Heart of Solitude

The two armies crashed into each other like the waves of a raging sea. Dwarves and monsters were thrown left, right, and center amid the chaos.

The giants swung their great clubs at the ground smacking away any dwarves or creatures that came to close. And the cloaked riders held tight to their rides as they launched magic and shot arrows at their enemies.

And me? I was rampaging.

I had lept into the thick of the opposing horde. I swung my hammer and halberd around in a great circle leveling the monsters and sending many flying howling and screeching into the distance.

I grabbed a charging rhino shaped monster and shoved it's charging head into the ground making it flip. Some would question why I had not expanded to my true size yet.

The reason was that when facing an unknown enemy it was best to keep as many of your best cards hidden as possible.

A rider charged at me with his bow drawn. He managed to loose his arrow before my tail wrapped around his neck dragging him from his ride. The arrow hit my armor and bounced off harmlessly even as I dragged the rider to me struggling. He was pulling at the thing wrapped around his neck earnestly trying to get away. But soon his strength left him as he struggled to breath. I lifted him high as he glared at me with disdain. He tried to pull the dagger from his belt but could only fumble as oxygen was hardly getting to his brain.

"Your people should never have targeted me. Try to get revenge in your next life if you can." I growled as his body went limp with a cracking sound from his neck. I dropped him and caught a large rolling hedgehog type monster on my right with an open palm. It's metal spikes screeched against my gold scales till they came to a halt. It's face was that of a boar but its body was covered with brown spiney needles.

I looked at it and finally I unleashed my bloodlust. A pitch black aura filled the field as cold feeling entered the air. The beings closest to me saw a monstrous black cloud with a demonic face in its center. While others further away saw a red glow come from my actual eyes as I began to tear and smash monsters left, right, and center.

My hammer smashed the hedgehog boar like a golf ball through the horde. My crown sprayed fire and sparks like rain from my head. The cup poured out thunder clouds that clapped loudly against the ears of my enemies while raining lightning across the battlefield.

In truth I was the personification of the apocalypse. I stood in the dead center of what could only be described as a Calamity. Death, destruction, absorption, and growth all happening at once. It was like watching a hindu god of destruction rain hell down on their enemies. Yet my heart was calm.

I was angry, furious even. But strangely my mind was calm despite my feelings. Like the eye of the storm. My mind focused on my task and my reason for this. I now had a wife to take care of. Twins waited to be born. And here I was fighting an enemy army to keep all that safe.

My thoughts turned slightly to how it all started. My unwanted solitude from the rest of the world due to a broken body. A need for someone to care had formed. And that had been filled as strangely as it was by the woman who would come to bear my children.

I honestly didn't know if I would have been better off in the wild. But I was grateful (despite all of this) that I had a family again. My thoughts were interrupted by a purple fireball launched into my face. The flames swarmed around me in a cyclone that reached the sky. Any creature or man that got to close was instantly reduced to ashes.

Meanwhile a group of five cloaked individuals stood on a mountain close by breathing hard and sweating profusely.

"We got him right?" A girl grunted. One of her partners nodded. "He couldn't survive that even if he wanted to. We summoned hellfire to deal with him and that's number 2 on the Origin Fire list." He huffed out.

One could see the ground before them had a large circle with a pentagram in the middle. Within sat bones and skins from various beasts and a now powerless beast core. As they let out a sigh of relief they felt a vibration in the air and looked toward the fire cyclone. "That's not possible." An older disciple said as his eyes widened in shock. The cyclone was being sucked inward like a void had opened in it's core.

Meanwhile inside...

/You have absorbed Hellfire. Mastery over flames has increased to near divine level./ I heard Sin say.

I grunted slightly as my open maw continued to suck in the flames. They had hit me with the force of a truck which I admit. It hurt. But I was the king of fire right? No problem.

As soon as I opened my mouth I bit on the flaming inferno and swallowed. It was like eating hot sauce straight. It made my eyes water as my tastebuds screamed at me to stop. But after a moment or two that feeling faded. The tornado began to dissipate as it found its power being swallowed by its would be victim. It was minutes later that a completely unscathed monster was found standing in the middle of a molten crater. The ground glowed as it flowed slowly before hardening again.

I reared my head and let out a roar. Waves of sound swept across the field causing the closest monsters ears to bleed as their eardrums burst. The further ones passed out from fear and pressure. And the farthest ones only froze in place and struggled to try and move. / Roar of Divinity Level beast unleashed. Suppression Enabled. Dont choke on your pride./ Sin said.

I huffed as I finished my roar. Monsters that were frozen suddenly began to run. Even the giants fled.

The people on the distant hill shivered as they realized how wrong this was. No being they had heard of could survive hellfire. Hell! one of them had died while making it! Yet here stood a monster completely unscathed by it. It was unnatural, freakish, and horribly wrong.

I stood there glaring at them before opening my mouth again. Monsters fled in droves when they saw that. A glow started in my chest and entered my throat till finally a beam of energy exploded from my jaws. Heat waves went through the air as lightning, fire, and light streamed through the air toward my targets on the hillside.

They all shrieked and screamed as they were obliterated. Till the hill was left. And even that wasn't unscathed. A hole went clean through it and into the distant mountains. Not a shred of cloth, bone, or charred ash remained.

I finished my breath and closed my mouth as a single drop of sweat started going down my face and I felt the drain from the attack.

I stopped as I felt a punch hit my jaw. I was moved back as I felt scales crack on my face.

I looked down and saw the guy with gauntlets standing not far from me in a fighting stance. I shook my head and rubbed my jaw. "For a mortal you punch well. Better than you should." I said and then I realized why.

His gauntlets caught my eye. They were scrawled with images and shined slightly like they held a life within. But that's not what caught my attention. It was a seemingly silent cry for help screaming from the gauntlets.

"You didn't..." I growled slightly as the man grunted with a shrug.

"A sacrifice for the better good." He said. "Who are you to judge faker?" He said as he threw a punch. I rocked my head to the left but was caught by an upper cut to the jaw. It stung and for the first time in a while I was actually truly surprised. Not by the punch. But the force it contained.

I felt a couple scales fall from my face having been cracked and were quickly replaced by stronger fresher scales. He went to punch again but I raised a right hand and caught his punch which made my hand sting a bit.

Some would think. Why doesn't he just crush him? I could. But who ever got turned into those gauntlets wouldn't be better off.

As I held his Armored hand I felt something. My magic being nullified. As a common thing I always have my body wrapped in magic. The feeling it gives monsters makes them want to run away more than attack me. And it's a good tactic especially when you want to be left alone. But this thing was made to nullify magic. So this heavily intrigued me.

I looked the guy in his cloaked face and smiled.

His grin from earlier turned into a confused look. I grabbed his arm with my other two right arms and held him with my left ones. That was when he realized his mistake. He screamed as a wet tearing sound filled the air. I dropped him and removed the gauntlet from his now torn off left arm. He huffed and clenched his teeth as he held his profusely bleeding shoulder trying to stem the flow of blood.

I gently tapped the gauntlet as though I was knocking. A sad whine eminated out of it like an abused dog. "Don't worry. I'll get you fixed up in no time." I rumbled as I put it in a sack at my side. I once again turned to find my foe.

He was kneeling on the ground for a few moments before slowly rising to his feet. "I never thought that a God pretender would make me put my cards on the table. But Mother always said you guys were crafty." He growled at me.

I didn't fully understand until I heard bones cracking and popping. A sinister feeling filled the air. His body bulged and swayed as it reformed itself. Dark energy gathered towards him in great streams across the ground. It entered his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and through his shoulder stump.

His bleeding shoulder stopped bleeding and then I realized what was truly happening. Purple/grey fur and scales shred through his skin as his face elongated and a great dog like maw snapped into existence. Teeth popped out and were replaced by sharp fangs. His arm bulged to the point that the remaining gauntlet flew off from the pressure. A dwarf caught it and brought it to me so I could quickly store it as a pair in my bag.

His eyes became slits like a snake. His feet grew into long canine like feet and a wolf's tail exploded from his rear. His clothes tore to shreds as his left arm began to repair itself.

A bone slowly grew in the stump extending outward. Then slowly (like worms in mud) muscle and sinew slithered around it till it formed the elbow, then the wrist, and finally the hand. Scale and fur covered the arm once it finished.

This monster that now stood before me was what one would imagine if a snake and a werewolf had a child. It stood 40 feet long and had 10 foot long legs. A serpentine neck that held a large wolfish head. Yellow eyes that could seemingly freeze anything within its gaze due to fear. A thick wolf torso covered in scale plating with tufts of fur sticking out from between the scales. Claws adorned its feet with a dark luster.

I looked it up and down as a hissing chuckle filled the air. "BEHOLD! I AM THE CREATION OF OUR DARK MOTHER! TREMBLE MORTALS AND PRAY FOR FORGIVENESS!" A hissing roar filled the air as dwarves trembled.

/ The army is currently being influenced by a artificial apocalypse class existence. Reccomend ridding the world of this artificial beast./ I was taken back for a moment by what Sin said "Artificial? You mean what he did shouldn't be done even with magic?" I asked.

/Correct. Only a sadist would think to combine 2 Apocalyptic existences such as a Hell Wolfling and Jormundgander into one body. It is extremely painful for such a poisonous body to exist and further for it to be a Chimera. For further info you must consume it./ Sin replied.

"So that's what he is... I never realized chimeras could exist even in these days. The Last one recorded was a couple hundred years ago. Sigh... well... time to get to work." I said as I started stretching.

The beast before me stared. "What are you doing pretender?" It asked tilting its head. I shrugged my shoulders.

"The fight earlier wasn't even a warm up. So I guessed I'd have to really stretch before taking you seriously." I grunted out. A shocked expression filled everyone's faces as I finished my leg stretches and squats. The things jaw had hit the floor as I cracked my neck.

A smile filled my face as I began to expand. My divine items expanded with me as a strong aura filled the air. The crown of fire became a 5 foot wide halo. The beast before me watched in horror as my true form revealed itself. 100 feet of pure muscle and power filled the sky as my body stood almost level with the rocky outcroppings around us.

His tiny form looked up at me like a toddler to their parent. He went to turn and run but it was blocked by my tail which sent him tumbling with a flick. He breathed poison which stung and I saw a few scales fall off. / You have been hit with world devouring poison. Shed scales have prevented further spread and neutralized its effects. Poison resistance has risen. Devour to acquire said poison and antidote./ Sin rang out.

I grunted which rumbled through the sky. I set down my weapons which made the thing before me laugh. "Are you losing strength Faker!? Going to die by my poison like all before you?" He hissed evilly.

I gave him a bored look which I saw made him sweat a bit. "No little worm. I just prefer to eat my meals with my hands." I growled as I sent my fists raining down toward him. His face paled at the sight of the boulder sized fists raining down on his location. "Mother protect us." He said as a small barrier of darkness surrounded his body.

The first three blows made the shield shake while the others caused cracks to form. And finally my last blow shattered his shield and smashed him into the mountainside. I rose to my full height and strode to where he was embedded.

He hissed and spat poison stream after stream at me as I approached. It sting and scales kept falling off. But it tasted savory as I filled mouth with flames and swallowed him whole.

He screeched and bellowed as he went down. Acid and fire gnawed at him till even his bones were not but dust.

A burning feeling filled my chest. And I looked down to see dark veins spreading out across my chest. / You have consumed the Chimera. Complete poison immunity now possible. Poison curative power has been added to breath abilities and blood properties.

Hell Wolf bloodline has been obtained.

Jormundgander bloodline obtained.

Combining and strengthening current bloodline. Current bloodline now has become more potent and rich in poison and netherworld properties.

Title: Eater of Kings has been obtained.

All consumption and poisoning abilities have been boosted. / Sin said as the dark veins began to dissapear.

"Damn" I said. "Not a bad haul.