Chapter 103: No hard feelings
BOOM!
Brian’s Crag-Splitting Impact detonated against the dark grey steel of Executioner’s Edge.
A dual shockwave of searing crimson flame and purple kinetic lightning tore across the slate roof, shattering chimney stacks and sending a blizzard of red-hot tile splinters flying into the night.
Vince didn’t move an inch. His dragon-scaled forearms locked like titanium pillars, effortlessly absorbing the crushing weight of the blow. The purple kinetic aura pulsing along his chest flared brighter, swallowing the raw physical energy of Brian’s life-combustion and converting it straight into his own storage loop.
It’s useless, Brian thought, his vision wavering as red haze crept into the corners of his eyes.
Even with Bull demon mode igniting his life force, the suffocating 50% gravity domain was bleeding his vitality dry. Every swing felt like dragging an anchor through deep water. Vince wasn’t just tanking his hits—he was feeding on them.
Brian checked his internal sense of the space around them. Fifty yards... considering the time and speed they left, they’ve almost made it. Just gotta hold on a little longer.
Time seemed to dilate as the heat of his burning blood rushed through his ears, the sound of the clash fading into a muffled, distant echo.
In the quiet of his slowing mind, Brian’s thoughts drifted back to the cold gutters of Malgrath...
---
Ten years ago, the rain in the lower district smelled like copper and rot.
A fifteen-year-old Brian sat slumped against a moss-covered alley wall, clutching a deep, infected gut wound. His former mercenary guild had used him as frontline bait during a raid, pocketed his share of the coin, and left him to bleed out in the dirt when he took a spear to the ribs.
He remembered closing his eyes, waiting for the dark to take him.
Then came the sound of quiet, measured footsteps splashing through the puddle in front of him.
Brian had looked up through blurred vision. Standing over him was a young man with sharp red eyes, tossing a golden coin between his knuckles.
"You’re heavy," Vesper had said casually, looking down at Brian’s massive frame. "And stupid, for letting weak men use you."
"Get lost..." Brian had rasped, coughing up blood. "Leave me to die."
"I could," Vesper replied, kneeling down to toss a small roll of clean bandages and a vial of high-grade healing salve into Brian’s lap. "Or you can patch yourself up, stand up, and join me. I intend to build something. No guilds, no nobles, no masters. Just us."
In the months that followed, the flock grew.
They found Gideon in a rusted iron cage outside a slave market, an orphaned blacksmith’s boy who refused to speak but wielded an iron bar heavy enough to break a horse’s back. Vesper bought his freedom and had him forge a weapon of his choosing.
They pulled Sara and Kira out of a rogue noble’s underground fighting arena, bandaging their wounds and sharing cold broth around a small fire in an abandoned bell tower.
They weren’t high-born knights or academy prodigies. They were the discarded scraps of the Lawless city. But under Vesper’s sharp mind, they became the Death Crows—an unbreakable family where every member would gladly lay down their life for the rest.
"We don’t bow to kings," Vesper had told them the night they etched their executioner marks into their skin. "And we don’t leave one of our own behind."
---
Brian’s eyes snapped open back in the present.
The memory burned away the last remnants of fear, leaving behind only an iron, unshakeable resolve.
Gideon’s gone, Brian thought, his heart hammering its final, ragged beats. I won’t let the rest of them die here tonight. His death shall be avenged.
`[WARNING: Critical Mana Combustion]`
`[Vital Organs Exceeding Thermal Threshold]`
Vince lowered Executioner’s Edge, preparing to drive a decisive counter-thrust straight through Brian’s chest. "It’s over, you and your friends made a mistake coming after me," Vince said calmly, his glowing purple eyes narrowing.
Instead of dodging or parrying, Brian did something completely insane.
He stepped directly into the path of the dark blade.
THWRACK!
Executioner’s Edge buried itself three inches deep into Brian’s left shoulder, slicing through flesh and muscle. But Brian didn’t even flinch.
Before Vince could retract the sword or channel a kinetic detonation through the blade, Brian’s massive, blood-soaked arms wrapped around Vince’s torso in a bone-crushing bear hug.
Vince’s purple eyes widened in genuine surprise. "What—"
Brian locked his fingers tightly behind Vince’s back, pinning Vince’s arms and binding Executioner’s Edge between their chests. The raw, violent pressure of Brian’s fierce muscle locked Vince in place, denying him the leverage to swing or step back.
"Coming after you a mistake? Arrogance!... one of our own needed assistance and that is what we offered. No hard feelings."
Blood ran down Brian’s chin, dripping onto Vince’s shoulder, but the giant bare-chested warrior was grinning—a bloody, savage, utterly triumphant smile.
"I can feel it," Brian wheezed, his voice choked with blood, his crimson eyes locking onto Vince’s purple gaze. "They’re out...by now they’re sure to have crossed fifty yards. They’re free of your domain."
Vince tried to surge his kinetic force outward, but Brian’s burning blood-mana was erupting from his skin like pressurized steam, creating a unstable, chaotic energy barrier at point-blank range.
"You really are a monster, kid," Brian whispered, his dark bull tattoo glowing white-hot as his internal mana core reached total critical mass. "But the Death Crows... live on."
`[CRITICAL ALERT: Target Mana Core Implosion Imminent]`
`[Point-Blank Life-Combustion Detected!]`
At least you kept your word vesper Brian thought smiling this was quite thrilling indeed. I’m sorry.
"Vesper!" Brian bellowed at the top of his lungs, his voice echoing across the entire district of Malgrath. "LIVE! And END THIS!."
BOOM!
Brian detonated his remaining life force.
A blinding, towering column of searing crimson fire erupted from his chest, consuming both him and Vince in an explosive, sun-bright inferno that blew the entire rooftop into dust.
Fifty yards away, Vesper, Sara and Kira stared at the explosion as Thier breath hitched.