City of Desire [Kingdom Building]

Proofread by Thomas F

Solivos Yark

Bang!

She destroyed the Death Fire Lance that Lomos sent at her and came at me.

The glittering fire even reduced the bone shards to dust. They were ashes as they reached her.

That fire had become too strong in the past minute.

I had called him to help me deal with this bitch; she had transformed into a demon, with the bloody mist circling around her.

Clang!

I defended against her blade, pushing all the aura I had to stop the fire from coming at me while I took rapid steps back to manage the force.

She came at me again; Lomos attacked her, but she destroyed his spell as she destroyed the Bone Wall between us before attacking me.

Clang!

Once more, I defended the attack before taking a rapid step back.

She turned to follow me when she suddenly stopped and swung her saber back.

Blava became visible and leaped back in the air; she didn’t even dare to engage against the flaming blade. Heritage skills or not, it is extremely dangerous to clash directly against that glittering saber.

Unless she has an aura like me or an artifact like the demon in front of me has.

Lomos used this opportunity to launch the attack, and the black lightning shot toward her. Appearing in front of her in the second.

She swung her saber at it, crushing the lightning, but found my spear coming toward her, charged with my powerful skills.

Clang!

She defended, sending me back once more before swinging her saber to the right at Blava, who once more dodged the attack before dodging the Death Fire Lance from Lomos.

I was already in front of her and attacked.

I hate calling for the help, but now that I did, I wanted to kill the bitch. It is no longer about the artifact or the ego; it is basic desperation.

It would be bad if I lost the battle. I have to win, and that could only happen by killing her.

Clang!

She defended, sending me back, before attacking and dodging Blava’s attack and crushing Lomos’s spell.

‘This bitch is powerful,’ said Blava. ‘It’s the artifact,’ I replied. It is only because of that artifact that she could fight all three of us together.

If she didn’t have that, I would have killed her within a minute of the battle.

She defended, dodged, and crushed any attack that came at her. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to kill her.

Forget killing her; we couldn’t even land a blow.

I had come here declaring that I would win the battle overwhelmingly, but here I am struggling; my men are struggling against the enemy.

On top of that, I had asked for help. Which I thought I would never do in this battle, but here I am doing it.

It hurt my pride badly. So, I have to kill her; I wouldn’t be able to face myself if I didn’t, but my current strength is far from enough.

The artifact had given her too much power. If I want to kill her, I will have to go beyond my limit.

It’s very hard and not without a cost, but what choice do I have? If I didn’t kill her, I would become a laughingstock.

So, I pushed beyond the limit for more power, disregarding the potential consequences.

At first, there was nothing. So, I gritted my teeth and dug even deeper before finally finding something.

‘It’s not enough!’ I said, seeing the little bit of power.

So, I pushed even deeper and came across the wall. I tried to get through it, but it wouldn’t break. So, I tried, using everything I had, every bit of emotion I was feeling, and every desire; I had to win this battle at any cost.

I felt the wall cracking, and it was blasting apart. As it did, the torturous pain filled me.

“Ahhhh!”

The pain made me scream, but it also provided me with power. I could feel more aura filling me; it was beyond what I had expected.

I grinned through the pain and looked at the demon that I was going to slay.

“Die bitch!” I cursed!

With that thought, I pushed this new tide of power into Spearman’s Surge and moved. The speed was so fast that it had turned everything blurry.

I appeared in front of the demon, like I had teleported, and swung my spear at her, pushing the tide into the Skewerstorm.

Her eyes widened in surprise, but her glittering saber moved immediately.

Clang!

Our weapons clashed, and for the first time in a while, I saw her. It was a faint shake, but a shake nonetheless. It made her eyes widen.

The artifact is really powerful despite such a powerful attack. I was only able to shake this demon a little, but I was not disappointed; this was just the first attack of the Skewerstorm.

The weakest; from now on, every attack would be more potent than it.

…

General Azalia

Bam!

The diamond fire on the blade burned through thousands of tiny bone needles, turning them into ashes.

They were attacking me constantly, and the mage’s attack had intensified as Yark stopped in his place. I am moving toward him to finish him off.

Once I kill him, the battle will be over, but the mage and the assassins are attacking me intensely.

There would have been more mages, but my people are holding them back. However, they won’t be able to do it for long.

I am also nearing my limit.

This power isn’t without a cost; the tsunami of draconic emotion wants to swallow me up. I cannot let that happen; I cannot become an instrument of its will.

So, I have to finish them off, with Yark being the most important.

I harnessed more power, feeling the tide of draconic emotions and energy it was sending inside me, getting stronger. It is overwhelming, but I need that power.

Bam!

I destroyed the spell that came at me and burned it to ashes before swinging my saber toward the assassin attacking me.

She leaped back halfway, avoiding the saber.

The assassin of Night Manor is really good. She is lower level than me, and I have an artifact, but despite that, I wasn’t able to kill her.

She seemed to have that instinct about the danger. It’s not a skill, which is easily recognizable; this is an instinct that has let her avoid my attacks numerous times.

A single one of them would have been enough to finish her off.

Still, if she had been alone, I would have killed her ten times already, despite all the instinct she has.

I wanted to chase her, but another spell came at me. I destroyed it and was about to move at Yark, when I stopped, sensing a tsunami of aura.

“Ahhhhh!” he screamed

‘Fuck!’ I cursed.

I had been warned about this by Lord Silver. It has a terrible cost but provides immense power.

Lord Sliver has used such power against the bandit, who was at a higher level than him, and using the artifact I am holding. Overdrafting, the power from the artifact, like I am doing.

The only difference between the two conditions is that. Bandit was a higher level than Lord Silver, while I am a lower level than Yark.

“Die bitch!” he roared and came at me.

His speed surprised me; it was fast, blurringly fast, that he had appeared in front of me in an instant before attacking me with his spear.

It moved faster than it had ever before, and even with my artifact-enhanced eyes, I could not see the movement perfectly.

Still, I swung my saber toward it unhesitatingly.

Clang!

My saber clashed against his spear, and I felt the blow. It was powerful, so much that it shook me.

It shocked me. I had expected it to be powerful, but not this powerful.

“This is just the beginning,” he said and attacked again. I could feel it being more powerful than earlier. I could sense he was using that skill again.

The one that makes his next attack stronger than the previous.

Clang!

I defended, barely, but saw a spell coming toward me and the assassin from behind, along with his attack.

I didn’t want to do it, but I harnessed more power, and this time it did something. It moves the fire from the blade, covering my body.

The fire didn’t burn me like regular fire, but it started to create a charring layer on my skin while giving me torturous pain.

The fire covering me is next-level of bad.

This is the last level of power I could harness. If I harnessed more, my mind would break; it is already at the edge of breaking, but any more and it will break without a doubt.

I won’t survive for long after that, but in the time I will live after that, I will be a mindless monster that kills both enemies and allies without any conscience.

The fire surprised Yark, but he didn’t stop his attack, but the assassin did. With the fire, she couldn’t do anything against me.

This fire is different from a normal fire, and she knows what would happen if she were to touch it. She is using an artifact that will offer protection, but it will still pose a risk to her.

Clang! Rip!

I defended against the third attack while moving to dodge the spell.

I dodged it, but not perfectly. The burning spear cut through my arm before burning to ashes.

“Good, I thought you would die without a fight,” he said before attacking me.

Clang, Clang, Clang!

I defended the attack, but more came one after another; I defended while dodging the spells. I tried to attack, but his attacks didn’t give me a chance, and the mage was playing spoilsport.

The assassin is hovering behind me. If she sees the chance, she will attack.

Seconds passed as he attacked, and I defended, with his attacks getting stronger with every attack.

At first, I could defend myself sufficiently with the power I had harnessed, but soon I began to shake again. Every attack is making me shake harder.

“How is he not spent?” I asked.

Lord Silver had said that holding this power every second is hell, but he seemed to have no problem with it.

Instead, I could feel him harnessing more and more power with every attack.

I am counting on him to be spent first or even weaken; it is the only way I could win this, but there is no hint that it is happening.

Our weapons clashed with great force, sending powerful shockwaves. So strong that even the assassin who was hovering behind me couldn’t dodge them anymore and retreated.

Even the mage began to have problems sending his spells at me, as most of them would be crushed by the shockwaves instead of my efforts.

He attacked once more, and I knew immediately this was the most dangerous attack I had faced. I used every bit of power I harnessed in my counter.

I pushed my skills as much as I could.

Our weapons reached close and were about to clash when his spear curved and came at me like a snake.

I moved back immediately to dodge, knowing. I couldn’t defend against the attack.

Rip!

The blade cut through my chest, giving me an extended cut across it.

It is a long cut, reaching to my ribs. If I hadn’t dodged on time, it would have gone through me, shredding my heart apart.

“I missed,” he said with a laugh, before attacking.

I moved my sword defensively this time instead of countering while retreating at the same time.

He avoided it, curving around my sword.

The curve isn’t the problem; I would have been able to deal with it. Even if the movement had been more complex than this, the problem is the speed.

It is a blurring speed that I couldn’t counter.

Rip!

Once more, it cut through, this time through to the collarbone.

I avoided death by inches.

“How long will you be able to keep up? Five seconds, then a second? Twenty? It is better than you should give up and accept death,” he said as he launched another attack.

“It will be longer than you!” I replied, looking directly into his eyes while taking the cut on my face.

I don’t want to die, but I will; it is set in stone. Given my current state, I know I will not survive.

“Hehe!”

He laughed at my reply, but I could not feel the slightest mirth in his eyes—only the burning hate.

“Even in this state, you are joking, but let me tell you the truth,” he said, and his eyes turned dead serious.

“I will kill you. After that, I will kill everyone here on this battlefield and in the city: men, women, children. No one will be spared, not even the beasts,” he stated while cutting across my leg.

I didn’t care about the wound; all I was thinking about was his words.

I could tell he was being truthful. He will do what he said; he has done this before and will do it here.

I cannot let him do it. I would turn to the monster if I had to do it because even then, the casualties would be far less than letting him live.

As that thought settled in, I had made the decision. To harness that power.

“I will not let you!” I replied with all my conviction.

It would break my mind and turn me into a monster, but it was the only way I could kill him. It’s not something I want to do, but it is the only thing I can do.

That realization washed over me, stilling the chaos in my head. A deep, uncanny calm settled in, deeper than anything I’d ever felt. Even more soothing than the emotional unraveling I’d once experienced at the spa in the Velvet Garden.

So calm that the storm I’d just survived—the wild, crashing surge of draconic fury and emotion—now felt like nothing more than a ripple. A gentle wave brushing against the shore, where just moments ago, there had been a tidal wave threatening to drown me.

Crack!

I let myself enjoy this calm for a fraction of a second before moving to harness the power that would turn me into a monster when I felt a gentle crack from deep within me.

A moment later, vast, colossal power shot out of me.

It made Yark’s eyes turn big as a saucer. It confused me for a fraction of a second before I realized what happened, and my eyes were wide as well.

Aura: I had awakened the aura.

It returned to me, and immediately, the sword began to absorb it like crazy; as it did, the power that was greater than anything I had felt before filled me.

I know I shouldn’t let the saber do that; there is a way to use aura with weapons, but right now, I let it and turned to the opponent, and the spear that nearly touched me.

I stopped retreating, and my saber, which was moving defensively, moved to counter.

Clang!

My saber clashed against his spear, creating such a powerful shockwave that it destroyed the flaming bone lance.

Though I was not looking at it, I was looking at the man in front of me, who had rapidly started to take steps back while vomiting, and blood rushed out of his mouth.

I moved toward him and could see the faint struggle in his eyes for a fraction of a second before I saw something shocking.

He turned mid-movement and began to run.

Saying it shocked me would be an understatement. I didn’t think he would retreat.

I followed after, but immediately, the bone wall appeared before me.

Bang!

‘Fucking mage!’ I cursed and crushed through the bones. It burned, but another one appeared, and then another.

Bang Bang Bang!

I crushed through it, but Yark was scurrying away fast, as his life depended on it.

I need to stop him before he reaches the undead, which are only a few meters away. Once he reaches them, things will be very different.

I am following him, but the walls are slowing me down. My attacks destroyed them, but they are creating a stumbling block.

Bang!

I destroyed another Bone Wall and saw Yark barely a meter away from the undead.

My speed is fast, but I will not be able to reach him before he reaches them.

It made me worried, but I calmed myself down and began to pour my aura into the saber.

It is already consuming it, but now it is consuming faster, increasing the intensity and the volume of the diamond fire before swinging it.

I don’t know if it will work, but it’s the only option I have.

As I did, a massive arc of fire emerged from it and moved forward.

Bang Bang Bang!

It crashed against the Bone Wall and destroyed it utterly before moving forward, destroying the second Bone Wall before reaching the third.

The third one was destroyed, and I could see Yark, and he had reached the undead.

I could see the relief in his eyes for a moment before the alarm filled them as he saw the fire arc coming toward him fast.

Bang!

He moved toward the undead and nearly disappeared when the arc crashed against the undead, creating a massive blast that burned hundreds of undead to ashes.

I do not care about them; I care about Yark.

I was moving toward finishing him off if he survived when I felt his presence disappear.

Relief flooded me, but I still went there and found nothing but the ashes and fire that was spreading around the undead rapidly.

Seeing that, I turned and moved toward the mage, who was running at full speed with fear in his eyes.

I would have liked to go after the assassin for what she did, but she has moved too far away. So, I moved toward the mage, burning through the undead that came in my path and the spells he was releasing.

The mage is fast but barely half as fast as Yark had been. So, it didn’t take me long to reach him.

“General, I sur”

I burst through the Bone Wall and appeared in front of him before launching an attack. I didn’t listen to his words; I might have if he hadn’t cast another spell.

Rip!

My saber ripped through him before burning his flesh to ashes. I hope they damage his soul as well. So he wouldn’t return as a bloody lich.

I didn’t even stay for a moment and moved toward the next powerful presence close to me.

I don’t have much time; I need to kill as many bastards as possible.

‘General, they had sounded retreat!’ informed Trask, and I could feel their retreating skills, but I didn’t stop. I have already reached close to the target.

A few seconds later, I flashed in front of the middle-aged man.

Rip!

My sword tore through him, turning his two pieces into ashes before moving to the next target.

‘General, stop!’ a gentle but steely voice, filled with heaviness, rang in my mind. ‘You will burn yourself to death if you continue.’ She added.

I didn’t have to listen to her; I am the General. She could not command me, but I stopped.

Though I didn’t immediately let go of the power of the artifact till my people arrived beside me. They looked at me in shock but unhesitatingly came closer.

“General,” greeted Trask and others.

“Trask, I hand command to you,” I said. I didn’t use skill; I just used the words. “I accept,” he replied.

Hearing that, I finally pushed the artifact’s power back into it, but I didn’t let go of the aura. I kept it on, despite the wave overwhelming me.

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