Fallen Fate Online

"What is that...?" Roland muttered with a shudder as he looked at the Blood Skull, he had never seen such artifacts before.

"Nothing much." Enar shrugged nonchalantly, "It's just a trinket that will help me save time, by the way, get started." Enar raised his head.

Blood Skull smirked and opened his jaw wide. Out of it, four scarlet chains flew outward, stopping parallel to one another as if they were plunging into space.

A magic circle appeared between the chains, from which a huge hourglass gradually emerged, swinging slowly from side to side over the red orb of the lava lake. The hourglass was completely empty, as it had yet to be filled.

"Hehehe, now let's start my favorite part." Blood Skull grinned and opened his jaw even wider.

At the same moment, a chain with a sharp tip headed toward everyone in the magic circle. The only exceptions were Roland and Zayne, however, they still had three chains aimed at their mates to take care of.

Crackle.

The first chain reached its goal as its tip plunged into the head of one Orc. This one didn't even have time to react as the chain broke its skull, the Orc's eyes went blank.

Then, a wave of fire went through the chain that covered the whole Orc's body and instantly turned it into ashes, a second later, one skull appeared at the top of the hourglass.

"Wait... Is it... Is it fuel replacement...?" Zayne muttered in disbelief, looking at the skull slowly rolling down, toward the narrow part, and to his surprise, the clear skull began to grind into thick blood.

Roland and Zayne realized how horrible this mechanism was, but they had no time to think about it for they had a more important task.

Whoooooooooooooosh.

Roland rushed over to Geir and with a swing of his sword tossed the chain aside, Zayne did the same when he appeared next to Rea.

Elin was the last one left, neither Rolan nor Zayne had time for her, but unlike Geir or Rea she was conscious.

Elin's pupils narrowed as she bounced back at the last moment, holding up her broken arm.

Roland looked in her direction and headed toward her at full speed. The chain tried to reach Elin a few more times, but she had no problem dodging until Roland came up. He destroyed the chain and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Don't worry about me... Better focus on him, since what's happening now is like a real hell." Elin muttered with a gulp as she stared at the Orcs.

They were regular monsters, so the Orcs simply didn't stand a chance against the chains that already pierced most of the Orcs. In agony, hundreds of Orcs were dying, burning in red flames and turning into skulls that filled the hourglass.

"Hey, I can't deal with these, so you'll have to take care of that. All I can do is take this big guy out." Blood Skull grinned as a thick chain flew out of its jaw that was reserved for Turgan.

Crackle.

The massive tip plunged into Turgan's head, placing it in an hourglass, the last and largest skull.

Enar looked at the handfuls of ash left by the Orcs, then at the hourglass, and said, "How long will it take for the energy to be enough?"

"Thirty minutes, maybe a little longer." Blood Skull quickly replied.

"Tck. Too slow, you're useless after all." Enar frowned.

"Hah, you don't have to be so rude. It took you all day to get the right amount of energy alone, after all, opening a Tier Three Chaos Hearth is no easy task." Blood Skull smirked, giving Zayne and Roland a devious glance.

"Tier Three... Wait... Weren't the Orcs only going to summon Tier Two Chaos Hearth...?" Roland's eyes went wide with shivers all over his body.

"Yeah, that was the original plan, but as you can see, things have changed a bit. Without their leader, these Orcs are useless anyway, so the best they could do is become fuel." Enar shrugged, "They have somewhat more energy than coal, though... without the two components it's still not enough, is it?" Enar looked at Blood Skull.

"Sure. However, we are fortunate to have two sources of energy from our nemesis right here." Blood Skull grinned broadly, looking at Roland and at Zayne.

"What...?" Zayne's eyes went wide, "Did..."

Whooooooooooooosh.

Enar stepped forward and appeared in front of Zayne with an ice-cold stare, "You got that right. I will use Fate's energy that is deep within you to summon a more powerful Chaos Hearth."

Zayne flinched as he hurriedly put out a block, and Enar's fist collided with his sword. A wave of shivers ran down the blade.

"Not bad reflexes for a kid, but you're too weak to engage in a battle of this level. Well, you might say you were unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." Enar exhaled cold steam, and his hands became a blur.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Enar unleashed a hail of blows on Zayne, and all Zayne could do was try to block the blows he saw, but it was hardly a successful defense.

[Your HP has dropped below 60%!]

[Warning! Your left rib has been broken!]

[Your HP has dropped below 50%]

[There is a high risk of tendon rupture!]

[Your HP has dropped below 40%]

'Stop reporting it to me! Fuck!' Zayne inwardly exclaimed furiously, 'What kind of idiot invented this system!? I'm trying not to die fighting this bastard and yet I have to be distracted by messages?! I already know my situation is shit!!!'

It was unknown if the messages stopped appearing or if Zayne was completely focused on his opponent, but he saw nothing else but Enar's blows.

"Zayne!" Roland exclaimed, appearing behind Enar.

"Here comes the second one." Enar sighed as he turned sharply and drove his fist into Roland's stomach.

"Argh!" Roland's face twisted in pain, but it could not stop his sword.

Enar bounced back sharply just before Roland's sword came crashing down, but as soon as Enar's feet touched the ground, a scarlet blade covered in a blue glow rushed toward him.

Zayne's cold stare surprised Enar for a moment, so he hesitated, not retreating in time to shield himself from the strike with his flame-covered hand.

Crackle.

A cut opened on his palm, and blood gushed from it, as red droplets flashed before his amber eyes. His veins swelled as he prepared to counterattack, but as he thought about it, Roland's sword swung toward him.

Whooooooooooooosh.

Enar quickly crouched down, leaned his arms on the floor, and kicked Roland in his broad chest like with a spear, knocking him backwards.

"It doesn't seem so easy now, right?" Zayne's gaze fell on Enar when a silhouette of scarlet wings appeared behind him.

Enar answered nothing, he just covered his legs in red fire and prepared for battle.

The only spectator of their battle was Elin, who watched their actions with wide eyes full of disbelief.

Gradually the battle grew faster, and all she could see were blue and red flashes that tried to defeat each other as well as sparks from swords colliding with fire.

'No way... No matter how hard I try... I will never be able to reach the same level... This Apostle dealt with me in a moment, but they overwhelm him!' Elin muttered internally with trembling lips and eyes that were ready to shed tears.