Zogarth
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Chapter 1064 - Carmen Used Runemaiden! It's Super Effective!
🕑 Added 2025-01-29 12:19:22 +0000 UTCJake braced himself as he prepared for the arrival of something that would definitely change the balance of the battle. He was attacked from all sides but still went on the offensive as he clashed with the Desolate Child of Loss in melee.
His Katar met the spear of desolation-infused bone, the katar winning out, but Jake still didn’t come out of it entirely unscathed as the creature released a shockwave of pure desolation that managed to partly penetrate his scales and into his body. He endured the unpleasant sensation as he successfully stabbed the creature in the stomach before exploding the weapon, forcing the False God away from himself.
Right on time, too.
A faint smile appeared on his lips right as the Desolate Child of Loss also noticed something was up. It looked up for a brief moment right before it was struck by what many would likely assume to be a meteorite.
With Jake’s extremely high Perception, he clearly saw what happened next. A Runemaiden, enveloped in flames created from having forcefully descended incredibly quickly and breaking through the atmosphere, smashed into the False God while clumsily landing a clothesline as she and the Desolate Child of Loss crashed toward the ground at truly meteoric speed.
The two of them smashing into each other released a shockwave of pure physical force that washed over Jake and even made some Holy Church members stumble, but it was nothing compared to the true touchdown. The wanna-be city was torn asunder as a crater formed right in the middle of it, destroying the majority of the many structures while creating large fissures that made what remained tumble and fall inwards toward the center of the crater.
In the middle of said crater, Jake saw a familiar figure rising as the Desolate Child of Loss was firmly embedded in the ground, a large indent in its mid-section from Carmen’s greeting. However, that wasn’t the most shocking thing.
In a world of monochrome black and white, Carmen remained entirely untouched as her blonde hair and glowing golden runes across her body created quite the sight.
Jake would have loved to keep a close watch of what happened next, but he had other eggs to crack as he smiled and looked toward the Holy Church members who needed a moment to understand what had just happened. A moment that Jake gladly cut short as he went on the offensive, this time no longer limited by having a False God up in his face, weakening him with desolation all the time.
Truthfully, he still had some doubts if Carmen could truly handle the Desolate Child of Loss. She was strong, yes, but the False God was no simple opponent. It was a being that had defeated Sylphie and the Fallen King, and while he had been told Carmen was suited to face it, Jake remained skeptical. He did know how durable she was from all their spars, and based on how she looked like a golden lighthouse in a sea of desolation, he reckoned she was able to counter it at least somewhat.
Hopefully, no matter what, she would at least be able to hold on until Jake got done cleaning house – or Church in this instance - after which he would come to her assistance... at least, those were his thoughts. His misguided, poor, if well-intentioned, thoughts...
--
Carmen felt pretty damn hot standing over the Desolate Child of Loss.
No, not hot like that, in the literal sense. She had just been on fire a few seconds earlier, having brutishly broken through all the layers of the sky by force and set herself ablaze in the process. Still, she had gone a lot faster than she thought she could, and what’s more, with an assist from Jake even hit a pretty damn solid opening strike on the feared False God she was only now fully realizing she was there to fight.
Now it made a lot more sense why the Augur had said she should be there, though.
The desolation was all around her as she stood there, and she felt it in the environment as her body responded, making the runes light up all over her body. Looking down, she saw that despite the awesomeness of Carmen’s initial opening attack, the creature quickly reacted as it screamed and lunged up toward her, trying to grab her feet and inflict its desolation.
Carmen responded by stomping it on the chest, deeping the crater further in the process. Before she could stomp a second time, a wave of desolation turned all the gray stone around them into dust while allowing the creature to free itself.
A spear-like bone appeared in its hand as Carmen gladly sprung forward to meet the creature in melee. Rather than dodge, she directly struck the spear head-on, the entire thing crumbling before her fist the moment it made contact with her as a faint golden pulse echoed through her arm.
The creature looked confused as Carmen proceeded to punch it in the face, releasing a second golden echo, sending it spinning before she followed up with a kick, launching the creature away from the city before giving chase.
She wanted the thing out of the city and away from Jake and all the others, as that would definitely help Jake more than the Church due to the effectiveness of the Holy affinity against desolation.
Carmen already knew of the Desolate Child of Loss from the briefings of what had happened with the Fallen King, and as they had always considered it a possibility the creature was still alive, Carmen had wanted to know what she was dealing with if she ever encountered it.
The Fallen King hadn’t been someone she was close to, but the fact other people she cared about had been was enough to make her feel like this fight was personal. There had been some doubt, though. Knowing the False God had defeated not only the Unique Lifeform and Sylphie, as well as having pushed Jake and everyone else incredibly far when they came to try and save the two, she had wondered what she could even do.
That was until she learned what the False God truly was. When she later performed a ritual to contact her Patron, her worry was lessened even further, as in the words of Valdemar:
“You’re a Runemaiden! My Runemaiden! Just ignore that desolation stuff and punch it!”
Truly words of wisdom that Carmen would gladly live by.
Catching up to the False God in mid-air, Carmen engaged it in melee once more as she continued to push them further and further away from the city into the wide-open plains surrounding it. Once the domain of desolation no longer affected Jake and the Holy Church, Carmen caught a quite frankly horribly performed punch before throwing the Desolate Child of Loss over her shoulder and down toward the ground.
Giving chase, she tried to land a knee in the creature’s face, but the False God managed to get out of the way as it screamed again, a massive wave of desolation washing over her.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said carefree, diving straight through the wave before punching the creature in the stomach and elbowing it in the chin, sending it slightly airborne, only for her to catch its ankle and smash it into the ground face-first.
Twisting out of her grip, the Desolate Child of Loss jumped at her again, but Carmen easily dodged its attacks before landing several of her own. Every single punch sent shockwaves through the creature’s body, and it was clearly confused about what was happening.
It tried to attack with another torrent of desolation that could instantly kill even some peak C-grades, but Carmen merely blocked it with her arms crossed in front of her face before pushing through and landing another powerful blow that sent the creature stumbling.
In a swift move, it managed to take Carmen slightly by surprise as it dove forward and put its sickly-looking hands on Carmen as they began to somehow turn even grayer. She remembered the reports of how deadly its touch was and how physical contact should be avoided... none of which applied to her. She gladly grabbed the hands on her and pulled the creature toward her before giving it a good headbutt, sending the False God away with a fractured skull before giving it a solid kick in the stomach, bending it over as something definite broke.
Annoyingly so, when she tried to continue her assault, the ground broke apart under her feet as she tried to shoot forward, the soil having become too brittle from the desolation, resulting in the Desolate Child of Loss doing something neither she nor Jake had ever seen it do before – it retreated to make distance.
Not just a small dodge-away before it would reengage, but it actually flew backward while throwing one of its bone spears. Carmen dodged the first one, but five more appeared right after, coming at her too fast for her to dodge as while she could handle the desolation, the environment remained affected, making them fly far faster than ordinary. Clicking her tongue, she took the hit and was blasted back, unharmed from the attack but with more distance between them again.
As a response, Carmen knelt down and placed two fists on the ground. “Sacred Battlefield.”
A pulse of golden light enveloped the entire area, creating an arena as she used a follow-up skill that combined with Sacred Battlefield. One of her newer additions that was perfect for a situation like this.
“Divine Bloodrune Seal.”
Connecting with the blood that made her a Runemaiden of Valdemar in the first place, a divine seal was placed upon the battlefield and all those within it. On her own forehead, a golden rune began glowing, and simultaneously, an identical golden rune marked the forehead of the Desolate Child of Loss. For a second, it even penetrated the desolation before the rune faded away, no longer visible but definitely still there.
From the looks of it, the False God didn’t even notice at first, but it definitely noticed the effects of the Divine Blood Seal as it continued trying to fly away. Its speed reduced significantly the closer it got to the edge of the battlefield and away from Carmen, and at the same time, when the Runemaiden shot forward in pursuit, her speed was far faster than before.
The Divine Bloodrune Seal had a few different effects, but in this context, it was done to ensure the Desolate Child of Loss was kept within the Sacred Battlefield. The rune worked not only on the False God, though, but also on Carmen herself.
Both of them would be slowed down if they tried to leave the Sacred Battlefield with the slowdown increasing progressively until they would be entirely unable to move right at the edge. At the same time, advancing toward an opponent within the Sacred Battlefield would allow either of them to experience a speed boost.
The entire purpose of this combo of skills was to force a confrontation, and it definitely did its job as the Desolate Child of Loss was soon caught up with again and forced into another melee scuffle it definitely didn’t enjoy. Once they were this close to each other, the Divine Bloodrune Seal didn’t have any effect, but if either party should try to run, it would reactivate.
With no escape, the Desolate Child of Loss tried to fight the best it could, but Carmen was once more superior as she dodged or blocked all attacks while pummeling the False God repeatedly, continuing to weaken it. After several dozen powerful blows, the Desolate Child of Loss was sent stumbling back, its body trying to regenerate from the continuous damage.
“Why!?” the creature screamed, with Carmen not even sure what it was asking about.
“Bad matchup, pal,” Carmen responded, just assuming the creature questioned why it was getting absolutely dominated.
In its defense... Carmen was perhaps the absolutely worst foe it could face in all of C-grade. She was a Runemaiden, after all, and one made using the blood of a Primordial, making her innate abilities as powerful as could be.
Runemaidens were elite pugilist fighters of Valhal. Their entire bodies were turned into living weapons, but in return, they had to give up some things. Carmen no longer had mana, and while she could painstakingly still transform stamina into mana should the need arise, doing so would also leave her weakened and temporarily disable some of her passive skills. This mana also couldn’t leave her body but could instead only, at most, be infused into items through physical touch.
Oh, but she couldn’t use weapons, either. Not even if she wanted to. Equipment was also severely limited for her, as, in many ways, her body was her equipment. That part didn’t bother her, though, as Carmen wouldn’t be able to find armor more durable than her own body, and it would definitely have worse self-repair functionality.
Still, all these limitations resulted in Carmen and other Runemaidens having few options when it came to combat outside of just charging at people and punching them. Which was a-okay with Carmen as that was how she preferred to fight. It was a big weakness, though... but Valhal had found ways to alleviate this. And all came down to their name:
Runemaidens.
The runes covering Carmen’s body weren’t just for show but served to increase her defenses against what she otherwise couldn’t defend against. While it was true her physical resilience was through the roof, these runes barely had any impact on that, as it was simply her skin being like steel. Instead, they were there nearly solely to counter all forms of magical effects on the Runemaiden.
Magic was the biggest weakness of most melee-focused warriors, and certain schools fucked them up more than others. Carmen, as someone who was purely physical, naturally had incredibly low Willpower, which made her weak against soul attacks and anything affecting her mind, but the runes entirely removed that weakness. There were exceptions, of course, such as Jake’s weird eye-skill still having some effect on Carmen, but even that was weakened.
To call her borderline immune to magic really was no understatement, though it naturally had its limits if it was forced to nullify too much and too potent magic at once. However, in most cases, the runes sealed the very concept of magic affecting the Runemaiden. Buffs from other people didn’t work on her, most of her boosting skills had no effect either, and as mentioned, she couldn’t use many auxiliary items, at least not without a lot of effort.
Her skill choices were also limited, and she had more passive than active skills by a large margin. What’s more, she was locked into her Path as the Runemaiden Ritual was a permanent change. Anything from now on would be a variant of it.
These things did seem bad, but overall, it was definitely fucking worth it in Carmen’s mind, and she had no regrets. To be the bane of all magic users in C-grade was bloody awesome, and against the Desolate Child of Loss that didn’t have anything besides its concept of desolation, she was like the False God’s natural predator.
The False God wasn’t truly that strong or fast. It only appeared like it was because it weakened everything and everyone that ever came close to it while breaking down the concepts in its environment, making it experience less resistance during any actions it took. Even the attacks that hit the Desolate Child of Loss were heavily nullified by desolation whenever they entered its body, and this was also the case for Carmen, though the golden pulses she released with every punch did do solid damage still.
She wouldn’t really classify them weakening as that big of a problem anyway. It just meant she would have to punch the Desolate Child of Loss for a lot longer before it weakened enough. Usually, giving an opponent time was problematic, but the False God simply wasn’t smart enough to even think up a way to escape or change the tide of battle.
Instead, it did dumb shit like trying to get rid of the Divine Bloodseal Rune by focusing its desolation on that rather than trying to target the far larger and more fragile Sacred Battlefield. Even now, the skill was passively weakening, and if the Desolate Child of Loss focused on getting rid of it, the False God would at least have a shot at escape. Alas, its stupidity only gave Carmen more time as the battle stretched on.
Her constant assault only picked up speed as more of her passive skills came into greater effect the more the battle dragged on, and she kept destroying the Desolate Child of Loss and depleting its energy, but it certainly wasn’t fast.
Also, while Carmen wasn’t afraid of a drawn-out battle, she did have a limit. The runes that lit up on her body offered a massive resistance, but it was only with active infusion she was able to entirely nullify the desolation. Should she run out of stamina and thus be unable to keep the runes going, things could get hairy, but honestly, as she broke the Desolate Child of Loss apart by breaking its spine and crushing its skull for the twelfth time, she got the feeling she would be the winner in this battle of endurance.
In fact, she was more worried about how Jake was keeping up with everything, as truthfully, from the brief glimpse she got of the Holy Church forces, he definitely had the tougher challenge to deal with.
That was only from her perspective, though, and Jake likely wouldn’t concur. Who knows, maybe he would even be done fast enough to come and see when it was time to put an end to the Desolate Child of Loss once and for all.
Comments
Dave
Tftc
Avery Howell
She originally had red hair but switched to blonde when she evolved.
Trumangolorian
I know this is minor but didn't Carmen have red hair? Or am I misremembering? Could be that her hair turned blonde in the golden state and is red outside that. But I could also just be wrong all together. Anyways TYFTC
Phil Ritter
I’d really like to see a spin-off like the myriads path event from the author exploring what Jake’s path would have looked like had he joined Valhal. I’d see him using a massive bow without any mana destroying everything in his path with pure kinetic energy
Phil Ritter
Valdemar is simply the best and the reason why I hope Jake stays very close to Carmen and the faction as a whole they are just way to likeable and similar simpleminded to Jake
Phil Ritter
This once again shows why Valdemar is the most likeable primordial imo. Sure Villy is a really cool dude but that’s only towards Jake and barely his friends but Valdemar seems like someone anyone could get along with as long as you are having fun bashing in heads. If this was Warhammer 40K he would be a combination of both their gods simply enjoying some crumpin
Chloe
Funniest chapter in a while. Sorry man. Bad match. Hahaha Love it. Tyftc
Ray Light
Not sure if these were mentioned before buta typo was present: She was strong, yes, but the Falso God was no simple opponent. Should have been: False God
Robert Phipps Jr (Perren d'Wolff)
I Can see it now, the Desolate Brew
Xander
Didnt we get a sort of back story where it was a world full of Orks that had been brainwashed by EH and they all felt desolate because EH had abandoned them causing the DCoL to be formed like the curse of resentment from Yalsten?
Niklas Österljung
She isn't referring to anything. Its the author simply narrating. All in third person.
Niklas Österljung
No chapter on friday this week tho :p
Little Silly
Eh, I feel like it wouldn’t be that interesting beyond Artemis’ reactions being funny. I’m more interested in either or both of them meeting the Malefic Order Jake women’s group…though it would probably be similarly anticlimactic. Irin, Carmen, and Artemis should definitely have a sex talk about Jake.
Rid
I love how so many people are almost gleeful to tell you that there isn’t a chapter on Friday. They want have the same feeling as Zog announcing a cliffhanger for a long weekend haha
Rid
What? You don’t enjoy a cheeky little Pokémon reference haha?
Aaditya Ravindran
Err... Thursday's Cliffhanger.
Ty Cooper
Anyone guessing that Fridays cliffhanger will be them about to deal with Jacob?
Vega
Thanks for the chapter! Poor thing. I get the feeling it really is just a child that got messed up by EH’s mind fuckery. Although I will say there are a surprising number of ways to counter Desolation.
Chris
No chapter this Friday btw. He called that out before 1062
ABTelford
Zogarth said he won’t be posting a chpt this Friday. Sorry mate, tomorrow is the big cliff
Baged
I don't think that's gonna happen. It would ruin the possible plot armor that some of the characters could use to help themselves or Jake. Plus, there will be 10+ more comments each week with questions like, "Why didn’t he/she use this or that skill?" Or try reading the plot dissection on Discord—Those people don't need more information to conduct their virtual battles with knowledge of the plot and dialogues for 500 chapters ago.... .
Jonathan
“You’re a Runemaiden! My Runemaiden! Just ignore that desolation stuff and punch it!” I just had to laugh.
Richard Rader
We all know with 3 days off that tomorrow’s cliffhanger will be EPIC
J7
It's the symbol on the forehead, I believe. That seals them like a chain. If you try to retreat, it slows you down, allowing the opponent to speed up. But if you face each other without running nothing happens.
Bjørn H
Kind of strange chapter title…
Zack Dehart
Not his chosen but top contender of she's makes it to be or a grade. She has his divine blessing and originally she was with gudren his wife before taking his blood for the runemaiden ritual.
Mike
As others pointed out tomorrow is the last chappie of the week. But I would say we could even get more earth POV meaning this chapter could have been the week cliff hanger for holy church side lol
Mike
There is at least one from sandy during the first journey together. I think Jake even says he'll get back in his pokeball lol
Ender419
Jake and Carmen are the ultimate power couple from the 93rd universe. Looking forward to her meeting Artemis and how that introduction would turn out.
Ender419
Sorry Bud no chapter after tomorrow need to wait until Monday.
Canis
I'd love a yearly release of the supporting characters status sheets with no context. Just leave us theorizing for months at some random skill.the sword saint has.
Canis
Feels like such a DBZA goku answer.
Grant Parsons
The name of this chapter makes me want to re-read the series to find how many more Pokemon references. like Jake teaching Miranda about the theme song and tyftc
Gareth Morgan
The Holy Church didn't until it was too late
Andrew Lavoie
There is no chapter on Friday I thought
James Arnold
Tftc
James Arnold
No chapter Friday… 😩
Gardor
Oh she's the chosen of vlad, but "managed" by...Brunhilda i don't know the names. I've been thinking that she was blessed by one of Vlads pantheon, not the Primordial himself.
Gardor
So when they're fighting next to the edge of the space, neither of them are slowed down. If one of them starts to run, from that edge of the space position, they'll be slowed down. But it says they're slowed relative to how far away from wherever the skill took place, so would they immediately be hit with the super slow?
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Rob Lyon
We know Valdemar's last runemaiden made it to godhood. Although I am wondering if his wife was his first runemaiden?
Rob Lyon
I have a theory about that I'm not sure if there was a spark when Jake first got it but when he went to the evolution place it absorbs some of that power maybe that is when the spark started because that was before Aaron looked at it. And right around the time the description first changed. So maybe it will absorb some energy when Jake evolves to be great and reignite the spark.
Sarianne Roodenburg
Better tomorrow's chapter than Friday's chapter though, then we'd be waiting the whole weekend. All 72 hours till the next chapter on Monday 😅
Little Silly
Yes, but the picture is the book denoting the King’s entire life, karma, etc., with only his consciousness and life removed. The blueprint and mask are the original/itemized version of the King’s body and deepest soul. Villy said it’s theoretically possible to revive him with just the book. My idea, based on what happened the first time the King died, is that this is like Minaga’s original body dying in B grade. “The King of the forest” is dead, permanently, as of Jake killing him, the “Fallen King” is dead, permanently, as of the DCoL killing him/him exploding onto the DCoL. Third times the charm, the third King of souls will be the last edition if it ever comes out. After this, the options are true death, godhood, or dying just becoming part of the King’s repertoire of abilities/us finding out it’s just part of being him. The way the Fallen King described his rebirth is like he died, but gave birth to a new soul which had access to his everything. Kind of like how Phoenix rebirth works in some stories, the Phoenix dies, leaving behind a Phoenix egg that is a separate being now.
Rob Lyon
I think it is location based But it says when the two companions are close together we slow down effect stopped but it's the DC we try to run again it would stop him
Rob Lyon
I think this is all part of the holy mother's plan to get rid of and upstart faction that could cause her problems down the line
Sarianne Roodenburg
Looking forward to tomorrow 🥰 also... I LOVE the chapter title 💖
Jaroslav Zapadlo
😂😂 Valdemar is my spirit animal. "Just punch" Hahaha! Laughed out loud
Arieh Sochaczevski
Thanks for the chapter! Punch it!
John Durrett
I was waiting for Carmen to rag smash the desolate child like that while staring out loud “Puny god”. ;)
John Durrett
Yep she getting that juice of primeval origins pounded into her. Not sure those runes work on the inside. SBJ. lol
John Durrett
Yep. Jake had a moment just like this talking about himself in third person. It’s kinda creepy.
C. Adkins
Except for inspiration. Like, how could you NOT want to punch opponents harder after that quote? Need more Valdemar quotes in our lives.
C. Adkins
Jake is truly a holy crusader. Devout to the last.
Dim
I swear to Villi, if tomorrows chapter is a cliffhanger about the Fallen King's return or something crazy that the Desolate Child dropped, I might just crash out
Nick O'Gara
I am thinking her theam song is pat benatar hit me with your best shot
Johnsmith
“Looking down, she saw that despite the awesomeness of Carmen’s initial opening attack” I dont think this is wrong, but an I the only one that finds this awkward that she is referring to her attack in the third person?
Cody
Her path to divinity is just punching things harder
Cody
The Lodestar Matron doesn’t want that Villy smoke. No chance she gets involved because even the Holy Mother fears the Viper.
Cody
I believe it was when Jake first ran into the DCoL on its home planet, the one that got messed up by Cheeto’s mind shenanigans.
Tr0LLach
"It was only a little taller than the average human and was utterly emaciated, looking almost like a skeleton with skin attached in several places. It was impossible to know if it was male, female, or anything in between, nor if it had ever even been a true living being in the first place. "
Phasmatic7
Thankies
Jeff McCulley
something definite broke. >definitely
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Ty Cooper
I like the details on Carmen's abilities. I am always curious about all the people around Jake. Love her entrance! Meteor strike from across the milky way.
Shai182
TFTC! Valdemar is Wise man
Jordan H
I don't think that's even possible at this point with the 93rd universe cut off. Jake can barely talk to Villy without a ritual, it would have to be pretty special circumstances for the Lodestar Matron to be able to really attack him. I do believe Villy will go extract his pound of flesh for this whole thing from The Holy Mother however, there is no way she's not aware of this conflict and allowing it to happen.
Kasey Lindenmayer
Love this! Let’s gooo!
Roy
"It's a special occasion! I've shoved three extremely dense stars into this one, drink up!"
ABTelford
Hahahaha!!!
Tom Henman
Well this should put fear in any faction to oppose Jake and Earth. Church basically destroyed in this location it is looking like and trap failing on Earth.
Boomer
There's no spark tho, it's more like a picture with maybe a blueprint to allow the mask to grow but that's it.
kinglemur
Carmen hit like a rod of god, the holy church don’t know how much they fucked up
Boomer
I mean she's getting that Jake juice so really anything is on the table
Little Silly
Corrupt King, Lost King, Desolate King, Returned King, Soul King Brook, Last King…idk. I get the feeling if he returns it will be the last time because they will quickly figure out how to separate from each other. Would suck to lose the mask of absurd power (mainly defense and mana regeneration), but may be necessary.
Brad
Then we wouldn't have seen her! lol
Lucy
Let’s go Carmen! Love how Valdemar told her “Who cares about the magic? Just punch it!” and she just went with it 😂. Also does anyone remember if there was a description for the Desolate Child of Loss? Bc I keep imagining it as a Dementor + Ghostface for some reason 😭🙏
Little Silly
I didn’t think of that, sounds silly. Pretty unlikely though, imo.
brjenness
it's a universe devouring black hole...just punch it
Daniel Hamilton
I’m curious if the god is going to attack Jake and if in return Villy will personally get involved
Little Silly
Seems to just be similar to Valdemar’s path. Runemaiden path is to fight. Maybe others would have had trouble with not being able to use weapons, but fangs of man is probably the solution to that. What else do they need? Their path is to fight their way who they want to fight.
Little Silly
A lost child XD!
joel southard
Nice thank you for the chapter
Steven Myer
The Real Victims in this fight are not the Holy Chruch, not the Desolate Child, Not the Fallen King, not even the people Jake is killing. It's the Gods that have to drink whatever Vlad brews up to celebrate his Rune Madien's victory. Poor guys....
brjenness
in the movie when carmen is a blip you get a zoom in on her peacefully falling in a ball of flame and "ready or not here I come" is played. back to Jake for a bit of fighting then he looks up and smiles... "HERE COMES THE . .." Carmen hits "BOOM"
Zack Dehart
Who else had a laugh for the simplicity of vladimar? "You're my rune maiden. PUNCH IT!" While I'm imagine vladimar drinking a shot like it didn't matter anyways.. which is dosent... tyftc
alex
This branch’s god is going to ask Jacob and Bertram for help at the end only for the Holy Mother herself to deny her
Zogarth
Fix
Mokuyobi
Imagine the Jon Cena theme song playing as Carmen makes her entrance
Clint
Or Hulk’s “puny god”?
Tom C
Carmen is solidly living her own truth and I fucking love it. TFTC!
Ray Light
Tyftc
Steven Myer
After Carmen talked to Vlad I can just see him shadow boxing like Hugh Jackman at the end of Real Steel with Carmen being in the ring.
Zachar Holma
Here comes the Boom! Great chapter!
JJB4345_80_815
Yes, thank you for the chappy Zogarth!
Xander
It has to be location based otherwise, when Carmen chased after her opponent, they could keep running away as the center of the area would keep moving with them.
A. B. Edwards
Love the pokemon joke in the chapter name. Jake sends out Carmen, Runemaiden type is super effective against False God type.
J W
Jake still has a portion/copy(?) of the kings soul in the mask. Maybe they can grow a new plant body from the remnants and end up with a corrupted king this time.
Rewdan
Cheers Zogarth looking forward to tomorrow’s cliffhanger
InfernoDroid
I do like it when the side characters get time to shine and outperform Jake
Bi-Dailey
I feel like that's got to be his advice for literally every enemy, like, there really wasn't much point on Carmen asking in the first place
Bi-Dailey
TFTC
Drew
Runemaiden is a pretty prescribed Path. I don't see it morphing into Transcendence that wasn't already possessed.
Niels Valkenborgh
With a name like that, no wonder he lost.
Alexander C Hyde
She gladly grabbed the hands on her and pulled the creature toward her before giving it a good headbutt, sending the False God away with a fractured skull before giving it a solid kick in the stomach, bending it over as something (definitely)definite broke.
J W
Funnier if it becomes her pet. Carmen the Runemaiden with her pet of desolation... and of course the pet dislikes her boyfriend which will make for funny situations later
Gardor
Is the "battlefield" centered on her, or on wherever she pressed her fists down? Cuz like, the slow down effect should just stay up all the time if people aren't directly over where the skill was cast, right? And the speed up effect when trying to get close to the enemy, that also fades when you're close? Is it all intent based, rather than location?
Frank Allen
Falso God -> false god
Alexander C Hyde
She was strong, yes, but the (False)Falso God was no simple opponent.
Nate Slusher
Thank you!
NovaZero
Cleaning church is cleaning house. It's a house of god, so technically by doing it it's an act of faith really.
Kt-x
Thank you for the chapter! 😁
Sailesh Kumar Kumar
TFTC
Beemoss
Tftc
Blackbriar
Fantastic entrance for Carmen. Great chapter!
Lonnie
I wonder if that aura she has will turn into an aura like Valdemar's. A transcendent skill she doesn't really understand but it works because she wants it to.
Xander
TFTC :) Another great one. If i cant see Lillian using her moonbeam lasers then Carmen hulk smashing DCoL is a good substitute. Hopefully she gets sharpened knucklebones or something to up her damage against opponents she doesnt outclass quite as much. Suggested Edits: Someone already mentioned deeping should be deepening so "bending it over as something *definite* broke." should be definitely "Annoyingly *so*, when she tried to continue her" the so is incorrect here. "And ** all came down to their name:" missing word "it" or replace the And with it instead either works.
Profile Name
With the nod to the fallen king piece hosting the desolate child i wonder if he can be revived with whatever the child drops. I also wonder if it even should happen since him reviving would remove some permanent repercussions witch would lower future stakes. Nonetheless i am exited to see were zog takes it.
AetherBoye
I felt this one was longer than previously
AetherBoye
Get hard-countered idiot
Lay Nkay
Superhero fist time! Go Carmen!
Matthew Paulin
I FUCKING LOVE VALDEMAR! Just punch it... Fantastic chapter! Thanks for this.
Damian Horbal
Great chapter title I approve 👍
Posiden 300
Love how both points of view are so similar lol. An easy way to make a recurring character not have tons of ability's people want all explained.
Boffadeez
Runemaiden stratagem fucks.
Canis
So seems like the False god is... handled. Now the church gets to deal with Jake running at Full Boost. Those poor bastards.
SunStar
Now, that is the appropriate response to the desolate child of loss. Hit it until it is dead. Note how the runemaiden did not play healer/therapist to the walking disaster but went right to punching with intent to kill. Exquisite form.
Matthew Smith
The dude was right Carmen was used as an orbital cannon. Also damn I hope the thing dies for real this time.
TyranT-Rex
Hahah Thankfully Jake doesn't have to worry about Carmen turning on him.
Indevan Jones
Tyfc
Daniel Brian
Another great chapter! 😁
Fervent Fiend
Now all I can picture is Jake gently golf-clapping her performance as she stands triumphant in her arena with the head of the False God in her hand. The landscape around them desolate and cratered, and both of them ignoring the many notifications describing all the collateral damage they indirectly caused by being awesome.
Ritsu
You know, I was brainstorming some ideas on what a chapter title could be for such a beatdown, and none of them are as good as the actual title.
Samuel Nelson
Damn good set up lol. TFTC!
Zack Leach
I mean, all you can say is "Hell yeah."
Zuuuuuri
I wonder who will get this joke
Gingerlochs
Oh yeah! Runemaiden smack down!
Zuuuuuri
Jake: “ With this treasure, I summon-“
ByLordMatsLuck
Is it just me or does it feel like the chapters are getting shorter? Or maybe I’m just reading faster because I’m so hyped by what’s going on. Either way I need more Zoggy!!!
Tom
I'm hoping for the Stagate - Teal'c quote. "False God, dead false god"
Darshar Griffonmane
So Runemaidens are nasty in a fight but have specific weaknesses that a smart opponent could exploit. I wonder how/if Carmen will reach divinity cause I assume that to break through will require her to alter her path a lil since right now she is following a pretty set path. I would say poor holy church, but Jacob warned them and now they were...finding out. tyftc!
Levi
I love Valdemar quotes
Loststar7
TFTC
Jana
“…-and then Carmen beat up a child.” “It wasn’t a - “ “It literally had Child in its name.” “That’s not how -“ “- and when it tried to hug her, she headbutted it.” That’s how I imagine Jake will tell the others.
Unwillingmainer
Nice to see Carmen get the spotlight. She really is a melee monster. Almost totally immune to magic and a punch like a cannon. All with a skill to force a cage fight. The Child is about to get spanked.
C0bra$
Thank u for the story
Straat Junon
Tyfc
Straat Junon
"Carmen responded by stomping it on the chest, deeping the crater further in the process" deepening*
Paul B
Valdemar’s logic is top tier 😂🤌🏾
TyranT-Rex
Love the chapter name
Connor
Thanks for the chapter
Naotsugu97
TFTC! I read the entire chapter in seconds! The entire chapter. See, like milliseconds to read that.
Jonathan Agnew
First
