Legacy

Foster turned his head toward the swordswoman and groaned loudly, "Well, I didn't until now! Fucking hell, I don't even know how I'm speaking this language! That weird spike made me be able to or something, I don't know how this shit works!" He exclaimed loudly. But his eyes were just focused on the orb slowly rolling toward the black sludge while he was doing so.

"You... Are you on Thiodrus' side?!" The swordswoman asked, placing her hand onto the handle of her sword. Foster turned his head and rolled his eyes, "What, you think I said all that shit to that other dude over there? Of course I'm on Thiodrus' side!"

"You! You tricked me!"

"I didn't trick you, you're just an absolute moron! I'm wearing the same clothes as him, you think that's a coincidence or something? Jesus Christ... Just, what the fuck is going on here?" Foster asked. The black-haired man standing beside Thiodrus glared at him and answered that question, "We're here to kill this monstrosity, what do you think?"

"Yes, but why?"

"Why..? What do you mean, 'Why'? This is Thiodrus Argomna!" That guy replied, and Foster let out another loud groan, "Yes, I'm aware of his name, but why are you trying to kill him?!"

"...What are you even talking about?"

"Urgh, this isn't going anywhere..." Foster ground his teeth together as he pushed his feet into the ground, pushing himself off as he started to sprint forward. Once he reached the edge of the river, he kicked off and soon landed on the other side, near where that glass orb was currently stuck in the mud.

"Young Foster, please be careful!" Thiodrus exclaimed with clear worry in his weak, shakey voice, startling everyone beside Foster.

"Did Thiodrus Argomna just tell a human to be careful..? In a non-threatening context..?" The archer asked confused. But the black-haired man wouldn't have any of it, and he simply formed his gauntlet-covered hand into a fist. The metal screeched and clattered as the sheets of metal rubbed against one another.

Foster looked at Thiodrus, whose body was slumping down, the impossible connections between his bones and joints seemingly dissipating as parts of his fingers were falling off.

"What does it matter, just means we have another monster to kill!" The man exclaimed, preparing to hit Thiodrus in the same way as earlier, just this time, the attack was aimed at his head.

Foster rushed over toward where those two were standing, but it was too late. The black-haired man pushed his hand forward, hitting it against the back of Thiodrus' head. It was pushed off his boney neck, and flew until dropping donw right in front of Foster's feet. Thiodrus' jaw was still clattering, as if he was still in there.

Dropping down onto his knees, Foster picked up Thiodrus' head, holding it in his hands.

"F-Foster, I apolo-pologize that you had to... you had to see this..." Thiodrus said in an honest tone, "The corr-corruption made me... weak... Or else I... I could have kept on. Please leave... before... you end... end like me..." The skeletal head told Foster, but he didn't hear anything. He was just staring into the deep, dark black eyesockets.

A broad grin appeared on the black haired man's face, "I did it! I killed Thiodrus Argomna! I killed the Superior Lich, Thiodrus Argomna!"

"Rule 18. Always repay your favors." Foster muttered quietly, holding Thiodrus' clattering head in his hands. He placed Thiodrus' head down onto the ground, and stood back up. Slowly, he approached the black haired man.

"Ah, right~. You were there as well! Now, guess I can take care of you as well, as a little bonus!" With his broad, smug grin, the black haired man stared at Foster. He stretched his hand out forward, while Foster did just a small thing. He noticed that this guy was standing very straight, basically flexing with his whole body out of excitement.

So, rather easily, Foster kicked his foot against the man's knee. But not only once, he pulled his foot back and kicked again and again within just a moment. Just once usually wasn't enough to break someone's leg like this, after all.

"What the fuck- you little piece of shit!" The man exclaimed, losing his balance after his leg was clearly injured, albeit maybe not fully broken, and Foster quickly grabbed him by the collar and pulled the man forward, making use of this guy's lost balance.

As he was falling forward, Foster pushed his hand forward and punched the man's throat as hard as he could, pushing his middle finger's first joint forward a little to hit the adam's apple straight-on. While the man was trying to hold onto his throat because he was unable to breathe, Foster kicked his other, fully working, leg away. Soon, the man was laying on the ground after just a few moments. Foster was using dirty tactics, but he honestly didn't give a shit about that.

While he was squatting down earlier, Foster grabbed a rock, and now that he had the chance to do so as the man's face was mostly unguarded, he hit the rock right onto the side of his forehead. Not just once, of course, but multiple times, until his skin ruptured and blood started covering the man's face.

He was tough, unnaturally so. The man didn't fall unconscious, so Foster threw the bloodied rock to the side and grabbed the man by his deep black hair, which was now turning slightly red from the blood.

Foster pulled him forward toward the edge of the river, and held his head over the water. This whole time, the archer wasn't able to shoot at him because of the fact the black haired man was inbetween him and Foster, and now he couldn't shoot because that would mean the guy would be dropped into that black acid sludge.

"Wh-Who the fuck are-"

"Who am I? I'm the guy that just kicked your ass way too easily. Didn't you just beat up a real expert martial artist? And then you're suddenly beat up by a fucking thug? Hah, how funny, don't'cha think?" Foster asked, staring deep into the man's eyes, "Now, give me one good reason why I shouldn't just drop you in there right this moment."

"I-I-... Joyce, Aaron, do something!" The man exclaimed, but Foster turned toward the two other people, "Don't you dare move even a single step."

"Young... Foster..." Thiodrus' voice could be heard quietly from behind Foster, "You must hurry... and leave before... it is too... too late..."

Foster turned his head with a glare, "Too late for what?"

"Before the... the seal is..."

"Seal? What seal?" Foster asked. But at exactly that moment, his question seemed to be answering itself. From the corner of his eyesight, Foster was able to see something else entirely. He was able to see another eye. But it didn't belong to any person, rather, it was just floating above him.

Turning his head to look up immediately, he realised what that eye was. It was one of the 'fruit' hanging from that huge tree. And it wasn't the only one either. All of them were opening up one after another, staring down at the group of people standing below it.

"What the fuck...?" Foster muttered quietly, as he slowly let go of the black-haired man. Of course, not in a way where he would fall into the acid. He was able to pull himself back onto his legs, and also stood there, staring up at the tree.

And then, without warning, one of those eyes fell down toward them, hitting the ground with a loud thud. The head-sized eye was laying there on the ground in front of Foster and the black-haired man, both of which had no idea what they were supposed to do about this. But that eye wasn't the only one that fell down. One after another, all of them fell. Some landed in the black sludge, splashing it around.

Some of the water hit the leg of the man beside Foster, and a loud sizzling sound could be heard a few moments later. All of the flesh on the leg started simply rotting away near to instantly.

But that wasn't where all this ended. The bone-like bark of the huge tree started forming a large crack on its surface. From beyond it, numerous of those bone bugs came crawling forward.

"Thiodrus!" Foster exclaimed, running over toward the skull, "What do we do? How do we stop this?"

"You... don't... But I... I do..." Thiodrus replied, "To atone... atone for my sins... I came here, and... tried to seal... this being away... It drained my powers, but... I think I can... stop it..."

"And how do you do that?" Foster asked, and Thiodrus' jaw kept clattering, "Bring me... the... core..."

"Core? Do you mean that glass orb?"

"Y-Yes, b-bring it to... me..." Foster immediately nodded his head as he rushed over toward where the orb was laying. He quickly picked it up, not hearing Thiodrus' warning before he did so.

"What now?" He asked, but Thiodrus stayed silent for a moment, "You are... holding it... in your bare hands..? How are you not..."

"Just tell me what I'm supposed to do next!" Foster exclaimed loudly, and Thiodrus' skull started bouncing around a bit. It was kind of unnatural and technically impossible, of course, but it did. The skull swallowed the glass orb and held it inside of its mouth. Thiodrus strained his jaw, and soon managed to widen the cracks on the orb, before it shattered into pieces.

A deep black mist surrounded Thiodrus' skull, as all that was left of the orb soon disappeared into nothingness, not even leaving dust behind.

"Throw... my head... into one of the cracks..." Thiodrus instructed Foster, "Now truly... this will be the last time... the last time we speak... It has not been... long... but it was an honor... an honor to know you."

"...Likewise, Thiodrus." Foster said with a light smile. Even he realized that it was necessary to somehow stop what was happening to this tree, and it didn't seem like Thiodrus would be able to recover from the state he was in.

Foster stood up, and approached a place where he could throw Thiodrus' head into the somehow hollow inside of this tree through one of the widening cracks in its surface.

The last thing Thiodrus said while looking at Foster and before being thrown was something that the young man really didn't understand.

"I leave my... legacy... with you."