Once, long ago, when the gods still descended upon the planet to cast their divine punishment, a blacksmith worried for his friends' safety during the cleansing.
In order to combat the attacks, he developed a weapon that would boost the user's stats by 150%, double them afterwards and grant them immense mana.
But in order to execute such a complex item into a small crystal, he had made a deal with the devil that each crystal used to protect would take something from the user in return.
Because of the devastation it brought to his best friend, who died tragically after being the first one to test it out, he named the stone Blight, a symbol and slight nod to the devil who cursed it.
Anyone who used the blight stone would receive great power, but because of the crystal's dark properties, it would take something in return.
Blood, levels, friends, souls, blight stones proved that they could not be a reliable source of power.
So they were banned, and only 50 were produced after their banishment.
Finding one was rarer than encountering a god. Nico's shitty luck hadn't brought him the stone.
'This stone is a curse... As the unlucky bastard, I find it fitting that it found me the moment these fuckers betrayed me.
'It could kill me, but I won't be going down alone.'
Nico smirked as he crushed the stone in his hands. The shards pierced his palm, painting his white as snow hand crimson as blood fell to the ground, washed away by the rain.
Thunder roared, and Nico's hair began swaying in the opposite direction of the wind as the storm clouds were lit by the screaming light.
Rain slowed with the flow of time, purple lightning swirling beneath Nico's feet before gliding all around his body.
Raymond clenched his sword and pointed it at Nico while Gary did the same, snow already accumulating and blowing his clothes to the side.
Vanessa backed away while Alice was gathering her mana.
Nico sighed, his breath cold and red eyes turning purple. Fangs sprouted, his nails turned into claws, and dark blue veins covered his face.
He groaned and grabbed his face, blood and mana pumping nothing but pure rage.
[Base level tripled!]
[Lvl.8 × 3 = Lvl.24]
[Strength stats have been tripled!]
[Dexterity stats have been tripled!]
[Endurance stats have been tripled!]
Oscar's corpse settled onto Nico, reaching out to him, while Harold merely smiled at him.
"Get them," they said in unison.
Nico cackled and pulled out his knife. When it materialized into his hands, a purple crystal covered the blade, turning it into a dagger.
"Vanessa, I'm gonna make you watch me kill your little friends. I'll feed you Gary's tongue, Alice's hands and Raymond's brain.
"You're better off killing yourself."
"Don't say anything to—"
*WHIP*
The sound cracked through the air as Nico blitzed towards Gary and slapped him in the face, sending him flying and tumoring across the ground.
His comrades stood frozen, horror etched into their faces as they watched Gary fly out of sight in less than a second.
Nico cracked his shoulder. "Let's get wild."
Raymond grunted and dashed towards Nico, his feet light thanks to Alice's buff, and began swinging his blade with practised ease.
Nico blocked each attack, his smile growing with each hit he managed to stop by barely flexing any muscles.
With one powerful swing, he managed to disarm Raymond, making his sword spin and fall behind Nico as it slid away.
But Raymond wasn't out of options yet. He put his hands up and took a fighting position.
Nico whistled and placed his weapon back into his inventory. Then, he curled his hands and gestured "come" to Raymond.
He didn't hesitate. He ran towards him and threw chops and punches. From his movements, Nico realised that Raymond was using his original character to fight.
'This means he couldn't defend himself in the real world. He doesn't know jack shit about combat.
'Way too many openings with each attack he throws, too slow to react to a feint, too reckless to realise that his size is a problem.'
Nico ducked a direct punch and curled both his hands before striking Raymond directly on his liver.
Raymond gagged while Nico grabbed his skin, digging his claws deep inside before carrying him and throwing him aside.
He rolled in the air and collapsed onto the ground, his wounds too wide to stop the bleeding, and groaned as he tried forcing himself to get up.
Nico glared at Alice with a mad grin on his face. Alice stiffened before using the time freezing spell she had cast on the slime boss earlier, only for Nico to bypass the subspace bubble Alice had conjured around him.
She felt her heart pound as Nico dashed towards her. Without giving her a second to react, he gouged out Alice's eyes.
She screamed while blood drooled on Nico's hand. He stuck his other hand inside her mouth and ripped her head apart from her jaw, making more crimson fluid flow onto the ground.
[+1 Value Added!]
Nico sighed and glanced at Vanessa, who collapsed onto the ground with tears in her eyes. Before he could even attack her, Nico was slashed from behind, a stinging cold causing him to stiffen before he slowly turned his head.
"You stay... away from Nes!" Gary coughed up blood as he glared at Nico.
Nico sighed at the glacier that began forming on his back. He simply grabbed it and caused it to explode, sending shards of ice flying in random directions.
Then he grabbed Gary's sword by the blade, making him bleed, and forced it onto the ground before uppercutting him.
While Gary was in the air, Nico grabbed his leg and slammed him against the tar road, cracking it on impact.
Without releasing him, he lifted him once more and did the same thing on the opposite side.
He repeated this over and over, smiling as Gary's face became deformed, his teeth falling out of his mouth, and his tongue sliced from the constant biting caused by the impact.
Raymond was slowly recovering, his knees buckling as he charged towards Nico, who simply summoned his weapon once more and threw it at Raymond, stabbing him in the chest without glancing at him.
Raymond gagged and vomited blood, his vision blurring as he fell onto his knees once again. Nico grabbed Gary by the collar and brought him closer to him.
He noticed the red line on his arm, showing that Gary was about to die.
"Well, that's no fun. We can't have you die before the fun begins..."
Nico used his free hand and placed it on Gary's forehead, red mana siphoning Gary's energy while Gary's eyes turned white.
Suddenly, Gary screamed at the top of his lungs, his body convulsing as he did, and his bloodied teeth bleeding even more than they did before.
"Please..." he pleaded in a low voice.
Nico lowered his eyebrows and dropped Gary, only to place one hand on Gary's cheek and the other on his jaw, twisting both in opposite directions until they snapped.
[+1 Value Added!]
"Damn, I thought this would be more fun... Why do I feel so... empty?" Nico rubbed his chin as he turned towards Vanessa.
"Oh, that's right. It's because you guys are low-key trash. You talk a big game, but as soon as someone else takes the spotlight, you become free eats.
"I mean," he chuckled. "Look at your home-girl. Dead. Your man. Dead. Your leader..."
He slowly turned his head and arched it, his face stained with Gary's blood. "Well, you get the picture."
Nico stood up and approached Raymond, grabbed his long hair and began punching his lights out.
He flipped him over, pulled out his dagger and stabbed Raymond on his leg and then his back, Raymond screaming and clawing at Vanessa with each attack.
Then he went still when Nico plunged the purple crystal blade straight into his cranium.
[+1 Value Added!]
"Whoo! Okay, that one felt a little good. Now, you..."
Vanessa's hands shook as she backed away, got on her feet and began running.
Nico tossed his weapon and cut her leg just slightly, making her fall. She tried crawling away, but Nico placed his boot onto the back of her neck, making her groan before stabbing one of her hands onto the ground.
Vanessa cried silently. "Please..."
"I have some questions. If you answer honestly, I'll let you go. Understood?"
Vanessa continued sobbing. Nico furrowed his brows and slapped her behind her head. "Do you understand?" he repeated.
She nodded vigorously, making Nico lift his boot off her neck and walk around her. He crouched down and sighed.
"Whose the biggest and baddest bandit here?"
Vanessa took deep breaths. "He's not exactly... one to be named. He's far above us bandits..."
"So, who is he?"
"... They call him Genesis, the man who killed a god... He doesn't like it when people talk about his past... He... He runs Pyrros, and he doesn't try to hide it."
Nico lifted an eyebrow. "Slow down, this man killed a god...?"
"Ares..."
"Ares?! You're lying!"
"I'm not lying!" Vanessa cried out. "Look, if you ask around, they'll tell you the same thing! Genesis wasn't alone!
"He had help! He's affiliated with 5 others who run different parts of the Boreas Fin!"
Nico contemplated. 'I need to find him. If he could kill a god, he could've found a way out of here...'
"Please, I answered all your questions... Let me go..."
Nico smiled and rubbed Vanessa's head before pulling out his dagger. He lowered his hand towards her chin and tipped it.
Without warning, he cut Vanessa's neck and pushed her face away from him.
"You've been useful. Save me a spot in hell."
Vanessa gagged and covered her throat, only for her vision to blur as she watched her health bar drop and empty itself.
[+1 Value Added!]