Whether it is through the understanding of the energies around us, woven into magic and other extraordinary constructs, through the understanding and creation of fantastical arts, or even by giving everything to the inconsistent and chaotic system, or even by the study of Volonstone, amidst many others, the way to strength is one that can be split into numerous paths, whether it is best to devote yourself to one and become a master, or split your focus to become more flexible, remains largely unknown.
We are not all born equal, opportunities and natural talent plays a huge factor, luck also matters much more than some would like you to believe, some say that natural talent does not matter, that through hard work, the same levels of power can be achieved, but isn't one's willpower, willingness to push themselves an integral part of the talent?
I was told many times that discovering the singular best route to strength was a fruitless affair, but unwilling to give in to the incessant whispers, I have decided that the best way to find what I was looking for, is to simply ask the masters of each discipline.
-Extract of 'Optimal Power' by Dhogus.
Alberg's arms seemed to grow in size as veins protruded out, a mad grin adorning his bluish face, his teeth clenched and grinding against one another, bringing his stone club down at full strength, spiderweb cracks spreading along the ground, the floor shattered as rock and dust flew everywhere.
The audience of guards didn't stay without sight of the battle for long, the oni's wide movements blew the thick cloud of dust away, repeatedly swinging and striking with both weapon and body without losing an ounce of momentum, each attack meant to kill multiple times over, Loimos dodged a swing of the club, barely any room for mistakes, he pushed off the club as it went right past him, throwing himself with so much force that he had to roll to avoid falling over.
Swinging his blood-coated sword at the oni's ankle, leaving a shallow wound that quickly healed, expelling the foreign substance at the same time, the undead swiftly moved out of the way to avoid getting stomped.
One of the guards pulled his bow, shooting an arrow that completely missed its mark and hit Alberg instead, the monster grunted and grabbed hold of the floor, pulling out fragments of stone, hurling them at the group the arrow had come from, none shall intrude upon his fight, seeing Loimos approaching him once more, he jumped in the air, his entire weight crashing down.
The ogre knew with certainty that he had missed his mark, the sweet sensation of flesh and bones being crushed didn't wash over him, clearing the dust he once again rose, a compressed blood bullet hitting him straight in the side of his face.
His natural defences and regenerative factor, tempered by his years in the arena, shielded him from much damage, but he was positively impressed at the damage such a puny projectiles could inflict upon him, the sheer force of the strike dug into his flesh, the acidic properties quickly showing themselves whilst some of the dark blood attempted to infiltrate his body, he wasn't used to such convoluted attacks, everything always was what it seemed, the black blood however, was many things at the same time.
Loimos began to spread out a blood swamp, rather than working to try and restrict the monster, he made it as corrosive as he could, infusing the maximum amount of death force into his creation, melting the ground beneath their feet, not at the same pace everywhere, creating invisible holes for the monster.
Meanwhile, Loimos could continue to walk around without any problem, the blood beneath his feet solidifying for him.
Alberg roared once more, a wide area around him impossible to step into as he raised his club once more, he seemed, somehow, even more joyful than before.
He did not strike the ground however, throwing his only weapon, a fortunate timing on the oni's part, Loimos sunk into his sanguine swamp, dodging the attack that he otherwise would have had to get struck by, the speed at which he could move when fully emerged into his primeval rot was something else.
Using one of his old-fashioned rot creations to propel himself, he emerged behind the ogre, ending up even higher than the tall monster, stabbing his blade into Alberg's shoulder, down to the guard, infusing more death force than the blade could handle, he made it explode into a countless shards inside of his opponent's flesh.
The ogre attempted to crush the skeleton like a mosquito, Loimos abandoned what was left of his weapon, and jumped off of the monster, focusing his death force into his right arm, two bone claws emerging and extending, slashing at Alberg, the oni using his left arm to block the attack.
The claws dug into his skin deeper than the katana had, but the extensive lengthening made the attack feeble, the bones breaking, but Loimos never wasted any of his rot, the shards erupted from within, everything seemed to be a bomb with Loimos.
Ignoring the intense pain coming from his shoulders and the countless bone shrapnels and acidic blood hammering into him, Alberg attacked, the undead was prepared to use his rot to dodge, but the ogre's left arm stopped mid-swing.
'That is a convincing feint' noted Loimos, getting punched with the full might of an oni, breaking just about every single bone composing him and sending him flying into the distance.
Alberg growled, not even bothering to move from his spot even though the dark swamp and constantly eating away at his regenerating feet and ankles, he was feeling a bit lightheaded and lethargic, the sword stabbed into him had gone too deep from his flesh to be able to extract the shards, but most importantly, it felt like some sort of parasitic energy had infected him.
He did not worry for the fate of his opponent, he felt the distinct sensation of a kill, that pleasant feeling washing over his weary body.
The nearby guards looked at each other.
"Alberg, rest!" one shouted, lest the ogre might find them to be suitable snacks.
"That guy was a real menace, what the hell sort of battle arts were those? They are lingering even after his death!"
"Maybe he is not dead"
"Don't spout nonsense, Alberg stopped after that hit, he is a professional, and I doubt anyone would survive getting hit straight on like that"
"We should go check for the body still" one of the more careful guards suggested, looking off into the distance of the humongous basement, he was fairly certain to have seen their intruder fly straight through multiple openings into separate rooms.
There was no telling how far he had flown to.