Chương 6: Forged In Fire, Part Two

Bruno cracked his knuckles and finally caved in, allowing himself to let out a singular yawn. He hadn't actually expected his gamble to pay off, and especially not so soon. His hunch about the town had turned out to be right. This town knew that Ardeo was still alive and was actively protecting him from anyone that happened to be searching for him, or his precious soulstone.

All it took was one little"accidental" slip of information regarding those new travelers looking into the late commander, and that was all they needed to panic.

"Edwane had thought you might be lurking out in these parts. Can't say I really believed him, though…" Bruno said.

"Don't suppose you know what happened to Violaz and her soulstone, would you?"

"You know Edwane?" Ardeo asked, his disbelief quickly fading into anger.

"No, Edwane isn't foolish enough to involve ordinary folk in our matters. You must be with her and the Grand Council… or perhaps you're with Calus, just like that boy right there."

"I don't belong to the Grand Council, nor do I serve Calus. I am just a simple [Gambler] that wants to help heal this world that has been long afflicted by a malady that you failed to cure," Bruno said.

"That soulstone has far too much of Calus within it for anyone to hold on to for this long. Turn it over and allow me to find a way to safely dispose of it." Ardeo glared at Bruno, his eyes burning brighter than before.

"I can handle it. I've fought the temptation for countless lifetimes now, and I can do it for much more." Ardeo ignited his sword once more and entered a combative stance. It seemed that it was time for the main event, and so, Bruno turned to address the boy that still laid on the ground.

"Regroup with your friends and take them away from here. I'll find you after this, and if any still live, I promise to help treat them to the best of my abilities. Now, go." The boy quickly stood up and rushed into the thick fog towards his friends. Bruno had thought he'd sensed the stench of corruption on him earlier, but now it was absolutely reeking off of him for some reason. Something he'd have to investigate later… Ardeo launched himself towards Bruno, arcing his flaming broadsword towards him.

The swing was far too early, and with Ardeo a good distance away, this led Bruno to expect a projectile attack to be coming his way. He saw the flames remove themselves from the burning blade and just barely managed to dodge.

"Did you ever get the chance to fight a [Gambler] back in your days? I mean, I'm sure someone like you can tell that my class is something a bit beyond being a simple [Gambler]. Regardless, the idea is the same," Bruno said.

"This isn't going to be a battle of strength. This is my luck versus yours… so, let's see who fate favors today, shall we?" He had mentioned that he hated gambling, which was true in the sense of monetary gambling, but damn, did he love to place a bet on his life versus someone else's. Especially when it was against a foe such as Ardeo." Fate? Luck?" Ardeo said, spitting the words out like they were poison.

"You think I became strong by trusting such foolish concepts? I saw what fate had in store for me and this world, and so, I forged a new one. Someone with such foolish ideals could never be worthy of protecting my soulstone." Bruno had nothing to say in response for once. It wasn't that he was stunned by the old man's words. It was just that he didn't like arguing with old people. It was always such a waste of time and energy, especially when this one had fallen off the wagon a long time ago.

"[Armory Roulette]," Bruno said, the skill causing a roulette wheel to appear above his head. It was an illusion visible to everyone in proximity, allowing everyone in the fight to see the results. There were six possible outcomes of potential weapons he could receive. One of which was a negative, the rest being good to great depending on the match up. As he had no control over what he got, luck always had his life in her lovely hands.

Well, he could expend a [Reroll] to try again, but as charges of that skill were slow to regain, he preferred to work with what he got most of the time. He'd also learned the hard way that when he used [Reroll] three times, it'd actually break the roulette wheel. And needless to say… that hadn't been a good time for him. But having luck always have his life in her hands was exactly how Bruno wanted to live his life.

In his eyes, a battle was less a competition between two individual's strength, and more so a battle seeing who was more worthy of receiving Fate's fickle favor that day. The wheel slowed its roll and landed on the five slot. Bruno shrugged his shoulders; it was an alright win he supposed. He reached up into the misty illusion and pulled out a cane with an ornate sapphire on the handle. It wasn't like an old mans walking cane.

Well, it kind of was, but also way more durable and packed a hell of a punch all things considered. There were other tricks it possessed, but he'd wait until the right moment before unveiling any of them. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Bruno lifted up his cane and wildly stabbed it at Ardeo once, then twice, each hit successful. Ardeo reeled from the hits, completely caught off guard at his speed.

Not wanting to lose tempo, he rushed into his next attack immediately. Ardeo expected the stab this time, and grabbed the cane before it connected, yanking the cane back and away from Bruno, but failed to rip the skill-created weapon away from his hands. As Bruno recovered, he sent a lazy swing once more which was easily dodged. Ardeo capitalized on the miss, and as he finished the dodge, he used that opening to carry out a fierce slash.

The fiery sword clashed against his cane, their strength pitted against each other. The heat tickled at Bruno's hand, intensifying by the second, and soon enough, he was forced to pull away. The ancient legend swung two more times, but each were narrowly blocked. Determined to restore the tempo back in his favor, Bruno reached under his coat and flung two small daggers at the old mans feet. The daggers struck true on his right foot. Ardeo fell over, cursing the dirty tactic.

Bruno paid him no mind as he heaved the cane right towards his head. The cane struck forearm instead as Ardeo managed to block the swing in the nick of time. He could both hear and feel the shattering of bone. A brief wail escaped from the elder's throat, but he quickly shut himself up.

"Suppose it was impossible for you to live up to your own legends. Even still… I expected more of you," Bruno said as he towered over the fallen former commander. He expected Ardeo to grovel and beg, but instead the old man dug deep, somehow finding more strength buried deep within that ancient body of his. Ardeo fell onto his back and used his feet to sweep at Bruno, forcing him to back up for a moment. Using the new space he'd created in that brief moment, Ardeo launched himself back onto his feet.

His right arm hung limp, forcing him to move the sword over to his left. Even as Ardeo used his less dominant hand, his ferocity refused to waver. The rage was written plain on his face, fueling the desperate assault. Each swing demanded Bruno to evade, as he felt sure his cane would be cut in half should he try to block anymore.

"[Eruption!]," Ardeo yelled. From below Bruno's feet, he saw an intense flame bubble, lightly roasting him. More sprouted around the area, making dodging almost impossible. He could escape the majority of the flame wells if he dodged backwards, but no doubt a small portion of him would be burned. Well, that was better than the whole portion of his body being cooked, he figured. So, he rolled backwards just in time. And as he expected, he felt his back be aggressively tickled by the powerful fire.

Ardeo, immune to his own flames, burst out of the tall pillars of fire that he'd created and swung wildly onto him. The first strike slashed across his left arm, but thankfully didn't remove the limb, most likely due to fatigue hindering his strength. The rest he was able to block, but as Ardeo showed no signs of stopping, despite any fatigue… he had to do something. In the midst of the onslaught, Bruno activated one of his skills, [Trick Room]. The next swing that followed went wide and struck far to his left.

His skill made it so that Ardeo would see a different Bruno each time he blinked, for the next fifteen blinks. Just like the rest of his class, there was always a small chance that his own skill could fuck him. It wasn't likely, but Ardeo could get lucky and be granted the position of the real Bruno. While Ardeo was still entranced by the illusion, Bruno twisted the sapphire that adorned his cane.

He heard the mechanism click, and the rigidity of the cane slackened to reveal its hidden segmented whip form, with each segment housing a serrated blade. Bruno flicked the whip at the confused old commander and felt the blades latch around his neck. Ardeo struggled against the whip, as the blades ravaged his hands as he tried to pry it away. It'd only be a few more moments now until the deed would be done, and the world would lose one of their former heroes.

A sharp pain in his shoulder caused Bruno to release his grip on the whip. Ardeo collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. An arm wrapped itself around Bruno's neck which caused him to throw his elbow back to knock the assailant off of him. His elbow connected with the persons stomach and knocked them away. When he turned around, he saw it was the townsfolk that had slowly shambled towards the fight.

"Master Ardeo, run!" The man that he'd hit shouted.

"We will not let your flame burn out now! Go and rekindle your embers!" If Bruno weren't in the midst of a blazing inferno, he might have commented on the tiresome fire analogies. As it stood right now, he was more focused on his fleeing target. Ardeo was back on his feet, but looked worn down. More villagers were slowly making their way through the ring of fire. They all looked to be truly willing and ready to die in order to let the ancient hero escape.

"Stop! Don't make me cut you all down…" Bruno warned. Truthfully, he thought that he should do it regardless. They had just tried to burn down that group of kids just because they found out they were asking about an old heroes grave. Granted, it had been his own involvement that had set all of this in motion. But, in his defense, this level of reaction hadn't been anticipated. And who could've seen Ardeo actually coming himself?

"My loyal believers, thank you for the help, but please don't risk yourselves any further. I can manage my own retreat," Ardeo said, and then he turned back to address Bruno one last time.

"I can only assume that I'll be seeing you again one day. My flames flickered today, but just know that I'll be stoking the flames of my passion. Next time we meet, I'll blaze brighter than ever, burning all that stand in my way. The Hallowed Inferno shall return and burn all that seek to aid the calamity that is Calus Feras." Bruno just sighed and rolled his eyes. Why did everyone have to commit so hard to their strongest personality traits?

Even he felt forced to make gambling references on occasion, but why did it have to be this way?

"Look, I don't need your life; you were a hero once after all. I just need the stone. It should be disposed of—" The fire that had been devouring the area throughout the whole ordeal suddenly flew through the air and pooled into a massive ball that floated above his palm. Bruno didn't even hear what skill Ardeo had said due to the awestruck mutterings of the villagers. Bruno went to go towards Ardeo, but the man slammed the ball of fire down at the ground. His instincts flared up, causing him to halt his advance.

A moment later the earth erupted in a great flame. While the flame ring that caged them earlier was of a moderate height, this felt like a great mountain that suddenly loomed over him. The fire moved as if it were alive, snaking a perimeter that gave Ardeo the chance to escape without pursuit. And any thoughts of him pursuing the old man were dashed away as a villager that had wandered too close to the looming wall of flame was engulfed in fire due to the wall itself launching itself at the poor bastard.

Bruno figured that was his queue to leave as well. He might not have gotten the soulstone, but he did get some information at least. This had been a much more fruitful stop than he'd thought it'd have been. There was also that one kid that he'd need to question further. He was connected to Calus in someway, but he had no idea how their involvement had come to be. The skill he'd seen the boy use was far from ordinary, especially for someone as young as him.

There was no telling what would happen when he found that boy again. By all means, Bruno should just kill him for having any ties at all with Calus. That's what he thought Edwane would do after all. Unfortunately for Edwane, Bruno was Bruno. And where others saw danger and risk, he saw excitement and potential reward. It would be a gamble to keep the boy alive and intertwine their fates together. The odds of this turning out well for him were likely low, but…

It was most fortunate then that Bruno Karak, the [Gambler of Fate], enjoyed life the most when he was unfavored.