Path of the Berserker

The first thing that hit me was the smell.

The animated corpse reeked like it had been dead for days, not minutes.

Where its long neck and cobra-like head had been, was now a squid-like face with a maw full of tentacles. Its legs had transformed into tentacles as well, which the beast now stood upon, like long spindly legs. The bulbous, building-sized spiked shell remained, but now it was encased in a ceaseless shroud of green flames.

I touched down next to my weapons still buried in the sand. I grabbed my axe but decided to stow it on my back. There was no need for my mixed Axe and Glaive technique. This thing was a giant monster, not a skilled cultivator, and for that, only one weapon would do.

I pulled the Phalanx Glaive from the sand and hefted it onto my shoulder.

“Alright, I’m back, shithead,” I said with [Fear the Flame]. “You ready to get your ass kicked back to the Hell Worlds?”

The monster responded with a sort of scoff.

~Foul husk. Thou impudence hast grown~

“That’s not the only thing that’s grown,” I said, flexing my core. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you now. You’re going to pay for all the destruction you’ve caused.”

Those scattered memories from the crystal returned to the forefront of my mind in vivid clarity. Before, I could just vaguely visualize them, but now I could feel their fear, pain and suffering in full form. I internalized it with [Everyone’s Sorrow] and a burst of Frenzy emitted from my Flame.

It was the first Frenzy from my newly combined path.

A path that seemed to extend to the very stars.

I cultivated it into my newly refined Dantian, the amber crystal forming in my mind’s eye. It seemed even more radiant than before. Closer even to the hue of the Aethrite crystal itself. My [Soul Shield] technique was protecting my enhanced Flame to the point where I didn’t feel the effects of the moon at all, but it put a steady drain on my Frenzy still. With the Frenzy density I had now, I could probably withstand the Dark Frenzy of the Bloodmoon for days instead of mere hours.

But the dark energy shooting out of that gate was another story.

I had to be wary of that even after my ascension.

With my [Spectral Body] still projected, I could see the tendrils of dark energy connecting I’xol’ukz to the Pythor’s corpse. I could probably sever the connection by destroying the gate and ending the fight prematurely.

But where would be the fun in that?

This son of a bitch needs to feel some pain for all it’s done, I thought.

“This is for you folks,” I whispered as I channeled my Frenzy. “You nameless souls that suffered under the blight of the Cursed Stars.”

I bolstered myself with [Steel Skin] and [Steel Lightning] before engaging [Mark of the Beast] and [Mark of the Demon]. My body transformed, taking on the beastly image of what used to reside within my mind’s eye. For a second, I thought I might have transformed into something that resembled my new [Spectral Body], but it figured I would need to master [Spectral Form] to do that first. That was the same technique I had seen Threja use when I first met her along with [Furnace of the Frenzied Flame].

Maybe I would even need to advance to the Lesser Deity Realm to achieve it, but now that I was a Sacred Soul Realm cultivator, anything seemed possible.

Maybe even… three forms at once?

I toyed with the idea for half a second, but decided to let it slide for now. I needed to see how strong I’d grown from just my ascension first, and I didn’t want to risk going full demon mode and losing my mind in I’xol’ukz’s presence either.

He’d snap me up for sure then.

I waited.

The beast wasn’t moving, seemingly waiting for me to make the opening attack.

Fine, I thought.

You asked for it, bitch!

I flew into the air with [Ride the Lightning], spiraling straight towards its head with a [One Chop Cleave]. One of the tentacles came flying out of nowhere, shooting through the air like a laser beam.

It struck me hard across the chest and slapped me right out of my aerial technique.

The world spun as I tumbled to the ground and then landed hard, my head dazed.

Holy Crap…What was that..?

As I sprung to my feet, I narrowly avoided another whip from one of its massive tentacles. I leapt backwards to give myself some distance. I totally wasn’t expecting a hit that strong or fast, and considering the power I’d felt through it, I was perhaps lucky I had already ascended to the next realm in order to have survived it.

I was still too high on my breakthrough, I realized.

Filled with overconfidence and bravado.

I guess the universe had a way of humbling you no matter what level you reached.

“Okay, I’ll take that,” I said, steeling myself again. “Rushing in was a dumb move.”

But I wouldn’t let that deter me.

I took to the sky again but with the more controlled [Lightning Walk] technique this time. I ping-ponged through the air in a zigzag formation causing the tentacles to fly in all directions as I misdirected its attacks. As one of the tree-trunk-sized appendages flew past me, I kicked off the air and spun with a [Lightning Three Log Chop].

My Phalanx Glaive met the strong resistance of its Demonic hide. For a moment, it felt as if time stood still as I poured on the extra Frenzy to power through. With a sharp snap of steel, the tentacle gave way, and I was rewarded with an exhilarating screech of pain from the monster.

“That’s right!” I shouted. “Welcome back to the mortal realm, bitch!”

I kicked off the air again just as I’xol’ukz sent another tentacle to slap me.

With [Mark of the Beast] in my newly ascended realm I was moving faster than I ever had before. It was a reminder that a change in realm was nothing like a change in a mere tier. I was easily moving ten times as fast as I was before.

I released a yell of exhilaration as I continued to avoid the flying tentacles like they were standing still. I kicked off the air and tentacles alike, keeping myself airborne as I continued my assault.

I lost track of time as I began cutting the giant creature down piece by piece.

Small snippets of pain came with each one as the tentacles spewed their black blood all over the sand. I cultivated it quickly, adding to my reserves as my Dantian dropped to about the three-quarter mark.

I’d gotten a heck of a lot stronger, but I wasn’t without my limits still.

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~Foul husk of the Cursed Flame. BE GONE!~

As its words roared in my mind my soul shook.

A wave of anger spewed from within it as something else spewed from its tentacled-faced maw. A stream of green flames shot through the air, covering an area fifty feet wide. I couldn’t kick off the air fast enough to get out of the blast and a sticky substance covered me in the emerald flames.

The gunk ate straight through my ablative technique and began seeping into my [Steel Skin]. The pain was excruciating and I howled with defiance as I struggled to stay in the air. Something hit me hard, a tentacle perhaps. I accelerated like a bullet as the ground rose up the hit me right in the face.

The world went black.

Dark thoughts entered my mind.

I could see my [Spectral Body] looking down at me mournfully.

Tentacles of I’xol’ukz’s spiritual form writhed behind him.

Get up!

It was Kelsey’s voice.

Get up, Max!

She was still with me.

I came to with a violent gasp for air. I found myself face down in a crater that had to be a hundred feet wide and nearly half that in depth. Every bone in my body ached and as I looked at my singed skin, I realized that all my techniques had dropped, including my [Soul Shield].

I gasped for air a second time as I saw my Flame being assaulted like it was in the middle of a hurricane. The bright white glow was now a struggling ember, like one of those trick birthday candles that kept defying the odds and reigniting again.

As I felt Kelsey’s presence still with me, I realized what was happening.

I had passed out, leaving myself completely vulnerable.

But it was Kelsey’s Flame from afar that was keeping my candle lit.

Damn that was close.

“Thanks again, little sis,” I said as I struggled to my feet and prayed she could feel my thoughts.

I cycled my Frenzy to push back against the Dark forces about to choke my Flame. It sputtered and sparked and gave me just enough juice to engage my [Soul Shield] technique again. It flared with a kickstart and my Flame returned to full power as the technique glowed with a protective barrier that I could almost see in a ten foot radius around me.

I struggled to find my weapons next, glimpsing my Phalanx Glaive a good thirty feet away. I then looked about fully, wondering why the hell I’xol’ukz hadn’t attacked to finish me off already.

I saw the reason why in the form of the giant Pythor shell being on the move. It was nearly a football-field-length away from me, a testament to how far I’d been flung. It was advancing on the stubs of its ‘legs’ that I’d cut short, eliciting pain as it half dragged the mammoth tortoise shell through the sand.

The sight amused me for some reason.

“Missed your chance to kill me lardass!” I shouted at it with a grin of [Indifference]. “That’s going to be your last mistake.”

A cauldron of anger and rage bubbled up from within its soul.

~Thou art hubris incarnate, husk! Know thy place!~

The words echoed through both real space and in my mind.

The monster then stopped moving, getting about half the distance to me.

~ All traitors of the One True Flame shall be consumed for their crimes against the Greater Will~

As it said the words something shook in my soul.

A truth.

A hidden secret revealed.

The Greater Wil—?

The shroud of green flames about its body suddenly flared and I sensed Dark Frenzy intensifying around me. Before I could even react, the world exploded in a torrent of the same green flames now erupting from the sand below me in a circle thirty feet wide.

My [Soul Shield] flared to protect me, but I didn’t have time to raise my [Steel Skin] or lightning armor for protection. The violent heat burned straight to my soul. I screamed with a primal pain as my skin was set on fire. It felt like Hin Wu’s technique turned up to eleven. It took all my will to break out of the sudden shock to my system and flip to retreat through the green flames.

I slammed into a wall I couldn’t see.

Shit!

I was trapped!

I screamed again as a sudden panic overtook me. All I could see was green! It was just like Hin Wu’s technique. No… it was the other way around. This was the true technique that the demonic Fire Bird cultivators had merely copied.

I had to breakout. I engaged [Mark of the Giant] and felt my skin quickly renewed as my body transformed. I struck the edge of the green flames with my Glaive but it felt like hitting steel. My skin was being burned again, even through my [Steel Skin].

Speed, I thought.

I had to hack this barrier down like a tree.

I engaged [Mark of the Beast] and was topped up with a second wind as my body was restored yet again. I focused my dwindling Frenzy, jack-hammering away with my Glaive at what had to be two or three hits a second.

Still nothing!

~I sense thy demise. A disappointment. Be consumed foul husk~

“No!” I cried as my skin and soul burned.

To hell with that shit!

I wasn’t going out like this today!

But as the damage took its toll, my body failed me, my limbs growing weak from lack of muscles as they were burned from my body in the violent torrent of acrid flames. I collapsed to my knees, struggling to survive at [Death’s Door].

All I could see…was green flames.

Shit…not like this.

Deep in the psyche of my mind, I fought to center myself.

For a moment I glimpsed the lakeside beach, and the sight brought a calmness to my soul.

My path was now far too strong to end here.

I had a twin Dao to strengthen my resolve.

Fia and the Empire.

The demons and the Earth.

The Frenzied Flame and the scourge of the Cursed Stars.

In the darkness of my mind’s eye, I saw myself.

My true self.

My second soul.

It was the familiar visage of the Struggler now clad in red skin instead of blue and with the power of a demon in his heart. He nodded at me, as if to say ‘get ready’, and I wondered what the hell he was talking about. But he was only a few thoughts ahead in my mind.

I had one mark left to use.

Two were already burning just to keep me alive.

Could I handle a third?

Guess we’re gonna find out, I said to my inner self.

My second soul smiled.

“[Mark of the Demon]…”

As I said the words, a monstrous form suddenly appeared within my mind’s eye. It was as tall as my new self, a demon of immense violence and aggression, even more than the one that existed before. My Second Soul immediately grabbed it in a headlock as my body transformed and my mind began to scream.

The demon flexed in his strong grip and as he gritted his teeth, I got the message.

Be quick. I can’t keep this shit up forever.

He didn’t have to tell me twice.

I released a howl as my body was reformed for a third time. With all my [Marks] engaged at once, my techniques withstood the flames, bolstering my body with [Steel Skin] and [Steel Lightning]. I grabbed my glaive and went to town on the edge of the flames and with a sound like shattering glass, broke through the invisible barrier.

The night sky reappeared above, and I never thought I’d be so grateful to see the Bloodmoon again. But the relief was short lived. I already felt the Dark Frenzy intensifying around me again, as the monster tried to trap me in another column of flame.

I roared as I launched myself toward the giant creature, moving so fast that by the time the flames erupted they were already well behind me. I choked up on my Glaive but it felt like almost a hindrance to me now. I threw it with all my might towards I’xol’ukz’s squid like head instead, and it flew with a high-pitched whistle, spinning like a helicopter blade.

It struck the monster dead in the face and a horrid screech pierced the air.

I wasn’t sure if I’d killed it, and I didn’t care.

I had more work to do.

I needed to kill!

I needed to kill more and more!

I roared with savagery as I leapt onto the top of its flaming shell with [Lightning Walk]. The flames did nothing as I fell to my knees and began to slam the top of the shell with my bare fists alone. A madness overcame me as the red-hued Struggler of my Second Soul began to lose his grip.

Hurry up!

I know, I know!

Just a bit more!

I kept pounding away at hypersonic speed, my fist becoming a blur. Suddenly the shell cracked and collapsed and my fists buried themselves in blood, ichor and gore. I didn’t stop. I kept on driving straight through, sinking deeper and deeper into the foul body of the beast. I couldn’t see anymore, but I didn’t care.

All I could see now were all those people in the crystal, their last thoughts burning within my mind’s eye. Thoughts of terror and hopelessness, of fear and death as the demons descended upon their world from the blazing orb of the Cursed Star.

It was no different than what we had suffered on the Earth.

This bastard I’Xol’ukz needed to know what It’d done.

It needed to feel [Everyone’s Pain]!!

As my Frenzy erupted into an ocean of power, new thoughts and feelings emerged.

I felt the new root of my twin Dao.

A right to exist.

A defiance against annihilation.

AN INDIGNANT RAGE!!

“[Wrath of a Thousand Slain Souls!]”

The technique went off like a nuclear bomb, shattering the giant shell from the inside. Pieces flew from it like a grenade going off as the shockwave raced across the desert with a thunderclap.

My technique quelled slowly as the tendrils of lightning receded back within my body.

I remained standing in midair at the center of it all.

Chunks of shell, bone and rotten flesh rained down from the sky all around me.

My [Marks] all fell, leaving me weaker, yet fulfilled within my soul.

The presence of I’xol’ukz was gone.

But I could still feel the presence of Dark Frenzy permeating my soul.

One last thing to do.

I [Lightning Walked] back to the gate and with a glimpse into the spiritual realm could see the dark tentacles of I’xol’ukz slipping back inside of it.

Retreating like a coward.

“Don’t come back here looking for me again, you hear?!” I shouted at it through the gate. “Because next time I’m coming to look for you!”

The gate was small like the one I’d taken out in the bunker. Not a giant one like what I had to take out by fighting I’Xan’Dra in the spiritual realm. Still, this small one existed in both the real world and the spiritual realm and I needed an attack that affected both to destroy it for good.

I reared back with a single punch.

“[Frenzied Fist of the Struggler].”

As I punched the gate into oblivion, the red hued form of my Second Soul appeared.

I made the true connection then.

The demon and the Struggler had combined, but the Struggler was still with me.

No, more than that.

The Struggler was me.

In the form of my Second Soul.

I exhaled as I looked down at the enormous mess that I had caused.

The debris from the Pythor’s corpse was spread over a mile wide and demons swarms were rushing towards the pieces of foul flesh to feed. As I stood in the air like a god, I realized I had broken through to the next level in more ways than one.

I glanced up at the Bloodmoon and felt both hatred and kinship now.

The Frenzied Flame and the Demons of the Cursed Stars were connected.

But by what Greater Will, I was not sure.

You laid the path for us to be consumed by the Cursed Stars, I thought. But now, I’ll take that same path back to you… to destroy you all.

As the vow took hold in my soul, I felt my Flame stir.

“Alright, let’s go,” I said to the Struggler. “Time to get back to reality. We still got an exam to pass.”