Runeblade

Kaius stood in his saddle, absorbing the shock of Porkchop’s bounding leaps by crouching slightly with every impact.

His eyes were trained firmly on the irontusk, watching and waiting for the moment it would notice them with its dulled senses. Explosive anticipation thrummed within him, every single one of his muscles held in delicious tension. He could taste it. The blood that would soon be in the air.

Porkchop charged silently, though Kaius could feel he yearned to release his bloodlust with a cracking roar and a snarl of gnashing teeth.

After having decided on their course of action, they had set off for their target. It was painful at first, the irontusk too far for them to race into an immediate charge, and Ianmus too slow for them to even jog.

Instead he’d watched it lumber across the grasslands, lowering its head to tear through foliage as it ate its fill. After so many stories of their strength and fortitude, he was eager to test his blade against them. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, they were little but gnats against the true powers of the world, but the irontusks were one of the greatest ‘threats’ on the plains.

Stout of frame, even meagre levels were enough to give them crushing power, and it wasn’t like the average traveller of the frontier was a high levelled delver.

After descending the hill, Kaius had dismounted for a moment, his brother aiding him with charging his vambraces. While the energy would bleed quickly, he hoped that by the time they were thrust into glorious battle it would only take a single block, or maybe two, for him to tap into the artifact's stored devastation.

That had been a fun one to explain to their half-elven solar mage, though the man understood as soon as they had. They’d left him a little behind. Close enough the battle would still be in range of his spells, but more than far enough that he would be well clear of any wayward blows.

Ahead of him, the irontusk tensed, its massive head twitching as its small eyes locked on their rapidly approaching forms. Gods, it was big, easily as massive as the Siege Ogre had been, though far less tall. A stout neck as thick as Porkchop’s waist held up its head just fine, even with the impressive weight of its curved metal tusks weighing it down.

Irontusk Vagrant - Level 49:

Beast, Brawler

Singing joy harmonised with the resonance in his blood and mana, filling him with fervent energy as a wicked twinkle alighted in his eyes. Below him, a deep rumble started in Porkchop’s belly, the start of a rattling growl.

The irontusk shook itself, bucking its head in a challenge as it worked up its fury with a pair of stomps that shuddered the very ground. It bellowed, a deep bassy call that shook the plains and sent birds flying to the sky in fright.

Kaius howled, his voice tearing at his throat as he relished in the sight of a challenge. A true foe that would test his mettle once more. It had been too long, too many days without the sweet succour of pouring sweat and leaden limbs. Too long since he had felt bones break and blood spill. His own, or his enemies, it mattered not. Only that he was tested. Only that he could prove himself the victor, champion by right of arms.

Primal aggression and the simple heated fury of challenged supremacy flooded his bond, his brother’s own Song alighting in unison with his own. Porkchop’s roar was a thing of beauty, drowning his surroundings in a ringing crack that one felt in the heart.

**Ding! Brotherhood of Ichor and Animus has reached level 38!**.

The irontusk charged, thick muscle rippling beneath its shaggy brown coat as it lowered its head. It reached speed quickly, no matter its size and weight, simple power overcame all restrictions.

Feeling his pulse spike, Kaius leaned in as his brother kept his course. No challenge so simple, so direct, would sway their path. He had faith.

In their might. In Porkchop’s armour. In their stalwart fearlessness.

Then the vigour and warmth of the sun sunk into them, suffusing them both with unrivalled potency. Infusing them with an energy that only heightened his need to tear into the titan that dared stand in their path.

**Ding! You have been Enhanced - Sundrenched Strength!**

He unsheathed his sword.

The irontusk drew close.

Kaius launched himself from the saddle, kicking off his brother's back to launch a full ten strides into the air. Porkchop raced forward unhindered, teeth bared as he tapped into his amulet.

Time seemed to hang. A beam of light snapped out from behind him, searing its way through one of the irontusk’s eyes in a bubble of fluid with needle tip precision.

Ianmus, the cheeky dog. He’d stolen first blood.

The irontusk howled, lowering its head further, even as Porkchop blurred, racing towards the mighty beast with total lack of concern.

Kaius tapped into one of the wells of power that was bound resolutely in the maleficent glyph that adorned his hand. It fizzed, boiling with eagerness as they waited for his command. Baleful light showered from his hand in a burst of embers, a bolt of the Stormlord’s finest crackling with hateful vigour as it snatched up its barely contained power.

Thunder boomed as Kaius whipped his lash towards the irontusk, the searing might of his spell tearing across the air to wrap the beast in arcing lightning. Its coat vaporised in the path of his spell, potent electrical energy scorching the beast from the inside out. Reverberation followed, blood bursting from the burns he had left in its flesh.

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**Ding! Latent Glyph of Drakthar has reached level 16!**.

An enraged cry escaped its throat as the irontusk stumbled. It was too big, too powerful, for his spell to have immobilised it. Yet, at the pace they moved, a stumble was enough. It righted itself, but its charge was broken, and the correction came too little too late.

Porkchop leapt, his heavily armoured form crashing into the irontusk’s shoulder like a falling oak. Its bones cracked under his brother's enhanced momentum, the thick slabs of jade that covered Porkchop lending him the inescapable might of a landslide.

Kaius touched the ground, racing in.

Tearing into the beast with crystalline claws, Porkchop ravaged the beast’s shoulder and chest, his green armour quickly slicked with bright carmine. No longer were they weak. No longer were they hampered by the barriers that all unclassed suffered from. No, his brother's strength was a glorious thing as he shredded flesh and scored bone. Hide rumoured to be as hard as mundane chainmail was nothing before sacred jade.

The irontusk shook itself out of its haze with a cry of fury, only for another Sunbeam to scour its way across the plains to burn its way through the delicate flesh of its nose. It flinched, whipping its head to the side as its glinting grey tusks smashed into Porkchop’s side with a clang.

Snarling in fury, Porkchop met force with force, throwing himself into the attack as he kept the pressure on. The irontusk bucked, trying to bring the needlepoint ends of its tusks to bare.

Kaius was having none of that. Blue and orange light alighted the plains once more as he summoned a Stormlash. The beast shuddered as he raced in, breaking its concentration with pain and convulsions both.

Both hands gripped A Father’s Gift once more, and Kaius swung as he planted his weight on his back foot and pivoted. Steel blurred, and he felt the renowned toughness of the irontusks for himself. Even with an enchanted blade honed to perfection, backed by the might and muscle of a Heroic class, it still felt like trying to carve through wood.

Still, even high Endurance and natural constitution was not enough to resist his onslaught, not with his new Strength. Flesh parted beneath his slice, rivulets of red soaking the beast's thick fur as he tore into its leg.

**Ding! Liturgical Bladeform: Primus Ordo has reached level 26!**.

The irontusk roared and potency thrummed through the air. Another beam snapped, scouring its face.

It merely shook its head, rearing up before it slammed its legs home into the hardened ground of the plains.

Shuddering quakes shook the ground, Kaius’s stomach dropping as he relied on all of his enhanced speed and dexterity to keep his feet beneath him.

**Ding! Tempered By Dissonance has reached level 26!**.

A skill, and one that he had seen no evidence of, no tell tale shine of channelled mana. A stamina ability, one he had no way of sensing.

Off balance as they were, the irontusk capitalised on the opening. Seeing his brother as the greater threat, the behemoth turned and gouged his brother with his tusks. A cry left Kaius’s lips as he watched razor point tusks punch clean through a gap in his brother's jade armour, blood welling from the wound as cushioned under-armour was sundered.

Then another beam hit, scorching a pulsing highway of blood that thrummed in the irontusk’s thick neck. Blood squirted, backed by the pressure of its titanic heart, vitality nurturing the rich soil beneath them.

Ianmus, perfectly timed to distract it.

Porkchop howled in fury, ripping himself from the beast's tusks as he spun - undeterred by his wounds - and gouged the irontusk’s face for its impudence.

Kaius grinned, planting one foot solidly to kick off the still quaking ground. Launching to the beast's side, he pivoted on his front foot and twisted his hips to drive his blade home into its chest with every scrap of power he had available. Forceful enough that he slid back through the dirt as the hilt of his sword pressed against its thick hide.

Lifting its head to the sky, the irontusk bellowed. The sound was baleful, penetrating deep into his chest. Kaius danced back, ripping his blade free as it wheeled on him, shaking its head in insensate frustration and rage.

Mana glowed in its chest.

He retreated, creating the distance he needed to react to the oncoming skill as Uncanny Dodge blared a warning in his mind. Another bolt of lightning crackled in his fist, lashing the bubbled and blackened flesh of the beast once more as he attempted to disrupt the working.

**Ding! Resonance Amplification has reached level 26!**.

As tough as it was, it maintained its hold on its ability, paralysing storm mana causing little more than a momentary spasm. It seemed that the dazing strike of his spells was not guaranteed to be consistent - frustrating, considering its usefulness.

Thankfully, his brother was beset by far less compunction. Diving into the fray, Porkchop lashed out with green claws, gouts of flesh torn from the beast's side to reveal the thick wall of its ribs.

Ignoring Porkchop’s attempts, the irontusk continued to channel. A moment later, mana flashed, pulsing with steely brilliance as it flooded its tusks.

It dipped its head, points of its curved tusks catching on the dirt. Earth soared through the air as it bucked, showering the surroundings in dust and arcane brilliance.

Two thin metal blades materialised, racing through the air as they spun end over end on a terminal path towards him. A second skill.

A terrible scream of churned air followed their arc; gods they were fast.

Glee coursed through Kaius, even as he slipped to the side, dodging one with skill enhanced agility. He raised his blade, ready for its twin.

He’d missed this. The simple rush.

Planting his foot as he stepped as far out of the path of the attack, he rolled his shoulders and slammed his blade into it hard. An unearthly screech filled the air as he smashed his blade into the whirling projectile. Even tensed and ready for the collision, Kaius felt every joint in his body creak, bones jolting from the sheer force of the impact.

His grip stayed steady, even missing two fingers, it would take more than a simple skill to overwhelm him.

Sparks showered him like a spring storm, an echoing crack accompanying the spinning blade as he redirected it, sending it careening off to the side. A subtle click pulsed as a small fraction of the collision was drained and collected.

**Ding! Tempered By Dissonance has reached level 27!**.

His Vharcossian Vambraces. Full once more.

Smashing his brother aside, the beast turned its head to look at him with what could only be described as shock. Kaius grinned, bearing his aggression plain on his face. It hadn’t expected him to survive that.

He could smell it. The growing uncertainty.

Once lord over all on the plains, the irontusk was no longer sure of its own victory.

Kaius intended to show it how right it was.

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