourne], [Profane Grimoire]

Memory Name: Frostmourne

Memory Rank: ?

Memory Tier: II [1084/2000]

Memory Enchantment: [Soul Rune], [Forge Rune]

[Soul Rune]

Enchantment Description: [Just as the blade cuts flesh so does Frostmourne rend the soul and feeds on it.

[Forge Rune]

Enchantment Description: [Frostmourne can cannibalize other weapons and take up their appearance and enchantments.]

Absorbed Weapons (3/4):

- Black Spear - [Masterwork], [United We Stand], [Fleet foot]

- Ram-Headed Club - [Bone Breaker], [Siege Weapon]

- Ramming Shield - [Stubborn], [Ramming Speed]

-

Memory Name: Profane Grimoire

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Tier: -

Memory Type: Tool

Memory Enchantment: [Magic]

Spells Learned: [Prestidigitation], [Light], [Mental Acupuncture], [Shroud of Death], [Doom Bolt], [Comprehend Language], [Crown of Madness], [Sound Barrier], [Arms of Hadar], [Ray of Enfeeblement]

[Ray of Enfeeblement]: A bolt of sickly green, profane energy erupts from you towards a target, causing it to lose a portion of its strength temporarily. (A.N: Effect depends on the rank and class of the target.)

Flaw: [Hollowing]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For starters, he was at the brink of advancing into a Demon. He just needed a couple of more kills to fill up his quota. Also, his Muscle Evolution advanced to E-.

It turned out that continuously hunting nightmare creatures made for a killer workout. Who would've thought? Regardless, it was not a pleasant process by any means; when the notification came about the advancement he felt the same intensity of pain as when he advanced into a monster. However, this time the pain was coming from his own muscles rather than his soul. He felt every muscle fiber inside his body snap and rebind over and over again. Skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, cardiac muscle, etc.... every damned part of felt as if it were being renovated. Thankfully, his echoes stood guard for him while he underwent the harrowing process.

At the end of the process, he felt like a changed man - literally. By his estimates through a bit of trial and error, he had a bit more than twice the amount of strength he had before and he could leap to greater heights and even wield Frostmourne comfortably with a single hand.

Secondly, his Mental Fortitude also evolved from E- to E after he engraved the magic circle for [Ray of Enfeeblement] into his mental tower.

Finally and most importantly, his Legacy Memory, Frostmourne, had consumed enough souls to unlock its second rune: the Forge rune. It basically allowed it to take the form and enchantment of other weapon memories in his possession by cannibalizing them. He had already fed it three most powerful weapons in his soul arsenal.

In conclusion, his personal strength took a good leap making him more confident in surviving the events that were about to happen.

His personal musings were interrupted by a sudden cry of something in the throes of death. Looking down, he saw that the Darkspawn had invaded the cult's territory again; this time, however, they didn't come in solitary units but rather with the might of their entire legion.

The caprigors and juggernauts tried to fight back against the invading force - keyword 'tried'. Sadly, without their numerical superiority, they were no match against the military discipline of the Darkspawn Legion. Even the juggernaut's strength was useless in breaking their ranks. After all, in a one-on-one battle, there is a clear qualitative difference between an Awakened Monster that is essentially still a mindless beast and an Awakened Demon that has some rudimentary intelligence.

With their commander leading them, the Darkspawn Legion mowed down whatever paltry resistance the cultists tried to mount.

Keeping a healthy distance so as not to attract the attention of the nightmare creatures, William followed behind the wake of the Darkspawn Legion while picking up the leftover soul shards from the ground and storing them inside his Pale Ring's subspace.

Soon enough, they reached the clearing where the ziggurat was located in. Surrounding the ziggurat was the remainder of the nightmare creatures that made up the cult of the False Shepherd numbering only a few thousand. Truly, a far cry from the tens of thousands they boasted off before the battle.

He wasn't present to observe the battle between the two nightmare creature forces; yet, if the ludicrous amount of soul shards he had collected on that battlefield meant anything, then it could only be considered a blood bath.

He watched as the two armies faced each other. The cultists, a chaotic amalgamation of forces with no order or discipline in their ranks - much like a tumor - and the Darkspawn Legion with their steadfast discipline and militaristic order.

The goatmen horde let out varying battle cries towards the Darkspawn Soldiers in an effort of intimidation. Meanwhile, the members of the Darkspawn Legion responded by beating their spears on their shields.

Suddenly, the sounds of big stones being pushed resounded in the clearing, and from the top of the ziggurat, the figure of the False Shepherd emerged while being supported by his last two Juggernaut Primes. Following behind the cult leader were several of the last surviving witchdoctor-looking goatmen who were shaking and looking uncertainly at their leader.

Looking at the False Shepherd, William understood the reason he had been holing himself up inside the ziggurat for so long. The cult leader looked like he had seen better days: he was missing an arm and he could notice some purulent fluid leaking from the wound on his left eye. The creature looked as if it was about to kick the bucket any moment now.

"BAAAAAA!" the False Shepherd croaked causing the cultists to become silent immediately. "BAAAA! BA BA BA BA BA BAAAAAAAA! BA BA! BAAAAAA!"

 Meanwhile, the witchdoctor goatmen behind him began raising their staves and chant in an unknown language which seemed to do something to the cultists as they appeared more rapid and crazed than before. Then, the False Shepherd pointed at the Darkspawn Legion and let out a bellowing cry.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

In return, the commander wordlessly pointed his black sword at the goatmen horde.

Then, all hell broke loose.

The two armies of nightmare creatures charged at one another and began beating the shit out of each other with extreme prejudice.

William observed the battlefield from his hiding place for a bit before deciding that it was time to sow some chaos but first he had to get closer without being detected. Thankfully, he had just the memories for the job.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Thief's Worn Cloak: A worn cloak worn by the thieves that once plagued the streets and alleys of the slums.]

Memory Name: Thief's Worn Cloak

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Tier: III

Memory Type: Garment

Memory Enchantment: [Muffled Steps], [Quick footed]

[Muffled Steps]

Enchantment Description: The wearers steps are silent.

[Quick footed]

Enchantment Description: Slightly increases the wearer's speed on solid surfaces.

[Thieves Guild Ring: A ring given to those who are initiated into the illusive Thieves Guild located in the Leonian Slums. Written on its back is their motto: Everything has a price.]

Memory Name: Thieves Guild Pendant

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Tier: II

Memory Type: Charm

Memory Enchantment: [Illusive], [Obscure]

[Illusive]

Enchantment Description: The wearer's face becomes hard to recognize for others.

[Obscure]

Enchantment Description: Mutes the wearer's presence when standing motionless in darkness or when mingling with a crowd.

[Icon of War: Once in a time long forgotten, a fearless young girl saw the plight of the less fortunate and wanted to aid them to the best of her ability as the chosen one of the Goddess. So, despite the warnings of her mentors and peers, she went to the lion's den with her own two feet. Alas, her naivety caused her to end up with a fate worse than death.]

Memory Name: Icon of War

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Tier: V

Memory Type: Charm

Memory Enchantment: [Fearless], [Aura of War], [Physical Reinforcement]

[Fearless]

Enchantment Description: You can't feel fear.

[Aura of War]

Enchantment Description: You release an aura that increase the battle capabilities of yourself and your allies through consuming essence.

[Physical Reinforcement]

Enchantment Description: Your physical abilities are significantly elevated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a cloud of spinning stars, a faded, old grey cloak manifested onto his back along with a non-descript iron ring adorned with a cracked black stone onto his unoccupied ring finger. In addition to that, a circular, bronze-colored medallion containing the carving of a beautiful naked woman holding a spear in one hand and a beating human heart in the other. Her nakedness was covered by only a beast hide tied around her thighs while her face seemed to be scratched out.

(A.N: I tried getting an AI image for the icon of war but only got bombarded by images naked women holding spears. If anyone can do better, I will appreciate it if they posted it here. Thanks.)

Then, he summoned Frostmourne into his hand. Looking at the sinister-looking weapon, William observed the the second rune burning intensely on the flat of its blade: the Forge Rune. With a single mental command, the Forge rune glowed intensely before the mourneblade began changing form into a sleek-looking black spear very similar to the ones used by the Darkspawn Soldiers. If one looked carefully, they would see two runes, glowing in ephemeral blue glow, etched onto the spearhead.

(Image)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Black Spear: Once and again the Legionnaires stabbed at the raving mad crowd that charged at them. With each stab, more of their humanity leaked from their souls leaving them prime vessels for the darkness brewing inside the kingdom's walls.]

Memory Name: Black Spear

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Tier: III

Memory Type: Weapon

Memory Enchantment: [Masterwork], [United We Fight], [Fleet foot]

[Masterwork]

Enchantment Description: Increases the weapon's sharpness and durability.

[United We Fight]

Enchantment Description: When standing in formation with an ally brandishing similar weapon, your offensive ability increase.

[Fleet foot]

Enchantment Description: Increases your movement speed and agility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The [Quick Footed] and the [Fleet foot] enchantments will increase his speed by a significant margin while the [Muffled Steps] and the [Obscure] enchantments will hopefully hide away his presence.

With his preparations in order, William began his approach. The first target on his list was standing right on top of the ziggurat. It was only logical to remove the weakest piece on the board. Ignoring the chaotic battle ensuing in front of the ziggurat, William opted to take the long way around approach from the blindside. Thankfully, with the Darkspawn Legion at his doorstep, the False Shepherd didn't think of adding any guards to his base's rear. As a result, it was much easier for William to sneak up to his target with breakneck speed.

Upon nearing the top of the ziggurat, a soft glow began suffusing his organic hand - a clear precursor of a spell about to be cast. At the same time, four clouds of stardust began coalescing into his four most powerful echoes at hand: three Warped Juggernauts and a Darkspawn Soldier. He didn't wish to keep anything up to luck. His plan was to blitzkrieg the crowd on top as brutally as possible.

[Crown of Madness]

A jagged iron crown of bloody thorns manifested on top of one of the Juggernaut Primes causing it to enter into a frenzy and beat down the nearest target to it, which happened to be one of the witchdoctor goatmen. It happened too fast for any of the nightmare creatures to realize what happened. One second, the prime was standing there with all its intimidating glory; the next, it got consumed by some unholy madness and smashed one of the witchdoctors into bloody paste. It was about to go for a second one before it got tackled by the second prime. By that time, the effect of the spell had worn off but the surprise of being beaten and tackled by its kin caused the previously spell-bound nightmare creature to renew its aggression. The back and forth between the two primes continued, with neither getting the upper hand until it caused both of them to tumble down the ziggurat. Truly, those creatures didn't have two braincells to rub together.

Just as they were still in the act of processing what just happened, William ordered his echoes to attack. The witchdoctors were caught flat-footed by the surprise attack from their rear. Cries of pain and terror rang out as his echoes made short work of the apparently less-physically inclined nightmare creatures.

[You have slain an Awakened Demon, Warped Shaman. x11] (D100 = 78, 86, 90, 96, 100)

[You have gained.... x5]

[Your soul grows stronger. x11]

He could feel his soul cores filling up with the absorbed soul fragments, just one more kill and he was going to advance. Coincidentally, there was a prime target before him.

===========================================

The False Shepherd watched in frenzied anger as the interloper who had caused him much suffering approached him. They had to be the interloper as he had been here for countless millennia yet it was the first time he had come to see such a creature.

Stark-white bone armor ,which covered their entire body from head to toe, contrasted greatly with the worn grey cloak they wore and the pitch-black spear in their hand. Behind it stood three spectral entities that looked at him with their soulless eyes: three were the same as his children and one looked like one of the royal army's soldiers.

"Who are you?" he cried in righteous anger, baring his teeth at the white wraith. "Who do you think you are to disrupt the return of our Lord!?"

The being continued to come towards him without faltering, the weapon in their hand changing from a black spear to a big sword. Yet, he refused to back down. Who was he? He was the Prophet! He who has the Lord's blessing! Him of the Most Holy Seed! How could he balk in front of heretics such as this.

"Listen Blasphemer! I-"

His vision darkened and the world got muted.

The next second, the world was upside down.

==================================================

"BAAAAA-"

[Shroud of Death]

Whatever the False Shepherd wanted to say was promptly interrupted as the Frostmourne cut through his head in one strike. He watched its chopped head flying in the air being skipping down the ziggurat's steps.

'Damn those steps are a death trap,' he thought idly as he watched the cult leader's body fall like a marionette whose strings were cut. Shortly after, the body turned to black mist and traveled towards the castle.

Honestly, he was expecting some sort of epic battle to fight before killing the wretched creature. Yet, it kept on bleating on and on without a shred of self-preservation.

'Had it gone mad due to its injuries?' he wondered shortly before paying attention to the shimmering runes that appeared before his vision. Immediately, his hand glowed in an ethereal glow.

[Sound Barrier]

A sound-insulating bubble formed around him since he knew all too well about the pain approaching.

"Protect me!" he commanded his four echoes who took defensive positions around his body.

[You have slain an Awakened Devil, The False Shepherd.] (D100 = 88)

[You have gained a memory, Sinner's Repentance.]

[Your soul grows stronger.]

[Your soul is overflowing with power.]

[Your soul fragments are coalescing.]

He could feel the process starting, his soul core was about to rip apart to form a third one.

BOOM!

His heartbeat struck like thunder in a wasteland causing his entire body to shake in response. Then, came the cracks.

Crick! Crick! Crack! Crick!

He heard the sound of his soul core shattering into fragments to give birth to a new one: his demon core. He could never get used to the hellish pain that came with the process but he used all his willpower to keep himself conscious and alert - or as alert as he could be with his literal soul being remodeled. After all, there was a battle that was still waging on below him.

He didn't know how long he remained in that state of agony. Even though he tried his utmost, he was blacking out in between episodes of consciousness and unconsciousness. His limbs soon failed him and caused him to fall on the ground in a convulsing mass. The mighty sleeper who hunted hundreds of nightmare creatures was nowhere in sight. Instead, there was only a teenage kid convulsing and spasming on the floor of an extremely ancient ziggurat.

[Your Soul Core is complete.]

Finally, the runes he were waiting for finally showed themselves and the pain vanished in a flash.

With the pain stopping, the convulsing also stopped allowing William to pick himself up and re-orient himself. Coincidentally, the last of the goatmen just had a sword bisect it vertically, luxury of the Darkspawn commander.

With the final cultist slain, the remaining hundred or so Darkspawn Soldiers stood back in formation and awaited the command of their leader.

William and the sword-wielding nightmare creature looked at each other. The creature, unlike its late foe, was not the talkative type and the youth could garner nothing from the red glow radiating from its helmet eye slits.

The silent confrontation continued for what seemed to be eternity before a sound erupted from the inner wall's that caused both of them to look towards it.

The inner wall had changed, there was no barrier protecting it like before and the sound of chains moving could be heard. If one was near the inner wall's gate, they would see a massive, artistically carved, metallic door being lifted from the ground by big, ancient chains made from an unknown metal and finally remained open with a Clamp!

The gate of the inner wall was finally opened after countless millennia.

William and the Darkspawn commander both looked back at each other just as the sound of the gate being lifted dissipated.

The Darkspawn commander, to William's surprise, looked at his sword as if searching for something before nodding once and embedding the sword into the ground. The Darkspawn Soldiers behind it remained still but now were also looking at the young Sleeper.

Then, in an act that further befuddled him, the Darkspawn commander pulled his right fist to the left side of his chest and lowered its head slightly in some fashion of military salute. Following their leader's lead, the Darkspawn Soldiers began thumping the butt of their spears into the ground.

Then, they started to dissipate into black mist one after the other with everything they had until only the commander remained.

The sword-wielding nightmare creature, 'Is it really accurate to call them nightmare creatures,' William asked himself, looked up at him and the youth could swear that he could see a hint of an emotion - relief - in its eyes before it too turned to black mist like the rest of its minions. The only thing left behind was its black sword embedded into the ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDD CUT! Whew! This took forever to write but I am glad I finally finished this section of the mini arc.

I admit, some of the things I wrote may appear surreal or not in line with the Shadow Slave lore but and I won't make any excuses about it. I am satisfied with what I wrote and I hope some people will enjoy it.

Anyways, the next chapter will the awaited Sunny & Co's reaction to our MC's death - just, give me a bit of time to get my thoughts in order.

Thanks for reading! I wish you a great (time of day you are reading this.)