blacksmithoftheapocalypse
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1223. Define your meaning
🕑 Added 2024-11-24 17:25:50 +0000 UTC“Define your meaning of fun. To me, it's when we're getting done.”
Flung away but the gut-wrenching impact of the staff, surrounded by shock waves of pale blue flames, the necromancer, was swallowed by the bombardment of demonic fire, blocking all any vision of her. For the first time, her cries of pain sounded in the valley. The great duchess had suffered damage.
Charging out of the explosion of cursed fire in a bright light, Natina escaped with the sound of breaking glass, that was audible even with the explosions and the music playing. A transparent choker she had worn so far was dissolving into shards.
A legendary choker that allowed its owner to defy death or a lethal attack once. His <Eyes of the Maestro>, as well as her hateful and regretful stare told Seth, that it was the only item of such nature, the necromancer carried on her.
“You will pay for this!” she hissed, coping with the shock of the attack. Although the choker had taken the physical and magic brunt of his attack, the mental impact of almost dying to a single attack could not be erased.
“I feel the heat comin' off of ma black soul, so get ready for another one”
Mercilessly, the blacksmith continued his ballad, demonic power filling his body and fueling him with battle lust. Activating <Feather Fall> Seth jumped off Vegr, the griffin golem. He twisted his body in the air, only to vanish and appear above and behind Natina.
Slowly falling after using <Scorpio Star Escape lv.1>, he was in the perfect position to strike down the Was-Sceptre right on the crown of her head. Yet, the necromancer was not done for. With an angry roar, she pushed off the air with her burning wheels and evaded, whipping Seth with her... tongue? It was burning black and fast like a wave of light.
<Ding! You have been struck by the Death Attribute. You have resisted.>
She was able to use the death attribute like Lydia or the Questing beast, but what was left of the attack after reflection and 80% damage reduction, couldn't get past his resistance. before he could recover his attack, she blasted him with another curse.
<Ding! You have been affected by the Curse of Retardation. You have resisted.>
“Let's take a trip down memory lane. Let the words circlin' in your brain. You can just throw another, all the same.” Blood splattered from Natina's mouth, as she was hit by the reflected damage of her own attack, but it couldn't interrupt her chant.
The necromancer girl finished her spell and tried to swing her staff, but Seth was quicker. The Storm of Death had appeared in his left hand, and he unleashed the <Storm Scythe> on the noble of Spatia.
“But don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain.”
The magic had no chance of harming her, being negated by her legendary ring, making even Seth a little jealous. The blacksmith used the Storm of Death's <Wind Manipulation> to propel himself through the air and with a turn of his body the blacksmith appeared right below the Chosen of Kali. Swinging his mighty staff, he struck her leg with an improvised attack.
Although she had legendary shoes, the cracking of bones when the Staff of Seth squashed her left knee and almost severed her leg, showed that she had no legendary leg armor under the robe. Her cry of pain sounded once again, but she didn't lose her mind. Before the staff ripped away her shin, she used a weird skill to shift away and gain distance.
It couldn't be blink, as the spatial lock would have blocked it. It was probably an effect of a legendary item he couldn't see, like his own Pipirima, or the gate below, which were unaffected by Cromwel's spatial lock.
“It's been a long time comin' and the table's turned around”
Now that Naztina was the one running, Seth experienced the improvements of the blessing of Alecto, as he became fast and more agile on the hunt. With <Wind Step> he was able to take advantage of his high agility and charged at her.
“'Cause one of us is goin'- One of us is going down!”
The moment he was close enough, he twisted his body using <3d maneuver Assistance> during his slow fall and appeared behind her again. From behind he used <Shattering Stomp> aimed at her shoulders and back.
“Not again!” she cried out and used the weird shifting skill that seemed to temporarily turn her into a ghost or shadow, once again, but this time she was pursued by another volley of cursed fireballs in the shape of burning skulls, that charged at her from Seth's earlier location.
“I'm not runnin'. It's a little different now.”
The blacksmith knew that Natina could use her ring to negate magic damage. He just needed a moment to lift the Storm of Death, which was now covered in lit-up runes. The prerequisites were met, and Seth activated the effect “I am the Storm”.
Seth felt himself become even lighter. He became one with the wind. For two minutes his speed would be tripled while he was invincible and his magic damage was lowered by 50%. A great detriment for a mage, but the blacksmith didn't rely on magic damage right now.
Their fight devolved into a quick back and forth as Seth pursued her, while she kept running away using various skills and the legendary skill effect that allowed her to shift away from him until-.
“'Cause one of us is goin'-One of us is going down!”
<Black Clouds of Isolation> Seth managed to cancel his state of “I am the Storm” to activate its follow-up skill. Instantly the sky was filled by dark clouds that isolated his enemies within. Sounds, chanting, communication and all senses will be blocked for the duration of the skill.
Unhindered by skill, spells, or effects, Seth attacked with the staff of Seth covered in soul fire. Natina had no means of escape, be it spells or item effects. She wasn't even able to react as she was unable to detect him in the clouds of isolation.
“This is hardly worth fighting now, but it's your massive petty shit that I can't ignore!”
The thunder of his strike silenced the music and rocked the surrounding mountains. In an explosion of pale blue soul fire, he finally struck the Chosen of Kali. In an explosion of blue flames, Natina was plucked from the sky. She instantly arrived at the bottom of the valley, shattering the floor and creating a crater.
Close behind her followed the blacksmith like a meteor, propelled by gravity and <Wind Manipulation>. The music drove the energy in his fist and she put away the staff of Seth to maximize the next attack. Natina had barely time to move when he was upon her.
“With my fist in your face and your face on the floor!”
...
Her eyes were wide open when the massive fist of a craftsman came straight for her sensitive plump face. She was incredibly aware of every moment, from the second the fist touched her cheek, to the loud cracking of her own skull echoing in her brain when her head was crushed against the floor below.
She felt everything. Her flesh tearing, her bones cracking, her skin burning. it was the worst moment of her life and in the darkness of her mind, she was convinced it was her last. How did it end like this?
The whole fight was a blur to her. She had fought instinctively, reactionary. She had disregarded all her plans and preparation for the moment when she actually faced the Tower Master of Minas Mar. In her rage she had forgotten, but was that really the reason?
As pain spread through her body, she felt life seep from her body. It felt like the whole course of the fight had been predetermined and she followed a hidden script. Only now she realized that, like a dancer, she had followed a fixed choreography. Controlled by the rhythm of the music...Was there anything she could have done to evade this end once the song began?
“Oh, Kali...” she instinctively prayed, unwilling and unsatisfied. She was full of pain and fear, but most of all she was unwilling to end like this, on some backwater world at the hands of something as stupid as a singing blacksmith.
Anything, she would...
