(Westpoint – Occupation: Lit/Fools/The Trapline Army)(Amos)

  TWO DAYS LATER

  The group spend their first day in Westpoint resting and preparing for the attack. After ascending the old clocktower, each of them leaps from its roof and down to the rooftops of the city proper. After jumping from roof to roof to scout out the city, they choose the roof of a fifteen-meter building and wait there. Given how the buildings are constructed, their position prevents them from being spotted from below.

  The biggest problem isn’t the Dulman clan; it’s the larger clans in the area. Their decision to kill the Dulman clan without communicating with any of the leaders of the larger clans was a risky move, but with how the Dulmans were behaving and the lives at stake, they had agreed to act alone. A forceful response from the larger clans was likely, unless they could finish things before the other clans had time to react.

  Amos crawls along the flat rooftop as Christ – also on his belly – peeks his head over the edge of the roof. “You see them?”

  Christ turns his head to Amos. “Why not look for yourself?”

  Amos gazes down on Xander, who walks along the path that leads to the city's central area. Across the street – from the corner of his eye – Amos sees Cazel and Zero leap from one building to another, following Xander.

  “Let's continue forward,” Christ points his thumb behind him. “There's gonna be a LIT guard that we have to give a message to.”

  Xander stops a moment to talk with someone, who quickly turns around and heads in the direction he and Christ are going. There is no turning back now: Step Two of their plan is about to begin.

  The group approach the city's center, an oddly desolate area at first glance. Yet, if you were to scan the site, you’d see all three major clans keeping an eye on one another from the buildings in their respective areas. From one window, a Crossbow bolt tip glints in the afternoon sun. A hooded figure smokes a pipe on a balcony. A sorceress disguised as a servant girl pretends to hang up laundry to dry. The first clans to get their hands on ground cannons will be on the streets, but until then, they remain hidden.

  On a nearby rooftop terrace, a LIT guard in hybrid armor lies back in his chair while pouring water from a jug. He is calm until his eyes catch Amos and Christ walking around the corner. “Wh-”

  Speed-blitzing ten meters in the blink of an eye, Christ grabs the hybrid's mouth, cutting him off mid-syllable. Squeezing his mouth shut, Christ locks eyes with the man. “I'm from WAL, and we have a message for your superior. Can you give it to him?” Christ lets go of the guard’s lips. A scroll appears in the guard’s hand.

  The guard’s eyes widen, nodding as he takes a few seconds to compose himself. “I’ll be fast.”

  Christ shakes his head. “No, be slow, about five minutes. We need time. Remember, we are trying to build a relationship between our two clans, so don’t screw this up.” Christ pats the man on the shoulder. “Go.”

  The guard leaves in a flash through the roof’s door and down the stairs.

  Amos and Christ descend from the rooftops and jog to the edge overlooking the city’s center. It’s empty, save for one man pacing around it: Xander.

  “After the first strike, ready the teleport-block,” Christ reminds Amos.

  Before Amos can nod, it begins.

  All eight Dulman clan members approach them: Javoo, Messi, Nontila, Goliath, Robby, Zap, Krio, and lastly, Anderson.

  Members of the other clans begin to gather on rooftop balconies and peer from top floor windows.

  Christ pulls Amos down. “Let them talk a minute.”

  Hands shaking, anticipation pulling at his stomach, Amos reaches back. His bronze great axe materializes, its hundred-pound blade crashing into the sandstone rooftop.

  On the other side of town, Zero and Cazel ready themselves.

  Amos begins to doubt himself. There's no way they can’t see this being an ambush. “Fuck…” Amos mumbles.

  “Lil’ bro, you ready?” Christ peeks his head over the center. “Once you draw blood, we can’t go back.”

  “Go back to what?” Amos grabs the wall slab. He shakes his head as he attempts to calm his heartbeat. “Never mind.”

  “Amos…” Christ says.

  “Just ready your blade. After I finish off Anderson, I’ll line up Robby for you.”

  Christ lifts his right hand as his steel dagger materializes. “Ready when you are.”

  Amos lifts a bag of smelling salts to his nose with a sniff. His eyes shutter, and the veins under his chin press against his neck, his teeth grinding before he coughs. “Ready…” he says in a muffled tone. The wall slab cracks under his hands as he lifts himself.

  Christ stabs Amos in his back, slicing a bloody line from just below his shoulder blade to just above his kidney.

  Before the wound has a chance to bleed, Heavy steel armor appears out of thin air, covering everything except Amos’s torso. Leaping from the wall, Amos launches himself at the Dulmans, breaking the slab behind him as he speed-blitzes the two hundred yards in just a few seconds. Before anyone can react, Amos slashes Anderson across his chest through his steel armor. The blow sends Anderson half-sliding, half-grinding across the road, the metal heels of his dark boots sparking on the cobblestone. Amos comes to a stop thirty yards away from the other targets.

  Javoo pulls out his steel blade. “I tried to make peace!” He charges at Xander, dodging a teleport-block. Amos gains his balance before leaping for Anderson again. Robby slides in front of Amos’s attack, blocking it with the Shield of Cataphract.

  Roby continues to block, rendering a barrage of swings from Amos moot. Amos’s teeth grind against each other in boiling rage. Not a single mark is left on the shield. All Amos has to show for his attacks are clouds of bronze dust shaved from his axe by the Cataphract. Amos’s blows add nothing to the battle but the frantic motions of his shadow. He can’t break Robby’s blocks – he realizes – but Christ can.

  Christ leaps as he activates his Infinite Flail’s charged attack. Amos sidesteps a meter out of the way. Chains erupt from the flail, its ball melting through the shield – and Robby’s heavy armor – like butter. Robby is knocked back as his chest caves in, his body spiraling for an instant before sliding to a stop along the ground.

  Christ’s curse, “Dull,” allows the user to melt through armor and weapons. The cost is that their dominant hand will lose all use. Christ readies his flail for another charged attack toward Krio, only for Goliath's curse – signified by his blue, glowing hand – allows him to smacking the flail's ball into the ground with his bare palm.

  Krio leaps, bringing his blade down onto Christ, as Amos extends his steel sword to his elbow, jumping forward to block the strike.

  Amos slashes the air between Krio and Goliath before hitting the ground, causing a small shockwave around them. Sand and bits of road scatter the air. With a clear opening on Krio, Amos aims for his torso. A loud frying noise, and the warping of his vision, cause Amos to miss his target. Amos’s gaze falls short on Zap, who moves before Krio can respond.

  Zap’s curse, “Neglect Blur,” warps any sharp attack, decreasing the chances of a blade harming the user. However, with this curse active, he cannot have any sharp blade near him for long, as the effects of the curse will confuse him as well. A long halberd, two feet taller than Zap, materializes. With a kick of the handle's bottom, Zap swings back the heavy blade before striking down towards Amos, who evades the attack by leaping back. With a weapon of such reach, Zap can avoid the curse’s effects with ease.

  Different level Fire Bolts light the area around the two as they duel. An inferno blazes, making buildings cast new shadows across the city’s center. The sun seems to surface at their feet while weapons clash and blood spills.

  Amos’s axe chips as Zap’s blade blocks a strike. The warping effect of Zaps curse manifests as Amos’s weapon slips through Zap’s halberd, smacking the ground. Zap’s weapon whips up, embedding itself in Amos’s helmet. Zap uses the leverage to try and force Amos to the ground.

  Amos releases his axe and grabs his opponent’s platebody. With a heave, he takes one step back, tossing Zap over him and onto the ground. Amos pulls the halberd to the ground also. Zap is a lower level than Amos, so driving his blade into his neck shouldn’t be too –

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  Amos's legs lift off the ground as the God’s Hand curse smacks him into the closest building – a church. Zap then flings Amos a hundred yards away, as if he were a skipping stone thrown at the surface of a lake.

  After passing through two of the church’s sandstone walls, Amos nearly breaks his back as he collides with a third wall. Dust scatters around him. He coughs, a needling pain assailing his lungs. Pulling his shredded helmet off, Amos’s vision drifts. Blood leaks from his torn skin.

  “Fuck…” Shaking his legs, Amos stumbles to his feet with the help of the nearly destroyed third wall. Fool Clan members gather around the edges of the rubble, precious few feet away from being crushed by falling debris. “Which WAL member is he?” someone asks.

  Footsteps speed toward Amos as Zap charges, his halberd raised behind him. Amos sweeps up his destroyed helmet to cap the spear end of the halberd, only to be charged through the third wall and into the graveyard behind the church. Amos crashes through two headstones but manages to land on his feet. He grabs the halberd’s handle below the blade. Dislodging his helmet from the end of the halberd, Amos spins, swinging his helmet and bashing Zap across his forehead. For a moment, they halt their movement.

  “I’ll kill you!” Amos roars. Zap’s eyes glow through his helmet. “Javoo should have let us kill you right then and there. Bullshit about you pieces of shit turning a new leaf!”

  Goliath leaps from the church balcony with his single hand raised over his head. He casts God's Hand – the spell forming a one-meter-tall impact spike – before bringing it down at Amos, who leaps back to dodge the strike.

  Zap leaps back to the other side of the God’s Hand, circling.

  Amos’s second bronze axe materializes as they clash blades again through the wooden church pews. Splinters and stone debris scatter around them, a casualty of their constant dance of battle. Amos looks for an opening while Zaps continuously warps his blade and in addition to having to dodge God's Hand. Despite some of his higher-level stats, being outnumbered is still a disadvantage. Not only that, but the amount of blood leaving him is a ticking clock. Still not recovered from the first encounter, Amos needs to end this soon, even if it means bringing this whole building down.

  With a newly-summoned halberd in hand, Zap lunges toward Amos’s left flank. Amos’s blade opens a red line up Zap’s forearm.

  Amos grips his weapon, more so to wake up his muscles than to steady himself. Despite the smelling salts and the overwhelming adrenaline, what he just did hurt like no other. “Let me show you why they call it Cloud Slasher,” Amos grunts. As Amos activates his curse, angelic cries echo throughout the battlefield. Stunned by the overwhelming surge of grotesque vengeance that has reared its head after a long period of suppression, the angelic voices plead for the carnage to subside.

  Amos lifts his axe over his head, spinning it in a helicopter motion. Goliath attempts to slap the axe from his hand, but his spell gets cut in half by Amos’ curse.

  Tensing his muscles while pushing into the halberd’s tip, Amos focuses on its sharpness. After the second swing of his axe, a disc of accelerated air flies out, cutting through the entirety of a nearby building one meter above the ground. Pressure builds up, blowing debris into the streets and nearby buildings. NPCs and players alike flee the rain of blasted masonry.

  Goliath slides back, but remains on his feet. His steel saber materializes. With his only hand occupied, he can no longer cast his spell. As the roof begins to collapse inward, Goliath charges at Amos.

  Amos slams his axe into the ground between them, and a small shockwave knocks them back. Without waiting another second, Amos focuses his attack and slashes the air toward Goliath.

  Zap leaps for his clanmate just in time to see a slash appear, starting at Goliath's right eye and continuing down to his right armpit. Goliath’s body peels in two at the slash.

  “NICK!” Zap cries out, as he lands a feet from Goliath.

  With that swing, not only did Amos kill for the first time, but he blew away all the falling debris and cut into the building behind it. Screams of pain are nearly drowned out by the crashes of roofing and stone walls as wood and rocks rain down from hundreds of meters up. All noise eventually goes quiet except for the cries of other humans and the dripping blood of his numb hand that still has Zap’s halberd in it.

  Part of Goliath’s head and arm slide off before his knees hit the ground, and finally, his body lays out in a splash of blood. Zap crawls to his clanmate… his friend. “NICK!” His hands shake as he attempts to attach the piece of skull to the rest of Goliath’s head. Tears run down his cheeks. “Ni…ck…”

  Amos pulls Zap’s halberd blade out of his left hand, and blood spurts from his open wound. Gemmed snacks materialize after he drops his great axe. Amos lifts his chin and downs the snacks like they’re pills. Nearly all of Amos’s wounds seal. With the adrenaline effect almost gone, Amos can still feel some of the pain, despite healing himself, though it might have to do with him losing so much blood.

  Zap yells as he buries his forehead into the ground, the blood of his clan mate staining his gauntlets. His tears drip onto the red puddle under him, each one diluting the blood for a moment before mixing into it.

  “Stop your crying.” Breathing heavily, Amos kneels to retrieve his great axe, not picking it back up but touching it to return it to his inventory. “You fucking pussy.” A bladed weapon won't do him any good.

  Zap slowly turns his head from his friend, looking up at Amos. “I hate you! I hate you!” Zap's second halberd materializes.

  Amos activates his melee protection syndesis as he grabs a sandstone brick. With the halberd blade bashing across his neck, he feels nothing but a bit of pressure. Sliding his arm along the long shaft, Amos bashes Zap on the head with his brick. Blood spurts as Zap drops the halberd, the blow from the brick causing him to spin.

  Again, Amos bashes Zap along the head, blood whipping across his face. Amos lands on top of Zap and brings down the brick a few more times until his grip crushes the block and it crumbles to dust. Amo’s fists tighten as he continues to punch Zap in the head. One after another, Zap's hands frantically push at Amos’s face back until all life has left his body, and his arms fall to the ground. Amos doesn’t stop until a red crater is all that remains of Zap's head. Once again, his breathing is heavy. His gauntlets are red with blood and brain matter. Getting back to his feet, his body begins to disobey him. After a few steps, Amos collapses for a moment.

  When he looks up, Amos feels the eyes of almost a hundred Fool clan members focus on him. If they wanted to, they could kill him right then and there. Despite this realization, Amos hopes none of his own students in the Fools clan saw what he just did.

  “Amos!” Amos hears Cazel’s voice, desperate with concern. “Amos!” As Cazel nearly runs over Amos, he slides to a halt. “Brother, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, but my body isn’t,” Amos responds.

  Cazel smiles. “So, no…” As he scans the area, his smile dissipates. “Let's get out of here.” Lifting Amos into a fireman's carry, Cazel walks to the others.

  “How did we do?” Amos asks with a tight voice.

  “We killed everyone but Javoo. He was the only one we couldn’t teleport block.”

  “Is everyone else alright?”

  “Yeah, but Zero…”

  Amos’s eyes widen. “What happened?!”

  Cazel sighs. “After Javoo teleported away with a scroll, Zero took a teleportation scroll from one of the dead bodies and followed Javoo into the city of Durmax. So we don’t know…”

  “We’re going after him,” Amos says.

  Cazel shakes his head. “No, we have to get out of here before the other clans get their orders.” Amos coughs and swears under his breath.

  “You’re right… I can barely walk…”

  Cazel remains silent as they meet up with Xander and Christ. Blood and guts are everywhere, each dead body seemingly split at the right spot or angle to produce the most amount of viscera, each sickening red bulge and angle of gore glistening like a pile of cursed rubies.

  “Lil’ bro, you look pale…” Christ says as he removes his bloody gauntlets and places the back of his hand on Amos’s forehead.

  “I overdid myself… I think I’m going to be out of it for a while,” Amos says.

  Xander grabs a teleportation scroll from a dead body. “I have enough emergency teleports to Durmax, if any of the big clans get any hot ideas.”

  Cazel props Amos up against Christ. “Zero will be fine…”

  Xander cuts off Cazel. “I know; I'm not worried about him. Let’s just get out of here as fast as we can.” Xander hands out scrolls to everyone else.

  Cazel glances back to the mess they’ve made. “I don’t like this,” he murmurs. The group make their way to the nearest city gate and onwards.

  Far west of the city, the four stop at the shore of a stream, only a day south of Frauw. With no clan chasing them, they manage to get there without issue.

  Christ leans back to prop Amos along a rock. “What now?”

  Amos lifts his chin as his body aches. “I…need water…”

  Christ nods his head as he leans into the stream with his vial.

  “Cazel, did Zero PM you?” Xander asks.

  Cazel shakes his head. “No, now I’m a bit concerned.”

  “This area is RoT and Trapline Army-controlled. They could have—” Christ gets cut off.

  “Christ, shut the fuck up,” Cazel interrupts. “Now isn’t the time for speculation.”

  Christ stands two inches taller than Cazel. “Watch your tone. I’m not speculating. They could still be out for us!”

  “That’s hard to believe, given that battle was so quick and brutal.” Cazel glares at Christ before turning to the water. Cazel’s gauntlets vanish and reappear in his grip. Blood stains the leather of his steel gloves. Washing it out with only river water will be difficult.

  Christ shakes his head while kneeling down in front of Amos. One of Christ’s hand holds Amos’s head, and the other tips a vial of water to his lips.

  Xander opens his interface; as he glides his finger across the air, his expression changes to worry. “Hey… Zero messaged me an hour ago, and he seems to be worried that we haven’t responded.”

  Christ turns to Xander before he opens his interface. “Me too… Cazel, you said he wasn’t…” Christ stands, and his eyes widen.

  Xander’s eyes widen, too. “Cazel…”

  Amos follows their stares to Cazel, who is scrubbing his clean hands in the crystal-clear water. “Cazel?”

  Cazel continues to scrub his hands as they shake. He lifts his hands to his eyes. Tears are dripping onto his palms.

  Amos pushes himself from the boulder. “Cazel?” He repeats. Transitioning into a crawl, he makes his way to his friend. “Filip?” Amos says his real name, but still no response. “Cazel!” Amos grabs Cazel’s hand.

  Cazel’s face snaps up as tears run down his face. His hands still fidget.

  “Brother, they’re clean…”

  Cazel slowly turns his gaze to Amos. “Wha…” Glancing back down at his hands, he puckers his lips inward. “Right… They are…” Cazel again locks eyes with Amos. “I can’t do this anymore.”

  Amos stands, despite his weakness. Looking at his hands, he wonders why he doesn’t feel the same.