WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom

Varnak slammed the butt of his halberd into the stone with a thunderous crack. The artifact embedded in his chestplate pulsed, a dull, deep red glow that spread like veins across his armor. His muscles bulged, already massive frame swelling larger.

The air around him rippled with sudden pressure. Stone beneath his feet cracked and cratered as the ground buckled under the sudden surge of mana.

Ben's eyes narrowed, the artifact was different than the one he hes seen, even by Nephirid standards. Then Varnak vanished.

BOOM!

He reappeared mid-swing. The halberd tore through air, a blur of red light. Ben ducked, but the shockwave struck anyway, sending him skidding back as a chunk of the arena wall exploded behind him.

"Good," Ben muttered, shaking the dust from his shoulders. "Now you're worth my time."

Varnak charged. Each step cratered the ground. He struck from above, Ben rolled under.

A slash from the left, Ben twisted and deflected, but the strength sent him stumbling. The pressure was no longer something he could dodge easily.

Ben slashed upward to feint, then blinked, reappearing behind Varnak. But it's too slow.

Varnak twisted mid-air, halberd sweeping in a wide arc like a flaming wheel. Ben blocked, his twin daggers scraped across the enchanted metal. Sparks flew, the impact sent Ben hurtling across the dueling ground.

He flipped, landed, dug his blades into the floor to halt the slide. But Varnak was already in front of him.

A crushing punch met Ben's side, hurling him sideways into a broken pillar. Stone shattered on impact.

"Is this it?" Varnak bellowed, standing tall, power radiating from every inch of him. "You're not worthy of that title!"

Ben coughed, blood on his lip. Then he grinned.

"Then come prove it."

He surged forward.

Their blades clashed again. Ben ducked under the halberd and drove a knee into Varnak's ribs. Varnak roared, headbutted Ben, cracking his brow.

Ben reeled, then stabbed low, once, twice, venom-tipped blades slicing across the joints of Varnak's knee.

Varnak howled, swinging again, Ben caught the haft, twisted, vaulted over Varnak's shoulders and raked both daggers across his back, leaving twin burning lines.

Then slammed an explosive talisman into Varnak's spine.

BOOM!

A blast of flame and kinetic energy detonated point-blank. Varnak flew forward like a boulder, bouncing once, twice, leaving craters in his wake.

Ben landed, chest heaving, blood dripping from his chin, and slowly stood straight. Varnak, battered, scorched, and furious, rose again.

His wound already begin to heal slowly, he roared and charged again. This time, the ground split beneath his feet with every step, mana surging so wildly it scorched the stone.

His halberd spun in his grip like a cyclone, whistling death through the air. Ben braced. When the blow came, it was like a falling mountain.

CLANG!

Twin daggers met the halberd's shaft, as sparks erupted in all directions. Ben was driven to one knee, the sheer force grinding his boots into the stone. But his eyes never wavered, he was smiling.

With a grunt, he twisted.

One dagger hooked the halberd's shaft, locking it for half a second, enough time for his other hand to explode forward, palm open. A burst of heat and concussive force fired point-blank into Varnak's chest.

BOOM!

The blow staggered the Nephirid, armor denting under the impact.

Ben spun, slipped behind him, and drove a dagger toward his back, only for Varnak to drop low and whirl, sweeping Ben's legs out from under him with the haft of his halberd.

Ben flipped midair, landed on one hand, kicked off the ground and launched himself back.

CRACK!

Varnak was already there, swinging low. Ben twisted mid-leap, the blade grazing his side, slicing armor, drawing blood, but not enough to stop him.

He landed, flicked a pair of throwing knives laced with disrupting venom. One struck Varnak in the thigh, the other in the shoulder.

The Nephirid growled, mana faltering for a second, but he ripped them out, crushed them in his palm, and charged again.

Ben dashed to meet him. They collided in a violent blur.

Fists slammed into faces. Blades tore across armor. Fire clashed against raw brute strength. The crowd around them couldn't even follow the pace, just the sounds: the repeated BOOM-CLANG-CRACK, the bursts of mana, the tremors that shook the earth.

Ben ducked under a crushing hook, came up with a savage uppercut enhanced by flame.

Varnak reeled, then caught Ben with a punch to the gut that sent him flying. Ben flipped, landed on a broken statue, and shot forward again like a spear.

SLASH! SLASH!

Daggers flashed. One across Varnak's chest, another along his ribs. Blood sprayed.

Varnak slammed both fists together, sending out a shockwave of concussive mana. Ben was blown back, but he laughed.

"You're getting slower, old man."

Varnak's rage boiled over. His artifact pulsed wildly now, overclocking his strength. His muscles tore and reknit, mana bleeding into the air as steam.

"I'll crush you into ash!"

He leapt, buit Ben didn't move.

The halberd came down like a guillotine, and Ben vanished. A blink, he reappeared above Varnak, blades reversed, spinning midair.

"Wrong choice."

SLASH!

Both daggers drove down, one into Varnak's collar, the other into his shoulder joint.

BOOM!

A fireburst followed, launching them both apart. Varnak collapsed to one knee, armor cracking, blood dripping.

Ben landed, bleeding, but standing tall. Smoke rose from the ground between them.

The duel was far from over. Varnak surged to his feet with a bestial snarl, blood running down his chest and arms, but his eyes burned brighter than ever.

The artifact embedded in his spine flared once more, this time glowing crimson, its mana output pushed past safe limits.

His halberd ignited, not with fire, but with compressed mana so dense it howled. The air screamed with pressure as he charged.

"AAARRRGHHH!!" He was faster now. Stronger. Each step cracked the ground like thunder.

Ben narrowed his eyes.He let his daggers fall. Both stabbed into the stone beside him. His hands clenched, and then ignited.

Molten flame wrapped around his fists like dragon's breath, golden-red tendrils swirling up his arms. His aura pulsed in waves, matching Varnak's head-on charge.

They collided.

BOOM!

The shockwave from their clash blasted outward like a cannon's roar. Dust spiraled into the sky, bricks and shards of obsidian rained across the ruins of Gravenhold's avenue.

Firelight reflected in shattered windows. The heavens above trembled with mana, the battle between two shaking the city. Fist met halberd, and the world paused for a breath.

SNAP!

The halberd, forged from folded from special steel and blessed by the fire priest, cracked like cheap wood under the pressure of Ben's flame-wrapped punch. Its mana sigils flared once, then blinked out forever.

"What ?!"

Varnak barely had time to shout before Ben was upon him. His hand clamped Varnak's wrist like a vice. With a twist, the bones snapped clean through with a wet crunch, drawing a painful scream from the Nephirid.

Ben didn't hesitate. He yanked Varnak forward and slammed his forehead into the warrior's face.

The sickening impact echoed like a war drum. Blood splattered across the cracked ground.

Varnak reeled, Ben leapt. His body turned in mid-air like a spinning wheel of fire.

Both feet landed squarely on Varnak's armored chest, boom! the impact tore the wall behind them apart. Stone burst outward in a violent halo of rubble as Varnak's body cratered the building, glass shattering down in shimmering shards.

A heartbeat later, Ben landed. Already moving. He ripped his daggers from the street, flicked his wrists, and hurled them quickly.

BAM! BAM!

One blade impaled Varnak's thigh, the other buried itself deep into his shoulder, pinning him to the broken wall like a beast for slaughter. His limbs spasmed. Blood poured from the wounds, sizzling as it met the ground, already boiling under the intense residual heat.

Varnak let out a roar as he refuse to give up, straining against the blades, veins bulging. The artifact embedded in his spine surged with unstable energy, red light pulsing like a heartbeat.

Ben walked forward, unfazed with the desperate final attack. Molten flame coiled up both arms, wrapping his forearms in glowing fire-dragon scales.

The air warped around him. Each step left scorch marks on the ground. He reached the pinned warrior, and placed both hands against Varnak's armored chest.

The artifact screamed, Mana sparked. Varnak's eyes widened in sudden fear.

Ben leaned in.

"Burn."

BAM!!!

A column of incandescent flame shot up into the sky like a divine execution. The explosion drowned out all other sounds.

It was not fire, it was like a judgment. A sun had been born for just one heartbeat, and it existed only to devour Varnak whole.

The Nephirid's screams twisted into something inhuman, his body thrashing. His armor melted like wax.

His flesh blackened, then flaked away. The artifact overloaded and shattered, a violent pulse of red shards flying in all directions before vanishing into the ether. Bones cracked open. His soul, if it still lingered, screamed its final note.

When the flames receded, nothing remained but scorched rubble.