The curved golden sword cut through a woman's head like tofu, splitting the head into two pieces.
From Faraam's right side, a bronze spear attacked him. He shifted his grip on the curved sword, holding it in reverse, and struck the spear from below.
The spear was launched in the air, with Effie barely holding on to the pommel.
Faraam shifted his stance and kicked Effie in her stomach, sending her flying.
Gritting her teeth, Effie screamed in anger, "What do you think you are doing, you son of a bitch?!"
Faraam didn't respond to her as another three sleepers attacked him.
Faraam created a great shield like a wall and blocked the three attacks. Their weapons were deflected, and Faraam took the chance and turned the shield into a great axe, striking from the right side and cutting them into two pieces.
Faraam put his great axe on his shoulder and summoned his runes.
Soul Essence Devoured: [524/1000]
He then looked at the remaining sleepers. Normally against such numbers, even with [Formless Ichor], he would die in a few minutes, but the sleepers were tired and injured, and some were near death. Not to mention the stunt he pulled back, about avenging his lord. It was purely to crush their spirit.
And it did well; the sleepers without their leader lost their morale and got out of formation. From behind, they were being killed by the nightmare creatures, and from the front there was him and his echo.
Some have tried to go past him directly to the gateway, but they died instantly from his Echo, the Holy Guardian.
The contrast between its corrupted version and its Echo, is quite interesting. Fallen and Holy.
"Get into formation, you imbeciles! He is a single man; we can easily defeat him!"
Faraam glanced at Effie. 'It seems I need to take care of her first.'
He turned his great axe to curved swords again and attacked her.
He raised his curved sword in his right hand and struck down. Effie held her spear in reverse, her blade down, and parried the curved sword. Using the chance, she slashed up, but Faraam didn't even let her as he stepped on the blade, stopping it; thanks to the Echo, he didn't suffer any damage. He then jumped and roundhouse-kicked Effie in the face.
For a moment Effie lost consciousness; Faraam raised his curved sword, intending to cut her arm, but an arrow came fast through the sleepers, aiming at his head.
Faraam clicked his tongue and turned his curved sword to a small shield, blocking the arrow.
From behind him, two sleepers attacked him. He didn't even look back at them as two spiked needles emerged from his back, stabbing them in the neck. Blood gushed from their wound; they tried to stop it, but to no avail as their body lost strength and they fell dead.
Faraam focused again on Effie, who regained consciousness, heavily breathing.
"Stop trying to resist; I won't kill you, so you don't have to worry for your life. I still need hostages."
Effie gritted her teeth. "Why?! Why are you killing them after they finally reached their goal...? Do you have no heart?"
Faraam glanced back at the gateway, where a pile of dead bodies gathered. It seems his echo has ten times his kill count.
"You seem to think I've done this for some great cause," He glanced back at Effie, "My reason is simple; I need to get my core satire, and the only way to do it right now is to kill humans, unfortunately. So, you see, it pains me that they have to die, but that is the only way."
That was a lie; he really didn't care about them, and it didn't matter if they died or not for him.
Effie raised her spear once again, her face filled with disgust and anger, "You did this to satirize your core... YOU MONSTER!!"
Faraam chuckled as he parried her spear, "I heard that a lot, you know?" He then stabbed his sword into Effie abandoned.
"A warrior losing her mind to anger—what a disgrace to warriors you are." He whispered in her ear. Then kicked her away. With that, Athena was out.
He then looked back at the sleeper army with a grin.
Kai watched all of this happen... Cassie, beside him, was already a lost cause; her eyes were unfocused.
He gritted his teeth and spoke to the sleeper army, "Everyone attack him! If he dies, the echo will be gone too! Let us not waste the sacrifice of Changing Star!"
Hearing the name of their savior, the sleeper army got some courage, even if little, and marched at the Faraam.
"Let us end this, shall we?" he whispered.
Then in front of their eyes, the golden armor covering Faraam's body melted to the ground. It covered the ground, spreading fast.
The sleeper army couldn't stop; their momentum was used against them.
Faraam raised two fingers at Kai, who was at the back, and grinned more.
Kai's eyes widened as he understood what Faraam was going to do. He raised his bow with haste to shoot... but it was too late...
Faraam raised his two fingers, and then screams erupted.
"No!" Kai screamed as he watched his fellow sleepers get stabbed by golden spikes from the ground.
The screams were high enough to wake up Cassie. And as soon as she saw the brutal, inhuman, evil scene in front of her... she threw up.
[You have slain Dreamer...]
[You have slain Dream..]
[You have slain ...]
[You have...]
[Your soul devours]
[Your soul devours]
[Your soul devours]
The spell voice echoed in Faraam's ears.
He summoned his runes again...
Soul Essence Devoured: [1000/1000]
He had finally filed his core... and only a little remained of the sleeper army, and they were being killed by the nightmare creatures and his echo.
While he could save them now... he chose to not do that. He didn't want an annoying brat following him everywhere talking about revenge. It would be really annoying.
And so Faraam watched as the sleeper army died; anyone who tried to get past him, he let them go to meet their demise at the hands of his echo. And those who had the courage to fight him were killed except one person; his handsome face was turned to a puddle of blood. With everyone dead except three, he killed all the nightmare creatures.
Faraam walked back to the last one who remained conscious. The blind seer.
Suddenly the voice of the spell resounded in his ears.
[You have received a new attribute.]
Faraam frowned and summoned his runes.
Attributes: [Freewill], [Heaven's Curse], [Unbreakable], [Soul Conduct].
'What is this?'
This [Soul Conduct] reminded him of something, but he didn't remember what.
Faraam glanced back at Cassie, then sighed.
"Hmm? What are you doing?"
Cassie had a rapier on her neck...
"I... I know that you need me...! Let the two live, and... and I'll surrender myself. I can even tell you what the new attribute you got does."
Faraam walked forward not caring about what she said.
"I can just torture you, and you will tell me eventually."
Seeing this, Cassie gritted her teeth, and the rapier went deeper in her neck.
Faraam clicked his tongue. "Fine, I'll not kill them, I promise."
Cassie shook her head, "No... let them go through the gateway."
"You're asking too much, you know, and my patience has its limits."
But Cassie didn't waver and stabbed the rapier more into her neck.
"Very well." Faraam said as he dragged both Kai and Effie to the gateway.
Normally he wouldn't care if she decided to kill herself, but if she really knows about this new attribute and what it does, then her life is worth more than her death.
As he threw both of them in the gateway, he looked back at Cassie.
She had already lowered the rapier.
"The Crimson Spire is like a giant machine. It was created to collect soul essence and funnel it into the artificial sun, but it can't function without one small but crucial gear. A being to serve as the fulcrum of all that power, the conduit for all those souls, and the vessel."
Faraam walked toward her as he finally remembered where he heard about the conduct... it was three years ago in the library of the dark city.
"I see, Changing Star has succeeded. The current vessel has died. Thus, the Crimson Spire needs a new vessel... which also means... that someone has to sacrifice themselves for the gateway to function so the other can live and leave."
Cassie's body trembled, and Faraam clearly noticed that.
He held her face in his hands and looked her in the eyes.
"What have you done?"
"I-I don't understand what you mean."
Faraam smiled, "Well, it seems I'll have to force you to talk." His other hands reached for her left eye. "You've beautiful eyes... a shame they have to be destroyed."
"Ah... no, please! I'll talk! I'll talk!"
Tears left her eyes... but it was too late. Cassie's scream echoed on the balcony of the gateway.