Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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Pallesia: Chapter 150 - First blood.
🕑 Added 2024-06-15 14:41:59 +0000 UTC“I got five minutes. Where are they in the building?” Lee asked, coated in icy armor as wisps of fog-like vapor trailed off his moving form.
Regina walked by his side until they reached the entrance to the Sanctum’s place of operation. “Top floor. Follow the red and gold.”
Lee nodded, the pointed vizor of his temporary magical helmet bobbing with the motion. “I’ll be back. Go find some guards or go wake Lord Blight. They’ll need to help those who were held prisoner.”
Without waiting for a response, Lee shoved his icy gauntleted hands up against the two stocky wooden double doors and shoved them open. With large strides, thanks to the speed boost from Swiftness and the improved power from Strengthening, Lee strolled down the wide and opulent walkway which led to a lobby. Without bothering to take in the over the top surroundings, he followed the gaudy red carpet which had tassels of gold every few feet along the edges.
It led to a large, stone spiral staircase, which Lee plodded up. His heavily armored sub-zero temperature form cracked the stone with each heavy step. Following in his wake, glacial rime footsteps were left imprinted on the red carpet, letting all those who would come after know his path.
This was the second time he’d ever cast Armaments of Eternity. The first, having been when he created it. For all the magic Lee had at his disposal, he was still a novice when it came to the intricacies of many spells. Right now, he felt warm, even encased in icy armor, and it felt like wearing a second set of skin. He knew with each climbing step that there was a weightiness to him. Each of his steps frosted over the stone slabs, and he could hear the crackling of ice as he pressed his weight down, aiming for the next.
Once he made it to the next floor, the red, gilded carpet was back. Lee followed it in silence, listening for any signs of activity, just in case he had alerted the two… monsters.
When the carpet turned abruptly and suddenly ended at a wooden door, which was slightly ajar, he knew that this was the moment. Lee gripped the icy blade held within his grasp as he surged forward, kicking the door with all of his might. It slammed open, clanking against the wall, and jolting two undressed men from their slumber.
Kirk Tryndi - Human - Level: 37 Healer
Tryus Jellopni - Human - Level: 27 Worshiper of Dendros
They were on opposite sides of the room, which in and of itself was a grotesque sight to behold. Each healer had an overly large bed, capable of having upwards of five people comfortably sleeping on it. On each corner of the beds, iron chains dangled off toward the ground, currently unused.
The center of the room had a large iron rod, where more chains affixed to the floor were. Dried blood and torn clothes littered another large bed, setup directly behind the large iron pole. Lee didn’t need to look anymore, as everything in this room would be gone soon.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing!? Do you know who the fuck I—-” Healer Kirk started, but Lee was here for a purpose. He was not here for justification for what he was about to do.
Lee pointed his gleaming glacial sword directly at Kirk and cast Depth Pressure, releasing a freezing cold beam of super-pressured water at the older gentlemen. The pale blue water sliced through the bed sheets and mattress like a hot knife through butter, then when it passed over Kirk’s legs, separated them from the rest of the soon-to-be dead man.
Kirk screamed in agony as Tryus, seeing which way the wind was blowing, cast a flaming green orb of fire directly at Lee. Lee didn’t even feel his wisdom tingle, so he let the blast of sickly fire wash over his icy armor. From inside his glacial armaments, Lee felt nothing.
He ignored Tryus and strode forward to the screaming, frantically attempting to cast Kirk. Without a word, Lee impaled the man through the chest with the eternally frozen blade. Lee watched from behind his vizor as Kirk’s eyes shook, frozen in agony by the effects of his eternal blade. He would experience the feeling of eternity as long as he stayed in contact with the weapon. So, it didn’t matter that Lee yanked the blade upwards, slicing the man’s torso nearly in two and ‘ending’ his misery. For Kirk, the misery lasted forever—for eternity.
Lee had just killed a man for the first time.
More gouts of flame rolled off of Lee’s armor as he turned to walk toward his next target, who was screaming obscenities that Lee had no care for. These were not the words of a man, they were the words of a monster. No human being could be capable of caging innocents, using them for experiments, sexually abusing them, and then going to sleep comfortably in their lavish bed without a worry in the world.
Realizing that his green flings of fire weren’t affecting Lee, Tryus thrust a hand upwards as he lept out of his bed. A towering wall of sickly green and black fire rose from the floor to the ceiling, cutting off his approach.
Lee checked his mana and saw that he had two-hundred and sixty-four mana left. More than enough to end this quickly.
With a flick of his icy blade, Lee cast Water Wave Wall right on top of Tryus’ flame wall, smothering it out as their mana fought against one another—Lee’s water winning.
As the wall dropped, Lee spotted Tryus sprinting for the door, but another cast of a spell cut off his means for escape. The brutal, jagged, and frosty Bulwark of Ice, which was cast directly in front of the doorway, cut off all of Tryus’ instinct of flight. He turned and threw out more gouts of green sickly flame in desperation as Lee stalked forward, undaunted by the basic tier spells.
When in range, Lee hoisted his gleaming, glittering, and glacial blade high into the air, then grunted as he slammed it down, splitting Tryus’ head open like a watermelon. Not a second later, Lee had already turned away, having cast Depth Pressure to put out the sickly green fires blazing about the room.
Now, as he stood amongst the remnants of his battle—No, his massacre. Lee felt an emotion. It wasn’t the emotion he had been expecting, but he’d take this one over feeling guilty—at least, for now.
He felt proud. Justice had been served, and Hera was avenged. He knew that feeling proud of massacring two humans was wrong, and something deep inside knew that… but right now he’d come and finished what he intended to do.
As he left the room and started following his rime coated carpet, his Armaments of Eternity faded away. With each step, one piece of the glacial armor fell to the floor, turning into splashes of water when they made contact.
When he finally exited the building, the armor was nowhere to be seen and Lee looked healthy and clean. No evidence of killing whatsoever upon his person.
Outside was a flurry of motion. Guards, proper guards, not militiamen doing their best, were just now cordoning off the entrance into the Healer’s Sanctum’s courtyard. People from building nearby stood on their doorsteps or peered out their windows at the sudden activity taking place in the middle of the night, but knew better than to pry.
Regina stood in the exact same spot she paused at when he entered the building. She scanned him from head to toe and finally started showing some emotions again. This time, she was pensive. Before she could speak, Lee spoke first. In a very much ‘do not ask me about how it went.’ tone. “How are the survivors doing?”
“I had one of them gather the guard.”
Lee stood with his arms crossed as he gazed about the scene unfolding before him. “Any recommendations on what steps we should take right now? Just a reminder, diplomatic immunity.”
Regina turned away from him and watched along as the guards were debating on whether or not to approach and talk to them. “Just be honest if they ask you anything. I’ll have Fatalina deal with this.”
Another few seconds slowly passed by before Lee turned his head to stare down at Regina. “I know you’re usually not to expressive or emotional, but what the fuck was that earlier? And now? Now you magically have emotions again?”
Regina frowned as she narrowed her eyes. “My ability. I can… throttle them, or even turn them off completely. It’s very useful in my line of work.”
With a blink and the feeling of puzzle pieces slotting into place, an understanding washed over him. The ability to turn off emotions… That was very unique. It also explained a lot about Regina as a person. If she could throttle them, then it was an active ability. How often did she have the ability off? Would the emotions she had ignored come crashing back in a tidal wave?
“Sounds dangerous—Oh, it looks like they decided that talking to us is for the best.” Lee said as a number of guards slowly stepped forward. He gave a final look to Regina as he started to leave. “We will have to have a conversation about keeping secrets later. Especially ones concerning the lives of my employees.”
When Lee got questioned by the guards, he did what Regina had suggested, and told the truth. He started from the start of the day, detailing how Hera had been killed and how a healer from the sanctum had shown up to flaunt their poison in his face, to when Regina had found out information regarding the perpetrators, then finally when he massacred them after Regina found their victims in the basement. He also slipped in and mentioned his diplomatic immunity, which they didn’t believe, but they obviously didn’t want to offend him.
It took an hour or so for them to let him go, which was frankly just as terrifying a thought as being held accountable for his actions. The fact that he could just go and murder two monsters and walk away scot free was… concerning. It’s no wonder the Healer’s Sanctum got to where it was today if this is how the local law enforcement treated healers.
As Regina left to go to message Fatalina, Lee walked through the darkened streets of Felispar alone, thinking.
This was no longer some awkward Cold War, this was turning into a battle. A battle he would fight, kill, and maim to win. He needed to win. To fight for those who cannot fight for themselves.
People just like him.
When he couldn’t fight off cancer.
Comments
Tyler Kimball
You're correct. whoops
Michael Mounts
thought it was HERA?? as Gina was the personal assistant and Hera the receptionist?
Wintermelody
Thanks for the Chapter
James Faulkner
Tftc!
Academic Geek
TFTC!
