Chapter 6: fight to survive
The massive breach in the walls of Ashveil Castle was like an infected wound. The white death outside was seeping into the fortress's dark flesh.
Through the path carved by Saint Evarion's spear, the soldiers of the Holy Auralis Empire poured in like an unstoppable flood.
The clatter of their armor drowned out the thunder, and their cries of "For the Light!" smothered the groans of the wounded.
First blood was drawn on the rubble where the dust and smoke had yet to settle.
Even though the demon army was outnumbered and writhing in the grip of despair, they attacked like cornered wild beasts.
An orc warrior, ignoring the spear lodged in his left shoulder, swung his rusty axe and knocked back the three shielded soldiers in front of him.
But his victory was brief. A fireball from a mage in the rear hollowed out the orc's chest like a crater, turning him into a charred pile of flesh.
Right beside him, a small group of goblins slipped and slid in the mud, desperately trying to escape being trampled under the hooves of the imperial knights' horses.
Broken spear shafts and severed limbs had already turned the castle courtyard into a slaughterhouse floor.
The rain wasn't enough to wash the blood from the stones. Instead, it mixed with the gore, turning the courtyard into a crimson swamp.
Steel clashed against steel everywhere, and the explosive sounds of spells were deafening.
While the imperial soldiers advanced in a disciplined, cold, and mechanical manner, the demons fought in pure chaos, clawing, biting, and resisting to their very last breath out of sheer survival instinct.
Crossbreed moved right through the middle of this chaos like a black shark swimming against the current.
His eye caught an imperial soldier breaking through the crowd, clad in heavy armor and wielding a broadsword.
The soldier ruthlessly hacked down a wounded demon in front of him, his eyes already searching for his next prey. They landed on Crossbreed.
The soldier hesitated when he noticed the emotionless stare in Crossbreed's single eye, but then he raised his shield and charged at him with heavy, powerful steps.
Time slowed down in Crossbreed's mind. The system interface flashed in the corner of his vision.
[Skill Activated: Curse of Equality]
[Sacrificed: 3 Months of Lifespan]
Instantly, a cold ache bloomed in Crossbreed's chest. It was the price of the time stolen from his life.
Simultaneously, the world around them faded. A translucent, gray barrier isolated them from the outside world.
The sound of the rain became muffled, and the noise of the battle turned into a distant hum.
In front of Crossbreed, the system window spilled out the enemy's stats with ruthless clarity:
Target: Roger Oster
Strength: 23 out of 30 (D)
Agility: 9 out of 30 (E)
Endurance: 27 out of 30 (D)
Mana: 87 out of 200 (D)
Intelligence: 59 (C)
Roger stumbled under the weight that suddenly crashed down on him.
His sword felt as if it had become twice as heavy compared to a second ago.
His breath wasn't enough for his lungs, and his armor was crushing him like a mountain resting on his shoulders.
The bloodlust in his eyes gave way to pure bewilderment and panic. "What... What did you do to me, demon?" he snarled, his voice coming out muffled.
Crossbreed didn't answer.
Sliding on the muddy ground, he slipped to Roger's left side like a shadow.
Roger tried to swing his sword, but his movement was so slow that to Crossbreed, it was like watching a movie in slow motion.
The Curse of Equality had dragged Roger's Rank D strength and endurance down to Crossbreed's current low, worn out level.
But here was the difference: Crossbreed was used to this weakness, this pain. Roger, on the other hand, was someone accustomed to his strength, and now he was completely stripped of it.
Roger's sword cleaved through the air, but Crossbreed had already ducked.
Crossbreed's rusty sword found the small gap at the joint of Roger's armor.
Clang!
Metal scraped against metal, followed by the sound of flesh being sliced. With the tendon behind his knee severed, Roger collapsed on the spot, dropping to one knee.
He cried out in pain, but his voice merely echoed inside the barrier. "You damn crossbreed!" he roared, swinging his shield like a weapon.
Crossbreed dodged the blow by doing a backward roll, not caring about the mud splattering across his face.
The moment he got to his feet, he lunged for Roger's exposed neck.
Roger tried to raise his hand with his sluggish reflexes, but it was too late.
Crossbreed gripped his sword in a reverse hold and, using his entire body weight, thrust it through the visor gap of Roger's helmet, straight into his throat.
Roger's eyes widened, and bloody foam spilled from his mouth. His body convulsed for a few seconds, his hands trying to grasp Crossbreed's arm, but his strength was entirely gone.
The moment the Curse of Equality was lifted, the barrier faded, and Roger's lifeless body slid off Crossbreed's sword, collapsing into the mud.
Crossbreed plunged back into the flow of battle before he even had a chance to catch his breath.
The chaos around him was growing. An assassin wearing a black cloak and holding two curved daggers appeared from his left, lunging right at him.
[Skill Activated: Curse of Equality]
[Sacrificed: 2 Months of Lifespan]
As the assassin glided through the air, he suddenly crashed to the ground as if gravity had drastically increased.
When his agility plummeted to Crossbreed's sluggish level, his lethal speed instantly turned into the stumbling of a drunk man.
As the assassin faceplanted in confusion, Crossbreed stepped on him without an ounce of mercy.
He drove his sword straight into the man's chest, ending his life right then and there.
The system's notification chime blended with the sound of the rain.
A few steps away, a robed imperial mage holding a blue orb had locked onto Crossbreed.
His lips were muttering a spell, and the orb in his hand glowed with a dangerous light.
[Skill Activated: Curse of Equality]
[Sacrificed: 3 Months of Lifespan]
Just as the mage was about to shout "Fire Spear!", his throat seized up.
His mana was cut off like a dried up river under the curse's effect.
The fire at his fingertips flickered out, leaving behind a cold nothingness.
While the mage stared at his hands in sheer terror, Crossbreed closed the distance.
He looked like an angel of death sprinting through the rain.
The mage turned and tried to run, but the curse had drained his endurance too.
He lost his breath on his second step. When Crossbreed plunged his sword into the mage's back, his robes were dyed crimson.
Every kill shaved months off Crossbreed's lifespan.
His hair was soaked, his face covered in blood and mud stains, but he didn't stop. He was like a monster using his own life as fuel.
Minutes felt like hours. The numbers of the demon army were melting away with every passing second.
The defenders, who numbered in the hundreds at the start, had now dropped to less than half. The Auralis army was on the verge of completely taking over the castle's inner courtyard.
As Crossbreed slipped past a group of soldiers in front of him, a bright red triangle icon appearing on the system interface locked his vision.
Beyond the crowd, just slightly behind the thickest part of the battle, stood a figure surrounded not by guards, but by his own sheer arrogance.
A young man in his early 20s, whose brown hair looked absolutely perfect even in the rain, wearing an expression of arrogance mixed with disgust.
His silver armor, unlike the other soldiers, was practically spotless. He held a finely crafted long spear, its tip faintly glowing.
[Arthur Miller]
Crossbreed's heart beat with the cold rhythm of his mission.
His target was right there. With a final burst of strength, Crossbreed pushed through the soldiers in between, crawling and sprinting his way toward Arthur.
When the young man noticed him, a degrading smirk appeared on his lips, but that smirk froze the moment Crossbreed entered his range.
[Skill Activated: Curse of Equality]
[Target: Arthur Miller]
[Sacrificed: 8 Months of Lifespan]
The world turned gray once again. The sounds vanished. The other soldiers were left outside the barrier.
Arthur and Crossbreed were left all alone in this isolated arena.
Arthur suddenly felt his knees tremble. The unfamiliar weight bearing down on his shoulders made his head spin.
A sharp pain throbbed in his temples. He looked around in utter shock at the translucent barrier surrounding them.
"What... What is this?" he asked, his voice coming out much weaker than he expected.
Crossbreed kept walking toward him, dragging his blood dripping sword through the wet dirt.
The sound of metal scraping against stone and soil felt like a nerve wracking screech in the middle of the silence.
Crossbreed's wet hair clung to his forehead, and the bloodstain covering half of his face made him look no different from a grim reaper.
His single remaining pitch black eye pierced right through Arthur's soul.
The system laid out Arthur's data right in front of Crossbreed:
[Name: Arthur Miller]
Strength: 21 out of 50 (C)
Agility: 29 out of 30 (D)
Endurance: 43 out of 50 (C)
Mana: 414 out of 500 (C)
Intelligence: 70 (C)
Arthur tried to gather himself despite his stumbling.
He looked at the entity before him, that pathetic half human half demon creature. The shock in his eyes was replaced by pure hatred and contempt.
"You..." Arthur said, scowling.
He raised his spear, but his arm was shaking. "You disgusting crossbreed. What kind of trick is this!"
He practically spat the words out. "Do you really think the pathetic tricks of a piece of trash like you can make a difference against noble blood like mine!"
Crossbreed didn't answer. He just walked.
"Speak, you freak!" Arthur yelled, as if trying to suppress his own fear. "I'm going to crush you right here in this mud like a bug!"
Arthur thrust his spear forward. Normally, this strike would be too fast for the eye to track. Combined with his Rank C strength, it should have been lethal.
But now... The spear was so slow that Crossbreed could easily step aside and parry it.
Crossbreed pushed the shaft of the spear aside with his left hand and swung his sword toward Arthur's chest.
Arthur jumped back in panic, but his balance was so off that his foot slipped, and he only barely saved himself from falling flat on his back.
He blocked the sword with the shaft of his spear.
CLANG!
The impact numbed Arthur's arms. "Impossible..." he whispered. "My strength... Where is my strength?"
Crossbreed attacked like a storm devoid of any mercy.
His sword crashed down one strike after another. From the right, the left, from above.
Arthur could only use his spear to defend. With every blow, he retreated a little more, his feet sinking deeper into the mud.
"Scum!"
Arthur tried to conjure a mana explosion from the tip of his spear. "Spear of Light!" he shouted. But only a feeble spark appeared at the tip. The curse was suppressing his mana as well.
Crossbreed took full advantage of Arthur's momentary distraction. He ducked and swept his leg hard against Arthur's shin.
CRACK!
Arthur groaned in pain and dropped to his knees. His noble armor was now covered in mud. "How dare you touch me!" he screamed, his eyes welling up with tears.
His pride hurt way more than the blows he took. "I am the disciple of Saint Evarion! I am the chosen one! A sewer rat like you can't defeat me!"
Arthur grabbed a handful of mud from the ground, threw it right at Crossbreed's face, and swung his spear blindly.
The tip of the spear grazed Crossbreed's shoulder, and black blood spurted out. But Crossbreed didn't even pause. Pain was the thing he was most accustomed to.
Crossbreed dropped his sword and grabbed Arthur's wrist that was holding the spear.
His fingers were like a steel vise. Arthur tried to break free but couldn't. Crossbreed twisted Arthur's arm at a sickening backward angle.
SNAP!
The sound of bone snapping echoed inside the barrier. Arthur's scream tore through his throat. The spear fell from his hand.
Crossbreed caught the falling spear mid air. Instead of his own weapon, he was going to use his enemy's.
Arthur, clutching his broken arm, started crawling backward. "No... No, stop! Wait!"
Crossbreed spun the spear once and plunged it into Arthur's right leg, right below the kneecap.
"AAAAHH!" Arthur's scream wasn't even human anymore.
Crossbreed yanked the spear out and drove it into his left leg this time. Arthur couldn't even feel his legs anymore.
There was only a burning agony. With one final move, Crossbreed brought the sharp tip of the spear down on Arthur's remaining intact shoulder, severing his arm from his torso.
Blood merged with the rain and seeped into the soil. Reduced to a lump of flesh, Arthur writhed in the mud.
Right then, the world outside the barrier finally took notice. The other students, Evarion's elite unit, saw their friend's condition.
"Arthur!" a blonde girl screamed, bashing her staff against the barrier. "Arthur! Hold on!"
The others began raining their swords and spells down on the barrier. Fireballs, ice spears, beams of holy light. They all just smashed against the gray wall and dissipated.
The Curse of Equality provided absolute isolation against any outside interference.
"Dammit! It's not breaking!" someone else yelled.
Inside the barrier, Arthur was trying to crawl.
His legs were ruined, and one arm was severed. Scraping the mud with his one good arm, he crawled toward the barrier, toward the direction of his friends' voices.
Tears streamed down his eyes, and snot mixed with his blood. All that was left of that arrogant, noble youth was a pathetic creature begging for mercy.
"Help me..." Arthur sobbed, his voice trembling. "Please... Master... Mary... Brother Herson! Mother! Save me! I don't want to die! Mother..."
Just beyond the barrier, his friends watched him in absolute horror.
Mary had her hands pressed against the barrier, crying and saying something, but her voice sounded completely muffled inside.
Crossbreed stood right behind Arthur.
There was neither the thrill of victory nor a shred of pity on his face. Only the coldness of a job that needed to be finished.
As the rain washed the blood from his face, his single black eye stared into the void. His steps were heavy but determined.
With every step, the invisible, suffocating aura he radiated grew more intense. It was as if death itself had taken physical form and started walking.
Arthur felt the shadow behind him growing. He stopped crawling. Trembling, he turned his head and looked at his executioner.
"Pleas..."
Crossbreed raised Arthur's own spear high into the air.
The students outside the barrier froze in their tracks. Mary let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Crossbreed brought the spear down in one fluid motion.
SQUELCH!
The spear entered through Arthur's mouth, pierced right through his head, and embedded itself deep into the ground.
Arthur's body convulsed one last time. A final gush of blood mixed with his last breath poured from his mouth, and then he went completely still.
His eyes, still welling with tears, froze as they stared out into nothingness.
The system notification echoed in Crossbreed's mind:
[Quest Progress: 1 out of 7 Students Slaughtered]
[Reward Earned: 1 Year of Lifespan]
Crossbreed stepped back, leaving the spear planted in the corpse.
The barrier shattered like broken glass and faded away entirely.
The voices, the rain, and the deafening noise of the war rushed back in all at once with full force.
But inside the small circle the imperial soldiers had formed around Arthur's corpse, a deep and terrifying silence reigned.
As Saint Evarion's students and the soldiers stared at the mangled corpse of their friend and the blood soaked "crossbreed" standing over him, they were coming face to face with the true horror of war for the very first time.