Awakening: I Ascend As A Legendary Ranked Necromancer-Chapter 26: Paladins of Chaos

Litha knew brute force wouldn’t kill the monster.

I could see it now, even through the haze of pain. None of our attacks were truly critical. Every wound we carved out was replaced almost instantly, rotting flesh knitting itself back together. If we kept attacking like that, we’d burn through our power long before it even slowed down, then it would finish us off at its leisure.

There was only one way to kill something like that. From the inside.

She wrapped herself in a thin, layered shield of tight, controlled, strong mana and leapt.

I remember thinking, distantly, that she was either a genius or about to become the first person to willingly feed herself to a monster.

"No!" I shouted.

I was still on my hands and knees, staring at the monster like I’d just been punched in the face. "Litha?!"

Temur didn’t see her jump, but he saw my expression. He followed my gaze, saw where I was looking, and his whole body shuddered.

His eyes narrowed, burning with hazy red fury.

He dragged the rest of his power out of himself. Ruddy, smoky aura wrapped around him as he forced himself upright, muscles screaming in protest.

"You," he growled to the monster, each word dragged out through pain, "are. Dead."

I crawled forward.

Something inside me snapped as well.

Low crimson light flashed in my eyes. Half my body shuddered violently, flesh ripping and reshaping itself. My smooth skin twisted, hardened and long, sharp fangs burst from body gleaming wetly and burning with green fire.

Pain meant nothing anymore.

Temur and I stood side by side, facing the monster. Our auras were raw, violent, and murderous, it rose into the air, making it shimmer and warp.

The monster turned toward us.

The two hands it wasn’t using to walk lifted, angling our way....

Then it froze.

Its body convulsed. Flesh tore from the inside to the outside, splitting and buckling as it staggered, turning wildly as if something was ripping it apart from within.

And then....

It exploded.

Blue light erupted outward in a violent blast. A sharp, wet crunch filled the air like a melon being smashed, only louder, fleshier and wrong.

Flesh, blood, and shattered fangs sprayed everywhere, embedding themselves into trees and gouging deep furrows into the ground.

Temur and I stared at each other.

The power we’d been building, the rage and the killing intent, collapsed instantly.

We ran.

We didn’t care about the pain screaming through our bodies or the foul stench clinging to us. We slammed into the still-warm mass of the monster and started digging with our bare hands, tearing through rotted flesh desperately.

Until we found her.

Litha.

Her eyes were closed.

My heart dropped.

Temur lifted her effortlessly, pressing his ear to her chest. His shoulders sagged, relief crashing through him.

"She’s alive," he breathed. Then louder, almost disbelieving. "She’s alive!"

I collapsed into the mess, sitting there in gore and rot and then I started laughing.

A low chuckle at first. Then full, uncontrollable laughter tore out of me. Temur joined in, his voice booming across the clearing, wild and relieved and exhausted.

That was how we stayed for a moment.

One unconscious.

One holding another.

One sitting in filth, laughing like a madman.

All of us coated in black, spoiled flesh.

That was how the Black Paladins found us.

They’d searched the entire Zone and they never expected to find us at the center, where the monsters had been thickest. They assumed we’d hidden somewhere on the outskirts.

But after combing the forest, there was only one place left to look.

"Did they kill all the monsters?" one of the paladins asked their captain.

The captain’s face hardened beneath his mask. He knew we were strong but this?

"Come," he said coldly. "Let’s hit them while they’re weak."

I heard them the moment they stepped into the clearing.

At first, I thought they were Awakeners who’d wandered in by mistake or maybe brought here by whatever change had swept through the forest.

Then I heard, ’take them down’.

I looked up, taking in their armor, their posture, the way they moved.

My body went still immediately. "Temur."

He stiffened immediately, pulling Litha closer. "I see."

He walked a short distance away and laid her down gently, then turned to face them, sword raised and steady. "You can stop right there."

The captain spread his hand, stopping either because of the slick ground beneath his boots or because I’d raised my own sword beside Temur.

"So fascinating," he said. "To see the Chaos Devourer up close. It’s a blessing but it shouldn’t be in the hands of a worthless bastard like you."

I bristled. "So you are the chaos cult. Filthy ritualists who sacrifice souls."

My eyes tightened. "You sick bastards are back again. What are you even gaining from this?"

"Power," the captain replied easily. "Some Awakeners reach their limits early. How do you think they go further?"

"They find other ways," I shot back. "Why does it have to be through murder? Why sacrifice others just to grow stronger?"

He chuckled. "Is that any different from what happens in the Tower? You climb by pulling others down. You kill or you die. In the end, we’re all the same. You’ll get your hands bloody too."

I twitched, there was a sliver of truth in that. But the difference mattered. It was still there.

"I don’t hunt people to sacrifice," I said flatly. "I earn my power with my own strength."

He scoffed. "And I earn mine by serving Chaos. Different paths. Same destination."

Temur nodded slowly.

"Different paths," he agreed, "but even in the pursuit of power, there’s a line that must not be crossed. Power is swinging your sword every day until you can severe the moon. What you’re doing is clinging pathetically to something else to save you."

His aura sharpened. "Don’t worry. Since our paths crossed, we’ll put you all out of your misery."

The captain stiffened with every word. By the time Temur finished, his fists were clenched tight. "You have no right to speak about right and wrong!"

I calculated quickly.

Four of them.

The leader was the shortest, the other three were about my height. No visible weapons but that meant nothing. The real problem was obvious.

They weren’t exhausted and they weren’t wounded.

And with Litha unconscious, we didn’t stand a chance unless they were weak, which was almost certainly not the case. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Running wasn’t an option as well.