Kingdom Reboot: Rise Of The Conquest System

Chapter 11: Fire and Freedom

Aurelius rose from Sir Gareth's body with blood on his hands and ice in his heart. The quiet knight's eyes stared at nothing. His chest didn't rise or fall anymore.

Another man dead because Aurelius had chosen honor over survival. Another failure that would haunt him.

Blue words pulsed in his vision like a heartbeat.

[CORRUPTION: 1/100]

[RAGE ENHANCEMENT ACTIVATED]

[COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS: +25%]

The system was feeding on his anger. Making him stronger through loss and pain. He should have been disgusted by that fact.

Instead, he felt grateful for it.

A guard with twin sabers rushed at him while he knelt beside Gareth's corpse. The enchanted blades left trails of silver light as they carved through the air. Beautiful and deadly.

Aurelius rolled sideways just as both sabers whistled through the space his head had been. The guard was good. His movements flowed like water, one strike feeding into the next without pause.

But Aurelius was better now. Enhanced reflexes let him see the pattern before it completed. When the guard spun left with his sabers extended, Aurelius was already moving right.

His sword found the gap between the man's ribs. Blood sprayed across the silk cushions as the guard dropped with a look of surprise and horror on his face.

[PERSONAL KILL COUNT: +1]

[COMBAT EXPERIENCE GAINED]

Another guard advanced with a hammer in one hand and a mace in the other. Each weapon glowed with enchantments that made small explosions when they hit solid objects. The marble floor cracked under his footsteps.

This one was built like a mountain. Broad shoulders and thick arms covered in scars. He swung the hammer in a wide arc that would have crushed Aurelius's skull if it connected.

Aurelius ducked under the swing and stabbed upward. His blade found the guard's armpit where the armor had gaps. The big man roared and brought his mace down in a hammer blow.

Aurelius twisted away but the mace caught his shoulder. Pain exploded through his arm as the enchantment triggered. His shirt tore and blood ran down his back.

But the system was already working. He could feel the pain from the wound getting numb even as he fought.

The guard raised both weapons for a killing blow. Aurelius drove his sword up through the man's chin. The blade punched through bone and brain before emerging from the top of his skull.

Blood and brain matter splattered the floor as the guard fell backward.

[PERSONAL KILL COUNT: +1]

Across the room, Seraphina danced with death. Her opponent used twin sabers just like the first guard, but this one was faster and very much skilled.

She bled from cuts on her forearm and ribs. Her stolen dagger dripped red as she parried another strike that should have opened her throat.

The guard pressed his advantage. His sabers moved in figure-eight patterns that left no opening for counterattack. Seraphina gave ground step by step, backing toward a wall covered in expensive tapestries.

But Aurelius could see what the guard couldn't. Seraphina wasn't retreating in panic. She was actually choosing her ground and it was brillant.

When her back touched the wall, she suddenly dropped to one knee. Both sabers whistled over her head and embedded themselves in the wooden support beam behind her.

For just a second, the guard was off balance. Arms extended. Weight forward. Completely committed to attacks that had missed.

Seraphina's dagger found his throat. Blood sprayed across the tapestries as she opened his neck from ear to ear. The guard tried to speak but only made wet gurgling sounds before he collapsed.

She stood up slowly, breathing hard. Blood ran down her arm but she was alive. More than alive - she looked fierce and deadly in the candlelight.

"Behind you!" Sir Roland shouted.

A third guard attacked Aurelius with a whip-sword. The weapon extended and retracted like a snake, its tip crackling with lightning. Each strike left scorch marks on the marble floor.

Aurelius barely dodged the first lash. The lightning enchantment singed his hair as it passed. The second strike wrapped around his sword and nearly tore it from his grip.

This guard stayed at distance, using his weapon's reach advantage. Every time Aurelius tried to close the gap, the whip-sword forced him back.

A third strike caught him across the chest. Lightning burned through his shirt and left black marks on his skin. The pain was incredible but he stayed on his feet.

The guard smiled and drew back for another strike. But this time Aurelius was ready.

When the whip-sword extended, he grabbed it with his bare hand. Lightning coursed through his body but his enhanced constitution let him hold on. The guard's eyes went wide with shock.

Aurelius yanked hard. The guard stumbled forward, off balance and within sword range.

One thrust through the heart ended the fight.

[PERSONAL KILL COUNT: +1]

Around him, his knights were winning their own battles. Sir Roland had blood running from a cut across his ribs but his opponent was down. Sir Thomas had an arrow in his shoulder but he'd strangled the crossbow guard with his bare hands.

Sir William limped on his injured leg but he was still fighting. The guard facing him was already wounded and desperate.

The crooked magician realized his forces were failing. He started casting desperately, throwing spell after spell at the surviving knights.

Ice shards filled the air like a blizzard. Roots erupted from the wooden floor to tangle their feet. Magic made the air shimmer with confusion and disorientation.

But Aurelius could see through all of it. His enhanced perception showed him the flow of magical energy like colored streams in the air. All of it came from the twisted old man in grave-stained robes.

Cut off the head and the body dies.

Aurelius charged through the spell effects. Ice shards melted before they reached him. Roots crumbled when they tried to grab his ankles. The confusion magic slid off him like water.

The magician's yellow eyes went wide with terror and confusion. He raised his hands and spoke words that made reality crack around the edges.

A fireball the size of a man's head flew straight at Aurelius's chest. The heat was incredible - hot enough to melt steel. Hot enough to turn a human being into ash and bone.

It hit him center mass and exploded.

Fire washed over him like a burning wave. His shirt and vest caught fire immediately. His skin blistered and cracked. The smell of his own burned flesh filled his nose.

But he didn't stop moving.

Through the flames and pain, he kept charging. The system was healing him even as he burned. New skin grew to replace what the fire destroyed.

The magician screamed something that might have been a prayer or a curse. Then Aurelius's sword punched through his chest and out his back.

Blood bubbled from the old man's mouth as his yellow eyes dimmed. He fell backward with the sword still through his heart.

[PERSONAL KILL COUNT: +3]

[MAGICAL RESISTANCE INCREASED]

All the spell effects died instantly. The ice melted into puddles. The roots withered and cracked. The air cleared of confusion magic.

"Fucking impossible," one of the remaining guards whispered.

But there weren't many guards left. Most lay dead or dying on the bloodstained floor. The survivors looked at Aurelius with fear instead of confidence.

"He's a demon," another guard said. "No man survives a fireball like that."

They were right. No normal man could have done what he just did. But Aurelius wasn't normal anymore. The system had changed him into something else. Something stronger and more dangerous.

And maybe even less human.

He looked around the room at the carnage. Bodies everywhere. Blood soaking into expensive carpets. Smoke rising from his burned clothes.

Sir William finished off his wounded opponent with a thrust through the eye. Sir Thomas pulled the arrow from his shoulder and used it to stab another guard in the neck.

The last two guards threw down their weapons and ran for the exits. Nobody tried to stop them.

"Mother Coin," Sir Roland gasped. He was pressing cloth against the cut on his ribs. "Where did she go?"

Aurelius looked toward the wine storage area. A section of the wall had swung open like a door. Mother Coin was gone, along with her portable valuables.

"Hidden passage," Seraphina said. She was binding her own wounds with strips torn from her dress. "Every criminal establishment has escape routes. I should have watched for it."

"She'll come after us," Sir Edmund warned. "The criminal networks don't forget betrayals like this."

"Let her come," Aurelius said quietly. His burned chest was already healing, new pink skin replacing the charred flesh. "We have bigger problems."

He could hear sounds from outside. Horses and armor. Men shouting orders.

"Palace guards," Sir Garrett cursed. "Mother Coin's messenger reached them."

"Then we need to move," Aurelius said. "But first..."

He pulled keys from the dead magician's belt and walked toward the cages that lined the walls. The fairies inside pressed against the bars with desperate hope in their eyes.

"You're really going to free them?" Sir Thomas asked. Blood still ran from his shoulder wound.

Aurelius stopped. He looked at Sir Gareth's body lying in a pool of blood. The quiet knight had died protecting him. Died believing he was worth dying for.

The truth was ugly. He'd come here for safe passage. Had been willing to negotiate with Mother Coin, even after knowing what this place was. Knowing what happened to these creatures. He'd been ready to walk away and leave them all in their cages.