Legacy of Chaos

by Jackson Bale

  His eyes look to me, asking so many questions.

  Why do they always give me that questioning look right before they die?

  “I have to admit, out of your entire group, you were probably the most dangerous. You clearly ran into the foliage, hid, and attempted to cast a spell from the shadows. You had great positioning, great timing, and great decision making.” I say, watching the man's eyes slowly close.

  “And maybe that would have been enough to defeat my undead,” his eyes are halfway shut.

  “But you completely missed my body as I snuck out from the entrance. You all were so enthralled with that [Mage]’s death…”

  He died with his eyes half shut...

  Shaking my head, I lay his head down on the ground and get back up to my feet, pulling my dagger out of the perfectly sliced body, easily cleaning it on his robe.

  I have to admit, non-clotting daggers are simple to clean… I wonder if clothing can also have this enchant.

  Looking back at the clearing, a frown forms on my face as I see one of my undead get beheaded by a muscular man with a dark, smoking battleaxe. My undead falls on the ground with a smack, its head missing from its body.

  Luckily my other undead just finished decapitating the second to last [Mage].

  The muscular [Mage] turns his axe towards my final undead, his stance, though good, leaves quite a few openings.

  I guess I should interfere now.

  Getting up and walking out of the foliage, I wave my hand in the air, ”Hello muscular axe guy, I have come to end your life,” I exclaim confidently with a smile.

  His head whips towards me. He raises an eyebrow. ”Who da fuk are yu?”

  Oh no… they have a butchered version of this language… crap

  Walking forward with a smile, I walk between my undead and the [Mage]. ”Yoh, name’s Thoric Eludi, [Hero] extraordinaire.”

  The man eyes me threateningly, his axe lowering slightly in a defensive stance.

  Huh… good instincts.

  “So yu be dat [Hero] Duran summoned,” he shakes his head, eyes trained on me still, ”was a mistake ta summon yu.”

  His grip on his axe tightens as he looks above my head and sees the towering undead with the purple glow.

  “I dunt suppose I can jus wak away? Neva like dem anyway,” he says as he slightly points his axe towards the various decapitated corpses littering the ground.

  With a confident smile, I unsheathe my dagger from under my robe and hold it in my hand. With expert movements. I spin the razorsharp blade around my hand and fingers, ”Unfortunately, I have various reasons to end your life.”

  I start to walk slowly towards the [Mage], ”The first reason is that I need to level up my class,” I crack my neck.

  The [Mage] takes a step back, eyeing the blade in my hand warily.

  “The second reason is that I need to test out this body’s capability,” My hand takes a reverse grip on the knife.

  I lower my center of gravity, legs bending, arms relaxed, ”The last and most important reason,” my eyes focus, reading the environment and my enemy perfectly, ”Is that you were a part of a group that slaughtered children.”

  With an inhuman burst of speed, I rush forward, easily dodging to the side as the man attempts to strike me head on.

  As I dodge, my knife scrapes along his flesh, just nicking very close to the location of a main vein in his leg.

  He spins and slices, yelling and roaring, his axe always centimeters from hitting my body, while I weave expertly around him, my dagger flicking out and slicing skin.

  Several minutes go by as I finally move away from the enraged man.

  His axe points at me, the light of it barely even aglow now. ”Wats *breathes hard* wrung?” he asks, blood oozing from several places from his body, ragged breathing coming from his mouth as he attempts to catch his breath.

  “Wrong? Nothing's wrong. I just got bored of killing you twenty seven times,” I exclaim, looking at my bloody dagger, watching the blood flow off like water.

  Finally regaining some stamina, a cocky smile comes on the mans face, ”Ha, you think ye won? Yur little cuts cont take me down, now ye be jus stallin.”

  Resisting the urge to throw my dagger and implant it in his face, I roll my eyes at the man's ignorance.

  ”Four cuts on your left leg, three cuts on your right, seven on your wrists, three on each arm and seven cuts on your neck. Each of those cuts were capable killing blows by me as they are located next to main arteries which would have bled you out and killed you.”

  His eyes quickly roam towards the locations of his body, widening in realization at the blood and cuts located exactly in those locations.

  His hands start to shake as he grips his axe even harder, eyes quickly roaming the clearing.

  *Sigh* ”Don’t bother looking for a way out, you've clearly seen my speed and stamina. The only thing you can do now is to defeat me.”

  “P-pleas… I didn't kill anyone… I jus be tryin to learn magic.”

  “And now the begging and lying starts… like really… I don’t actually care who you killed. Heck, I have the [Advanced Analyse] skill, so I know that you’re a level 78 [Pirate] and a level 54 [Dark Mage]. So, don't lie to me about not killing anyone Corazon, especially when your high level class of [Pirate] more than likely requires you to.”

  “I’ll...I’ll be your [Servant]… [Slave]… anything… I’m strong!” he quickly exclaims in a panic, the will to fight quickly leaving his eyes.

  Twirling my knife, I look towards my undead.

  Maybe…

  “Alright, Alright,” I tap my fingers, the undead walks forward at my call. ”Here's the deal, you’re going to fight my undead here.” I point at the behemoth walking towards the man, ”And if you win, I will let you walk away,”… and then stab you in the back.

  Hope returns to his eyes as the undead trudges towards him. Corazon loosens the grip on his axe as he wipes sweat off his face.

  Good good, now to experiment. I can give the undead under my control orders and they will attempt to do them to the best of their ability, but what if I control their movement mentally? Should be much better since they seem to refuse to use their skills… I wonder if that’s because of my extremely low level as a [Necromancer]?

  “[Decaying Blade]!” The man's axe quickly gets engulfed in a dark reddish black light as energy twirls around the axehead.

  Interesting, I was sure he was out of Mana.

  With a deep breath, the man rushes forward, aiming for the undead’s head, a rather annoying weak point.

  With my guidance, the undead sidesteps the axe and brings down the greatsword towards Corazon's head.

  “[Reactive Parry].” With an amazing burst of speed, his axe flicks back and slams into the downward swing, smacking the greatsword back.

  So physical skills don't require Mana, good to know.

  Having failed to kill the undead, Corazon starts to swing his axe expertly, attempting to create a opening.

  A smile crosses my lips as I direct my undead to block, parry, and dodge perfectly.

  His fighting style is so… mechanical. It's like he fights with instinct but doesn't understand the moves he is doing. It’s just so predictable.

  The fight continues, my undead easily keeping up, but Corazon is slowing down, both from blood loss and a loss of stamina.

  He hasn't used that [Reactive Parry] skill again, it seems quite powerful considering the sheer speed… Unless!

  “Cooldown, ” I whisper, realizing a pretty fatal weakness in physical skills.

  Well then, I guess I'll finish it soon.

  With a mental command, my undead quickly increases his tempo, forcing Corazon back and utilizing its larger strength and size, forcing the [Pirate] to backtrack.

  Checkmate.

  My undead attempts a overhead strike, which Corazon properly counters with his axe. As soon as the greatsword makes contact, I order my undead to let go of the handle.


  The undead quickly complies and flicks its hand out, grabbing Corazon’s head with its longer reach.

  With a small hop, the undead jumps towards the [Pirate] and allows its far heavier body to force the man onto the ground.

  Due to the composition of the undead, many of the sharper bones comprising its body penetrate the [Pirate]’s skin.

  Panic quickly overwhelms the [Pirate] as he lets go of his unusable axe and quickly starts punching the undead.

  Blood pools form around his knuckles while the undead is seemingly undamaged by the assault.

  Ordering the undead to not move, I slowly walk towards their location.

  “Corazon, good fight there, but you seem to be seriously lacking in skill.”

  Corazon’s punches stop. He looks at me between the bony fingers of my undead which are keeping him down.

  “I offered you a way out, to save your pathetic life… but you seem to have failed.”

  “*Mumble* *Mumble*”

  “Yes, I'm sure you would be more than happy to serve me and all… but I don't need weak servants.”

  With a mental command, I order my undead to squeeze.

  Feeling the increasing pressure, Corazon starts to punch harder and more practically, causing actual cracks to form on my undead’s skull.

  *Crack*

  The [Pirate]’s skull implodes, his movements completely cease.

  “This… was actually pretty easy… I wonder how many levels I gained.”

  With a mental command, I allow the system notifications to enter my vision.

  Level up x 8

  Class [Hero] is now level 29

  No rewards awarded.

  Well that sucks. I was hoping for some cool new ability.

  Level up x 14

  Class [Necromancer] is now level 14

  Level 5 reached. Passive skill obtained: [Enhanced Undead]

  Skilled Undead: Undead under your control will be able to utilize skills.

  Level 10 reached. Active skill obtained: [Bone Renewal]

  Bone Renewal: Activate to use bones from corpses to heal injured skeletal undead.

  So that's why my undead weren't using skills… I didn't have a skill for their usage.

  Shaking my head, I turn to my undead and the crack on its face.

  [Bone Renewal]

  Without needing to say or do anything, Mana erupts from my body, slams into the dead body of Corazon, degrades the flesh, causing the bones to levitate off the corpse, turn into bone dust, and fly towards my undeads wound, fixing the bone as though it was brand new.

  “Finally, something I can work with.”

  Chapter Six: Meeting the Hero... Again

  “Janie, it’s time for you to take your vows child.” The head [Priest] exclaims, calling me up next to him.

  With a tentative stride, I walk past the other [Initiates] and climb the stairs where a statue of a woman in wings and armor stand before a large basin of water.

  Bowing towards the statue of Goddess Valkyrie Eir, I turn towards [Priest] Chavez.

  Smiling confidently towards me, the [Priest] grabs a dagger from a stand next to him and hands it to me. ”May Eir be with you.”

  Nodding silently, I grab hold of the dagger, a simple thing made of bronze but thoroughly sharpened for what is to come next.

  Turning towards the basin filled with water, I move my hand and dagger over it, the dagger resting on my palm.

  “Goddess Eir, I am [Initiate] Janie, loyal servant of the gods.”

  Here it goes.

  “By my life, I swear to uphold your laws, to heal those injured, to save a life which needs saving. By my vow, I swear upon my chastity.”

  The dagger quickly moves over my palm, cutting flesh with excruciating ease.

  Ignoring the pain, I allow the blood to seep down my hand and into the basin of water where it slowly spreads.

  I close my eyes and pray to Eir for acceptance.

  Blood pours for a good minute, allowing the basin to turn red.

  Slowly my senses deafen, the sound of my blood striking water weakens with every drop...until the goddess answers

  Your vow has been heard and accepted. Welcome to the family priestess. Wear my mark proudly.

  Quickly opening my eyes, my senses return as I look forward, the cut on my palm is completely healed.

  On the basin, a ball of blood can be seen floating aimlessly over the water. Its azure red color truly remarkable to behold as it seems to shift in movement, staying towards the basin center.

  With a growing smile, I carefully move my hand into the basin and grab the ball, lift it into the air, and smack it onto my shoulder.

  The blood sizzles, mending with skin, forming the image of a white raven.

  Turning around, I finally hear the cheering coming from the others and see the proud smile of the head [Priest], a man who had taken care of me since I was but a little girl.

  Tears quickly form in my eyes as I take my first step down the stairs, not as a [Initiate] but as a [Priestess] of Eir.

  --

  Opening my eyes, I am greeted with the sight of a dusty marble floor and a striking coldness on my side.

  So it was a dream.

  With a grunt, I move my sore and pained body off the floor. My muscles spasm and strain under my weight as I attempt to move my body and allow the blood to flow.

  “Ugh… what happened?”

  Wasn't there some kind of ritual? I can't remember…

  “Well, you saw me in all my sexy glory, and then you passed out.”

  Widening my eyes, my head quickly swerves to the right, towards the sound of the voice.

  “Which is very understandable, not many women are capable of witnessing such a masculine and divine body like my own.”

  A man with long black hair, wearing a black cloak, is staring at a pile of bones which float in the air and float back down continuously.

  Am I still dreaming?

  “Ughhhhh, ”

  My head agonizes as memories quickly resurface, the summoning of the naked man, of him killing the two [Mages].

  My breathing quickens, eyes widening in horror.

  I have to get out of here!

  Forcing myself to stand, I look towards the stairs… only to find a massive bony skeleton guarding the exit.

  No

  “D-dont kill me… please.” I yell out automatically.

  Shaking his head, the man's eyes finally move away from the floating bone.

  “Why is it that the first person I have no intention of killing is hysterical?”

  The man begins to scratch his ear.

  *Sigh* ”Whatever, I'll just wait till you calm down.”

  Without another word, his focus returns to the bone, which starts to rise and fall again.

  Is he not going to kill me?

  Several minutes pass by as I stand there, watching the man as he continues to stare at a piece of floating bone.

  He doesn't seem… bad.

  “Who are you?” I ask reflexively, trying to break the silence.

  “Me?... Oh right, I haven't introduced myself.”

  The man stands up, turns toward me. His hand goes to his waist and then he bows forward.

  “I am known as Thoric Elum, professional [Hero] for hire. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

  Did… did he just bow to me?

  A silence descends between us, me just staring at him, bewildered with his actions… and him just smiling at me...expectantly.

  “You know, when someone introduces himself, it's customary to return the greeting.”

  Why is he being so nice. That doesn't make any sense. I’m a [Slave]. He can't just be...oh.

  “You… you’re actually a [Hero]. A being summoned by the Gods…”

  Lifting an eyebrow, he slowly nods, ”Pretty sure I am. I have the [Hero] class. I was summoned. Destroyed evil. Saved a damsel in distress. So yea, pretty sure i’m a [Hero].