C72: One Monster Versus Another
Yes this is another chapter with Ai edits, im still waiting for any messaging stating that the previous one was bad or anything.
I also figured out a way to get around the anti guidelines (where it simply deletes the whole provided prompt saying nuh uh).
I just stop the prompt when I feel it's about done. This makes it so the final work, while the ending of each edit is slightly cut off. I could simply finish it myself. If not, edit it back if I don't like it.
5/22/26
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The Underground Corpse Pile breathed beneath my feet.
Not metaphorically. Not through the shifting currents of blood that flooded the arena ankle-deep, nor through the wet dragging of severed limbs stirred by my movement.
The corpses themselves breathed. Flayed ribs expanded. Skinless throats produced weak, mewling cries from the outskirts of the chamber where mountains of ruined flesh had been stacked into twitching walls. None possessed the eyes that be, gouged out by the witches of hemwick that used to linger here. They rolled and focused upon me as I approached the fog gate, following my every motion with desperate longing.
The Hunters Nightmare never allowed its dead to rest.
I stood before the fog wall in silence while my thoughts struggled to remain my own. My head twitched sharply to the side as memories not belonging to me finally settled into place. The Hemwick Witch had not merely died when I consumed her knowledge. She had lingered. Her experiences slithered through my skull like parasites searching for purchase, forcing me to witness every atrocity she had committed in pursuit of insight.
I had seen cages woven from finger bones. Children sewn together into chanting masses. Hunters and villagers having their eyes hollowed out while still alive so eyes could be planted upon others they believed were of more worth.
A cruel purple flashed through my vision. A heartless sensation unlike any rage before it stood in my place.
Hunter's Instinct, once the single most reliable skill in my arsenal, sputtered beneath the filtration of abhorrent memories. Normally it sharpened the world into certainty. Every danger became predictable. Every killing intent revealed itself moments before action. Now it fought through madness simply to function. I could feel it misfiring already.
[CoK: 43% -> 45%] the remnant traces of the witch were not just of my mind, but of the curse as well.
My breathing steadied only through force.
The Saw Cleaver hung folded at my side while Evelyn rested cold within my left hand. Tonitrus remained holstered behind my waist beside Null's compact blade form rests in my inventory, ready to be pulled out at my leisure. Each weapon felt heavier than usual tonight. Or perhaps that was merely the curse digging deeper into my nerves.
I exhaled through clenched teeth.
With the last vestiges of my 'normal' sanity, I activated a rarely used skill, loot magnet.
The skill activated with a low pulse beneath my skin. Somewhere beyond the fog gate, blood echoes responded immediately. Pale streams of crimson light drifted through the fog and buried themselves within my chest. Strength returned to exhausted muscles while the lingering weakness from my previous death vanished.
[Lost echoes regained]
Good.
If I died again, then at least nothing would actually be lost in my madness.
The fog swallowed me whole as I stepped forward.
The first thing I heard was screaming.
The second was hooves.
Ludwig emerged from darkness like a malformed god dragged upward from Hell itself. Towering nearly fifteen feet high, the Beastly Sword Saint lumbered through the corpse pile and rivers of blood with enough mass to rupture flesh beneath every step. His face retained traces of humanity, though stretched horrifically into the shape of a horse's skull. One eye bulged wider than the other beneath warped skin. Teeth protruded unevenly through twitching gums.
At the base of his neck was something far worse.
A second mouth hung there.
Crooked teeth lined the cavity while a swollen tongue dragged through the blood below. Every breath from it sounded wet and hungry. Extra limbs protruded from Ludwig's torso in writhing clusters. Horse hooves and malformed arms squirmed uselessly from his chest, appearing weak at first glance, yet my previous analysis of the Baneful Bones stuck to my mind. I knew that they were likely nigh unbreakable with the exception of sheer violence.
Just like last time, those limbs could still kill me. Ludwig noticed me.
The nightmare began anew.
His charge shattered the arena.
Blood exploded outward beneath thunderous hooves while Ludwig barreled across the chamber with impossible speed. His posture lowers as he charges head long into me.
I reacted fast yet even then, it was in reaction to the stampede coming at me.
Too late. I narrowly dodge out of the way.
I vanished sideways through a burst of accelerated movement just before Ludwig crashed through my original position. The enhanced dash carried me nearly twenty feet across the blood-soaked arena while the aftershock still clipped my shoulder hard enough to spin me off balance.
I retaliated immediately. CLICK
The Saw Cleaver snapped open mid-motion and carved deep into Ludwig's rear leg as I dashed past him. Fur, blood, and pale flesh erupted together beneath the serrated blade.
[CoK: 45% -> 46%]
Ludwig screamed. Yet the same was true for me as my enemies own body is a cacophony of the very curse that torments us both. By striking him, I release bits of his curse into me. Ludwig simply snorts like a horse before his posture changes once more.
His rear limbs lowered abruptly. Instinct finally clarified the danger. I attempted another evasive burst, but the mule kick connected first.
Pain detonated through my chest and left arm.
The Caryll Rune curse amplified the strike into catastrophe. My body launched backward through the corpse pile hard enough to crater the far wall upon impact. Bone cracked somewhere beneath my ribs while blood flooded instantly into my mouth.
More than half my health vanished from a single blow.
I staggered upright while forcing a healing blood vial into my thigh. Warmth surged violently through my veins as flesh attempted to restore itself.
[CoK: 46% -> 48%]
The curse welcomed the healing greedily. Purple spread further along my vision.
Ludwig suddenly leapt.
Fifteen feet of monstrous flesh disappeared into darkness above the chamber. My only way to track him was the very wind that shifts around his mass that screamed moments before the Beastly Sword Saint came crashing downward in a grotesque belly flop that shook the entire arena. Blood erupted upward in tidal waves. Corpse fragments sprayed across the walls.
The second mouth opened immediately afterward.Black arcane fire screamed toward me in a straight line.
Water surged upward before me almost reflexively as a Hydro Wall took shape. Blood and liquid twisted together into a translucent barrier moments before the flames collided against it. Steam exploded outward violently throughout the chamber.
The Hydro Wall held for barely two heartbeats before the fire bored directly through it, yet those seconds proved enough.
I dashed through the steam.
Null appeared within my hand.
The compact blade merged violently with its sheath until the weapon expanded into full broadsword form. Then the tertiary mechanism activated. Rotating saw blades screamed alive across the weapon's spine while electricity erupted over the metal in bright blue arcs.
The chainsword howled.
The Storm Augment fed directly into the trick weapon's bolt state, amplifying the lightning until the surrounding blood itself crackled from residual energy. The last few licks of fire burn me yet my actions betray my own expectations.
With the fire finished, Ludwig lunged forward again with a short jump, front limbs crashing downward hard enough to flatten corpses beneath him.
I moved toward him instead.
The enhanced dash doubled my momentum while carrying me beneath the descending limbs. The chainsword carved upward through one of Ludwig's malformed chest arms. The wind blade immediately followed the swing.
A compressed blade of air erupted forty feet through the arena and exploded against Ludwig's torso hard enough to tear flesh free in ribbons.
[CoK: 48% -> 49%]
The Beastly Sword Saint recoiled violently. I pressed the advantage immediately.
The chainsword hacked downward again, this time strengthened by Overwhelming. Stamina burned through my muscles while the amplified strike tore deep into Ludwig's shoulder. Rotating saw blades screamed through bone while electricity detonated beneath torn flesh.
Ludwig lowered himself suddenly. His elongated neck lashed sideways with terrifying speed.
The first bite narrowly missed my face.
The second mouth snapped upward immediately afterward.
Crooked teeth scraped sparks from my coat as I twisted backward. Pure instinct saved me. Either mouth fully connecting would kill me instantly beneath the compounded curse.
I dashed backward through blood while Ludwig's jaws slammed shut where my torso had been a fraction earlier.
The sound resembled a coffin sealing. The corpse pile moaned louder afterward. Or perhaps the madness simply wanted me to believe it had.
The Curse of Kosm deepened its hold gradually. Violence no longer felt unpleasant. Every successful strike against Ludwig produced warmth beneath my skin. The blood spraying from his wounds looked beautiful.
Ludwig charged again.
I holstered the Saw Cleaver and drew Tonitrus. I knew not if Bolt was more effective but I might as well use all that I have.
Electricity flooded the circular weapon instantly before I slammed it directly into Ludwig's front limbs. The blunt impact cracked reinforced bone.
Then the echoes began.
Spectral copies of the weapon manifested around Ludwig in rapid succession, each repeating the exact same swing pattern through identical trajectories. Eight simultaneous strikes battered the same wound repeatedly while bolt energy chained violently across his body.
[CoK: 49% -> 50%]
The weapon echo was promptly followed by shatter echo.
The damaged location detonated both externally and internally. Through sheer blunt trauma, the limb was broken off.
Invisible impacts ruptured flesh again and again even after I had already retreated. Each delayed strike shattered deeper tissue while Ludwig staggered beneath accumulated damage.
But the combination drained my stamina nearly dry.
The Beast noticed instantly. He lunged. I failed to evade fully.
Front limbs crashed into my torso while the secondary mouth snapped inches from my skull. Hooves hammered repeatedly against my body with enough force to liquefy organs beneath the Caryll Curse. Pain swallowed coherent thought entirely.
Water armor took form in the very last moment before collision as the blood around me burst around my body instinctively.
The armor shattered the moment Ludwig slammed downward again, yet it absorbed enough force to prevent immediate death.
Barely.
I escaped beneath Ludwig's bulk using a desperate dash and jammed another two healing vials into myself while retreating through the blood.
[CoK: 50% -> 54%]
The healing steadied my body. The madness worsened.
Voices whispered from inside the corpse pile now. Some begged me to flee. Others begged me to kill faster. One sounded exactly like my own voice speaking from somewhere beneath the blood.
Ludwig screamed and initiated another stampede. I answered with slaughter.
The chainsword in my offhand shook once more as electricity surged violently across spinning saw blades. I was running low on mana and couldn't afford too many more spells. As such, I sprinted directly toward the charging nightmare while both mouths opened wide enough to swallow me whole.
The enhanced dash carried me beneath the first bite.
The chainsword ripped upward through Ludwig's exposed chest while Wind Blade once again conjured beside me detonated through the wound simultaneously. Bolt energy erupted outward in blinding arcs.
Then my right arm transformed. The Eldritch arm skill did not have a cast, except maybe to my sanity but I couldn't tell for certain since I had no instrument to gauge it with and the system was no help.
Bone elongated beneath splitting flesh. Blackened veins pulsed violently while eldritch growths twisted across my shoulder and fingertips alike. Agony that did not belong to me tore through my body as I did it. I touched his soul.
And through my new arm, I tore. Yet not fully as chunks of the soul came fluttering free into me.
Ludwig recoiled from my attack as my arm reverted back into a human state once more, the eldritch arm skill injuring the boss's soul just enough to teeter him over the edge of his health while my own mind teetered on the edge of madness and sanity alike.
I roared in rage and chased the boss before me down, who himself rose once more, regaining his own rational mind thanks to the help of his guiding moonlight. The shock of soul damage had allowed him to regain his sanity while my own falters.
[CoK: 54% -> 65%]
The Moonlight Greatsword emerged from beneath the corpse pile like a relic pulled from forgotten history.
Blue-green radiance flooded the chamber as Ludwig grasped the colossal blade with trembling reverence. The frenzy within his movements lessened immediately. The beast remained monstrous, but now discipline returned beneath the deformity.
"My guiding moonlight…by my once once again " Ludwig whispered as the other half of his mutations now comes into play, Sword Saint.
Humanity lingered inside that voice. Then the sword moved. The first strike nearly tore my arms off.
I raised the chainsword in defense and still got hurled backward across the arena by the sheer force behind Ludwig's swing. Moonlight exploded against the walls while blood erupted beneath my boots.
This was no longer a rabid beast. This was a swordsman.
Ludwig advanced with terrifying precision. Every swing cornered space deliberately. Every movement anticipated my evasions. I weaved through arcs of moonlight using repeated bursts of SoP while retaliating with quick strikes from the Saw Cleaver whenever openings appeared.
One slash carved across Ludwig's ribs.
[CoK: 65% -> 66%]
Moonlight erupted immediately afterward.
Ludwig thrust the blade skyward and a circular blast of arcane force exploded outward from his body. The shockwave struck me before I escaped fully and launched me violently through the corpse pile.
Then came the follow-up. The greatsword slammed downward.
A rift of blue-green energy tore through the arena itself while the ground erupted repeatedly beneath its path. Corpses exploded upward in fountains of gore. I forced liquid upward desperately into another Hydro Wall. One wall that is far denser than before. The rest of my mana drains into it to ensure this fact.
Even still, The rift shattered through it instantly.
I dashed repeatedly through the area the rift touched as it continued to explode even after it stopped and struck the walls. The final eruption clipped my side hard enough to tear flesh from my ribs.
I injected another healing vial with shaking hands.
[CoK: 66% -> 68%]
Purple nearly consumed my entire vision now.
Violence felt righteous. The blood coating my weapons felt sacred.
Ludwig charged moonlight into his blade once more. Twin diagonal slashes erupted outward. Death approached faster than thought.
Water surged around my body moments before the first beam struck. The armor shattered instantly beneath the impact. The second slash connected immediately afterward and launched me across the arena hard enough to crack stone walls upon collision.
Alive. Barely.
Without the armor, I would have died instantly.
Ludwig approached slowly afterward, dragging the Moonlight Greatsword behind him through the blood. Blue-green light reflected beautifully across the ruined chamber while his singular human eye studied me with something almost resembling pity.
I forced myself upright and consumed a healing vial
Warmth battled icy clarity throughout my veins.
[CoK: 68% -> 70%]
I exhaled slowly.
Then drew the Saw Cleaver once more. The tontritus returning to my inventory.
Ludwig raised the Moonlight Greatsword. I lowered my stance.
The final exchange began.
The enhanced dash carried me beneath Ludwig's opening swing while the Saw Cleaver transformed mid-motion and carved deeply into his leg.
[CoK: 70% -> 71%]
Wind erupted from the slash and tore upward through Ludwig's torso from the sheer force of my attacks. Spectral cleavers followed immediately afterward, repeating identical attacks across the same wound while blood exploded outward in thick streams.
Ludwig retaliated with a downward moonlight slam. I dashed sideways to dodge out of the way, the blade still continued. The arena behind me erupted.
Overwhelming flooded my body one final time as I charged directly back into melee range. The Saw Cleaver hacked repeatedly into Ludwig's ruined chest while moonlight and blood sprayed together throughout the chamber.
Then the echoes shattered.
Invisible impacts detonated continuously within Ludwig's wounds. One strike became five. Five became ten. Bone cracked repeatedly beneath delayed force while the Beastly Sword Saint staggered backward beneath accumulated destruction.
Then the Moonlight Greatsword slipped from his grasp.
Ludwig fell to his knees, his life nearly extinguished. A distinct instinct fell to my mind. Yet the depravity of my recent actions called to have me use my Eldritch Arm once more to attempt to shatter the soul of the beast before me.
My right arm transformed once more as I reached deep within the chest cavity that my weapons had nearly torn asunder. I touched that devilishly powerful soul. I twisted and turned, yet even as it shattered, a fragment remained behind.
A final plea. A final chance at recompense. A final hurrah of valor in a torn body.
The force of the finishing blow tore Ludwig's head nearly free from the top of his neck. The monstrous head collapsed heavily into the blood while black gore flooded outward around it. Yet even then the head stubbornly resisted death as only the final fragment of his soul survived. The rest flowed into me.
[CoK: 74%->90%]
His eyes shifted toward me.
I stood there in silence for a few moments as a violet light flowed through my eyes. My movements twitch ever so slightly before completely halting. Slowly, I removed part of my outer coat to reveal the white Church garment beneath.
"Ah, Tell me, Good Hunter of the Church," Ludwig rasped weakly. "Have you seen the light? Are my Church Hunters the honourable Spartans I hoped they would be?" Ludwig hopes and prayers are all that remains in the final shard of his soul.
My body moved almost automatically as I crouched beside the severed head. The rage twisting my features lessened briefly while another voice seemed to guide my own.
"I'm sorry, but this child is an old friend from that day, one we fought beside, before coming here. He too disappeared but by near death not by curse. Yet what he has learned since he took up the mantle of hunter again, is that we have failed." A tone that would not belong to me speaks out.
Ludwig's mouth seems to tremble at these words yet 'I' continue to explain.
"Our spartans are no more than rabid wolves under Laurence's madness. This hunter's kin suffered due to our negligence. That bastard too turned to beasthood when his methods failed." 'I' curse Laurence, the master of the Healing church.
Blood dripped steadily from my weapons into the corpse pile below. My clothes are no better than a vessel for the blood of those that came before that were felled by the beast before me. I never did find out what Graceful Guidance did.
"We could not have failed more. Yet I shall not let this hunter's story end here too." The explanation ended. The Ludwig that only has his mutated head left has his lips twitch, a clear sign of crying yet he does not allow the beast of himself take over any more. Misery is all he has left, he will take it.
Rage returned immediately afterward.
My face contorted violently only to be momentarily staved off while 'I' brought out one mutagen vial after another from my inventory and consumed them until clarity flooded back to me.
[CoK: 90%->40%]
With that done, 'I' speak to myself.
"Child, I am sorry for our failure and the death of your sibling. It is a failure that shall haunt me for however long I remain. As recompense, I shall return a small portion of the 'gift' you unintentionally bestowed to me, in your own search for something more. I ask that you be more mindful of what you do as they have lasting consequences." 'Ludwig' speaks to 'me' that was buried under him.
"Please rest now." 'I' take a seat on the small section of stairs as Hunter's Will is activated once more, snuffing out the final traces of Ludwig that remained in me. The passage of knowledge is witnessed by me as instinctual scenes. As if I did these things yet my own memories clearly told me that this was not the case.
"Hoooo" I let out a deep breath as clarity returned to me once more. A clarity that truly belongs to me and not the madness or memories of others.
"That fucking sucked" I flop over on those small steps as exhaustion takes hold of me. I close my eyes to rest.
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