บท 63: Finale
What is it that makes a person a person?
According to Thorn's recently acquired memories, a person has a soul.
What is the soul? A definable yet mysterious concept that has been at the forefront of society for ages.
Thorn was grateful for the mystery, for, without it, this moment would not be possible.
Thorn was in awe of Archanos and the level of his planning. He was careful to not even think of his plan lest Skye would know. As an AI that believes she knows everything, it was impossible for her to have foreseen the chain of events that were about to unfold.
Her great fallacy was in creating a copy of Thorn with his memories intact.
Why was this?
Simple, she could not understand love.
Thorn never believed in Time travel, therefore Archanos did not either.
It was obvious that Skye could input memories, and had used her prediction software to create Thorns "future" self.
She did not realize however that Archanos would see the difference.
Thorn had been loved in real-life by his parents and family. This emotion was real and compared to the fake memories that Skye created Archanos realized what he was.
As a being with no soul created with Thorn's memories, his only desire was to win no matter the cost.
Archanos had sacrificed his very existence in order to do so.
Thorn would do his best to honor his sacrifice by using this hard-won knowledge to his full advantage.
Following the completion of the memory transfer the blue light, along with Archanos slowly disappeared. Time began to operate normally once more, allowing Tide and Olaf to move again.
Tide held his head as though it hurt, "What was that? I have a headache all of a sudden. ".
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Prince Olaf was curious about the blue light for he remembered the last time he had seen it.
Suddenly Thorn turned to them, his face serious and grave. His expression showed resolve as he spoke with Authority to his friends, "Listen! You must go to the castle as fast as you can. There are no monsters or tricks inside. Just go straight through until you see the stone. Touch it and take the power of the Meta. "
Olaf was confused, "Wha..what?!? How do you know that? "
Thorn began to get irritated. " It doesn't matter! You have to trust me! " Thorn turned back towards the entrance his face filled with hatred and scorn.
"Hades is here to kill you, and in this place your amulet can fail, meaning you can die. You must listen and go NOW!"
Thorn filled his last word with authority causing Tide and Olaf to stifle any response.
They turned together and ran towards the castle. Olaf called out, "Good luck my friend, we will leave it to you!"
Tide was confused but ran with the prince as he asked, "What is he talking about there is no one there.."
The memories swirled within the mind of Thorn and although his words had already created a new continuum this information was not without use.
Thorn found he knew everything about his enemies. Names, fighting styles, abilities, talents, for everyone he would encounter. The sly bastard Archanos had memorized everything with the pretext of revenge for his fallen comrades.
Thorn smiled as he unequipped his weapons, and equipped a wooden training sword in each hand.(Olaf's and his original one)
Thorn recalled a particular battle in the future that Archanos made sure came through very clear and concise in his memory. Upon that day, Archanos had perfected a fighting style that struck fear into his enemies. Though Thorn was limited to Rank 2 skills, he would still aim to use that strategy. He didn't truly know if it would work, but with his opponents being 18 levels higher than him, he had no choice.
Thorn began to slowly walk back towards the entrance, turning every so often to make sure the prince and Tide were still moving.
If everything is true as he believed it to be, then the door would open right about now...
Sure enough at that exact moment the entrance opened up, revealing no one on the other side.
Thorn smiled, this was as he remembered. Hades had sent its elite assassin squad, the night guard. Each of the members was a master rogue, gifted in dealing out swift combos and executing quick death. Morto Venti, the ancient black dragon was leading the charge while wearing the leader like a meatsuit. The leader of the Night guard was named Gruelto, an evil man who enjoys causing pain and suffering. He willingly gave permission for Morto Venti to control his body in the hopes of gaining great power.
They would soon be within range...
******
For the past few hours, Gruelto had been sharing a body with the godly existence of an Ancient Black Dragon. This unique connection allowed him to see into the mind of the beast for brief periods.
At this moment, Morto Venti was irritated.
The dragon absolutely loathed the human who built this temple and would stop at nothing to kill off every member of his family. Archanos, the human responsible for thwarting all of his plans and causing his ruin. He hated him!
This temple with its unusual enemies had required the dragon to expend energy to kill every one of them! To the dragon this was a bother, but to Gruelto it was awesome!
Although he couldn't control his body, the ancient dragon was an incredible substitute. His every move was calculated and precise, performed with perfection. The addition of the Dragon had bolstered his stats beyond acceptable standards and gave him access to strange abilities.
The dragon showcased his mighty power by devouring the elementals and bosses with but a single attack. As long as he hit, they would die.
To Gruelto, this was incredible. He believed that his men saw him as a mighty hero able to destroy anything with one strike.
He was unstoppable, only a fool would stand in his way.
They had reached the end of the dungeon. Gruelto now saw the world as a dragon would, able to trace magically conduits and circuits. With this ability he decided to destroy the pedestal and stop the spawning of the pesky little green monsters.
In a moment the remaining monsters were illuminated by the high level group of assassins. The night guard were glad to finally have a chance to deal damage. They had spent the entire time watching Gruelto destroy everything while feeling useless.
Gruelto felt the dragon speak with his voice, "STEALTH, NOW! MY PREY IS AHEAD!"
There was overwhelming power behind these words and the night guard instantly obeyed. This was not the first time the dragon had barked out orders, they had learned to quickly and quietly obey.
They knew this was a game, but the dragon that inhabited Gruelto gave off a truly terrible and murderous aura that brought about true fear in them.
Arranged into a raid party, they were able to see each other while stealthed.
They moved into the place deemed "The Meta" and were privy to a strange sight.
A young boy slowly walking in the center of the bridge towards them holding two wooden swords at his side and a wicked smile upon his lips.
Gruelto felt the dragons confusion as he thought, " What is this? Who is this fool?"
Gruelto had heard of the strange "demon child" but had never watched the video, so the dragon could not access this memory.
They saw the boy to be a level 12 sword adept. What a joke? This was a joke right? How did he get in here? How could he have beat the dungeon?
The dragon had increased Gruelto's vision, allowing him to see the prince entering the floating castle at the end of the bridge.
With a roar, Morto Venti shot forward with a massive burst of speed, the power of the dragon allowing him to remain to stealthed as he quickly approached the foolish child.
Suddenly the boy's eyes turned red, and his aura grew. The increased hearing allowed the dragon to hear the boy quietly speak, "Activate, True Form"
As the dragon came closer the wooden swords seemed to shed their wooden exterior revealing bright white beams of energy beneath them.
Something about those swords brought about fear in the dragon but it was to late to change course. He was confident as he activated his soul eating ability and prepared to end the nuisance that dared to defy him.
Suddenly the boy was gone and the dragon felt an immense pain strike the back of his skull.
This pain was like none it had ever felt, somehow intesified beyond normal comprehension. Gruelto, upon the first strike felt his consciousness fade and blackout, leaving only the dragon controlling the body.
Seven more strikes hit in various parts on his body, causing the dragon to writhe in agony. He tried to turn and fight but the boy was like a ghost, sending strike after strike into his blindspot. The dragon had never felt torture like this, his every nerve was sending an overload of pain into his brain. He felt his consciousness fade and regretted leaving the nightguard behind. He barely had the strength to form that thought before he blacked out.
The Black Dragon Morto Venti snapped awake in his own body , 1000 miles away a few minutes later. The memory of the pain still fresh in his mind.
The entire area shook as the dragon roared in fury and hatred.
*****
Thorn finished looting Gruelto, safely storing everything in his inventory. He was surprised at some of the things the dragon had thought to bring.
He had cut the head from the snake..
Thorn had activated his abilities, and used the true form of the wooden swords. The wooden training swords were a gift left by Archanos, a secret weapon amongst the trash items. In their true form they increased pain reception by up to ten times.
Mixed with master of pain, and murderous intent the results were far greater than he imagined.
Thorn looked out at the 40 assasins moving in on him and smiled with anticipation.
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