Bloodstained Blade

Chapter 204 - Ur-Dragon (part 2)

The Ebon Blade waited for the giant golden behemoth to get close enough that it was dangerous before it did anything. Then, it distorted space again, but more importantly, it shoved the souls of two lingering orcs together to create a shade. While it wasn’t quite as dark as the blade’s Reventant, it was close enough. It sent that construct running in one direction, while it ran in the other.

-200 Life Force.

-2 Monster souls.

The orc shade looked nothing like the Death Goddess’s revenant, and it was forced to warp space for each of them in opposite directions, lengthening its own route while it shortened its double, just to make it look like it was capable of moving as fast as the sword’s wielder. Still, it was enough to make the dragon’s gaze flicker, and when it looked away from the blade to study its lookalike, the blade’s revenant surged forward with blinding speed.

The trick only lasted for a moment, but that was all the Ebon Blade needed to connect. Hydonar barely had time to react before the blade appeared in front of it with a few quick steps. The dragon was impossibly well armored, and the blade didn’t make the mistake of hammering against them. Instead, it moved in a series of ascending slashes at a nearly vertical angle, coming under the overlapping golden armor and cleaving into the flesh beneath them. It was like gutting and scaling a fish.

Unfortunately, dodging the streams of luminescent blood that followed was like trying to stay dry beneath a waterfall. It was successful enough that its wielder did not vanish in a spray of light. However, as the dragon reared up and away from the pain, the pressurized light pierced the shadowy revenant in a dozen places as the blade maneuvered free.

-372 Life Force.

That moment had been meant as a distraction. It had planned to bolt up to the dragon’s giant head and spear it through the eye the same way that its first wielder had so long ago. That was impossible because of how Hydonar moved, though, so the blade did the next best thing and ran along the dragon’s flank, dragging itself through an ever-widening open wound that left a lake of glowing blood in its wake.

As the blade moved, it tried to target the creation god’s healing power with Sever the Thread, but it only got errors. There was nothing to target as long as it wasn’t actually using the ability.

The Ebon Blade’s revenant dodged the gargantuan beast’s wing as it came down, ducking and sliding forward on its knees, but only barely. Those giant wings sent the beast a few feet in the air, threatening to drown it in glowing blood like a stormcloud, and forcing it to retreat slightly.

-181 Life Force.

The weapon moved to a safe distance. It hadn’t dealt a mortal blow, but surely it had done real damage; any other foe would already be trailing its entrails at this point. However, by the time Hydonar had turned to face it again, the god was practically whole once more. Puddles of light still splashed across the plaza, melting gemstones and setting exposed runes alight, but he was whole again by the time he landed a distance away.

“My wounds are more dangerous to you than they are to me,” the dragon growled. The words were humorous, but the tone didn’t match them. “Perhaps I should simply let you eviscerate me until you’re all used up.”

The god spoke with confidence he didn’t have. He clearly wasn’t used to pain. Still, Hydonar wasn’t entirely wrong. The revenant that held the blade was more transparent than ever, and leaking mist from half-healed holes in a dozen places.

-74 Life Force.

One death blow, the weapon reminded itself. That’s all I need. One shot straight through the eye to the brain.

It charged toward the dragon again. This time, it didn’t try any obvious tricks. It waited until the dragon opened its mouth to breathe fire again, and then it killed the ability with Sever the Thread. It had wanted to save the power, but it had no choice now; it needed the surprise.

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-100 Life Force.

As the look of consternation flashed across Hydonar’s face, the blade unleashed a second power and launched itself forward with Bolt. That caught the creation god completely off guard.

-50 Life Force.

“What is this treachery—” he cried out, rearing back, but the Ebon blade followed with momentum and plunged the full length. Every time it pierced into the dragon’s luminescent flesh was a dizzying experience, but to thrust right through its eye and into its brain beyond was almost too overwhelming for the blade to enjoy it.

Waves of paroxysms went through the dragon, then, as he fell backward, its head swung limply toward the damaged plaza. There was no conscious attempt to shake it free, but the moves were so violent just the same that its spectral wielder was flung around like a rag doll as it held on to the blade’s hilt in a deathgrip.

When the dragon’s head hit the ground, the blade plunged itself even deeper and then twisted for good measure. The dragon was still, then. The blade would have stabbed it a dozen more times just to be sure, but the gouts of glowing blood that fountained from the wound were too dangerous for it to linger near.

-212 Life Force.

Even as it moved away, it felt certain it had won, but those feelings were dashed the moment it began to stir once more. The Ebon blade didn’t wait for it to recover and dashed forward again. With a series of Bolts, it attacked half a dozen places on the dragon’s body. It sliced at its throat, its flank, and between its ribs, but still, the beast rose again.

-485 Life Force.

“Nothing you do can kill me,” the god rumbled angrily, losing the last pretenses of his serene superiority. “You might win every battle, but you will still lose the war, for I am limitless.”

The sword didn’t believe that for a second, and yet, it was at a loss. Normally, it was unbeatable in attrition warfare. However, if Hydonar could use the light of creation to reform and heal himself each time he was grievously wounded, and the blade couldn’t tap into his Life Force, then what was the blade supposed to do to keep him down?

The battle was certainly taking a toll on it. It had spent thousands of Life Force, and the shadowy revenant that held it was noticeably more transparent than it had been at the start of this. While not yet transparent, it certainly wasn’t in a good place.

It might have more than ten thousand Life Force still, but those reserves wouldn’t last forever, and it was running out of souls to replenish its reserves. That thought made it look to its souls again, and it noted that the situation was worse than it thought.

Besides the souls of Geral and his family, its soul gem was almost depleted. Nuella still loomed, of course, and so did the demon prince souls, but beyond that…

The demons, they’re almost totally incompatible with creation, it recalled, remembering how their existence had stained it. Creation is the problem here. There’s got to be a way to use that.

The blade hadn’t been able to even grip the demons properly for most of its time in hell. Without the Warbringer to act as a bridge, it would likely still be there in the depths, feasting on the poisonous carrion of the ninth circle. Surely if those depths interfered with its powers, then they would interfere with Hydonar’s too, wouldn’t they?

After that, the plan was simple. It was going to take one of those Demon Prince Souls and inject it into the golden dragon that it was currently trying to slay. That should be enough to cripple it, shouldn’t it?

That was easier said than done, though. The blade could consume souls. It could command and question them. It could even make pacts with them with its Path of Vengeance Powers, although it rarely did. Using one as a weapon, though, was something it had never tried before.

It wasn’t even tempted to use the Queen of Hell’s soul. It was too dangerous. It reached out toward the blade whenever its mind strayed too near her. Likewise, it didn’t really want to touch one of the demon prince’s souls, either. If the blade made the wrong move and one of them struggled with it enough, it might paralyze its mind for just long enough to ensure its defeat.

Instead, it grasped one of the stray greater demon souls that it had been loath to devour since leaving hell, and held it. The oily thing squirmed in its mental grip, but still the blade didn’t release it immediately. Instead, it focused on maneuvering into position for another clean strike.

It knew to avoid the tail area at this point, in addition to the mouth. Still, that was easier said than done; this close, and the dark revenant that held it had to dodge and gyrate wildly for half a minute before Hydonar reared up and raised his wings high. In that instant, the blade flashed forward with Bolt and came in under the wing, thrusting deep enough that it would have struck the heart if the beast had one.

-50 Life Force.

This wasn’t about wounding it, though. This was about making sure the poison went in deep. In that moment, the blade focused everything it had on forcing the foul, hellish essence inside the god and poisoning it irrevocably.