Chapter 185: Play For Power (VII): Glorious Crucifixion

As a weapon Vita gratia had a passive that absorbed the souls of anyone it slays and splits it with him in the form of stats, it has only one active skill, and it was an active skill that could only be used once in a month. Among his active skills, [Final Rite] could kill every enemy in sight and send their souls into his body for permanent and temporary boosts in stats, however even that couldn't compare to [Glorious Crucifixion]. This was a skill that targeted every enemy with a 400-meter range, basically all enemies 400 meters in any direction, and what it did was horrifying.

Tyrese and Tyrene were spared, but that was well within Rezar's plan, as silver crosses with skulls carved into them shot out of the ground, each one behind one enemy. Their appearance alone was unexpected enough, but when strings of light began to stab into the hands and feet of those in front of the cross, they all knew they weren't dealing with anything normal. The strings pulled them back to the cross, crucifying them in the most painful manner possible as their blood began to coat the crosses. But not a single drop of that life giving liquid touched the ground.

They were absorbed into the crosses, as both the hundreds of crosses and their equally hundreds of captives began to glow, but quickly following after was a sound of agony that seemed to come from an orchestra. Except of course this was an orchestra in pain as their life essence and very souls were absorbed into the crosses, and then redistributed into the air. But all of those essences, vitality and stats weren't just thrown away, they would invariably and unequivocally become a part of his people, everyone within his kingdom, great and small, male or female adult or child or teenager.

As long as you have chosen to follow him as a king, then you would also benefit from this skill. A single powerful move that required three whole tiers of magic to activate, and could only be activated once every month, in the same way [Final Rite] can only be activated once every week. Rezar watched as their screams seemed to stretch far into the sky, a symphony of pain and agony as he took much from them without the intention of ever giving it back. He was death and power incarnate, wearing a face that should there be an afterlife for these people, they would never be able to forget.

The sheer amount of silver crosses hanging fifteen feet in the air was quite a sight, Rezar got a feeling from Vita Gratia that this work of art was permanent. Which is to say that no matter how many eons pass, this veritable forest of silver life draining crosses will remain standing, as a monument and warning, and ultimately as a testament to the power of the King of the Bone Horde, the supreme one of Morte Bianca and the son of death herself. Rezar shifted his head to Tyrese and Tyrene, in all honesty he could barely even stand at this point, this sudden drain of magic took a toll and regardless of the fact that he was a vampire, he was still mortal.

"Tyrese and Tyrene of the Dustin Crowe Merchant company, you have been spared not by mercy, but so that the people….my PEOPLE! Who have suffered at your hands can get their just dues. Someone please arrest these fuckers and lock them up!" Rezar ordered, and quickly enough, Slave Master Szadin came towards him with a bunch of Orcs in tow.

"Great one, we will make sure they are well taken care of, our lives and our blades are yours from now to all eternity." Rezar nodded his head and took two steps forward, but that was a mistake as the world turned upside down and the embrace of darkness came for him once more.

[[[[[||]]]]]

"This fucking dream again!"

Rezar really wanted to curse some more, and he would have if he hadn't noticed that this was a lot different than the norm. he was still a dark place, but this time it wasn't a tunnel, but an intersection leading to five doors instead of two. Two of those doors he somewhat recognized as they had changed. The doors of people only had the normal races on them, humans, dwarves, elves etc. then there was the doors of monsters and animals that still looked pretty much the same. Black for the humanoid races and white for the animals, their skulls still gleaming and eldritch as it has always been. And then there was a purple door, and the only word Rezar could use to describe it was alien.

He didn't recognize the races on this door, not until he caught sight of a familiar metallic skull with snakes for hair. It was the Medusa he had fought during the trial, meaning this was a door that opened for aliens, or whatever. The fourth door was a dark burnt red, in fact as he looked at it, blood actively leaked and poured from the skulls on the door. And these skulls he recognized quite well…. they were demons. And within it he could see orcs, imps, succubus's and other sort he could recognize and couldn't recognize and more so were the therianthrope. Werewolves, kitsunes, Tiger men and Lion men, they all fell under the demonic classification.

Then the final door was one of gold and blue and hints of green. On this door there were no skulls, but whole skeletons. Fairies, sprites, dryads, nymphs and finally all three classification of angels. Rezar designated this door the celestial or nature door. But regardless of how beautiful all colorful the doors all looked, it didn't change the fact that they still depicted the death of a couple of races, that what lied beyond was blood and skulls and bones and death. And once again a voice asked.

"CHOOSE!"

And once again Rezar refused to, and just like before, he drowned in the lifeblood that spilled from all the doors, and this time….it Hurt!