Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 373: Tragic Loss

Pain was everything Thalion knew. Being violently flung through space hadn’t helped his body or soul at all. On top of that, the crystal he had swallowed as the Tidecaller Serpent began to act up again, twisting his soul once more. Not that it made much difference when most of his skin was gone and the molten armor had buried itself deep into his flesh.The pain was so intense that Thalion remained lying on the ground, ignoring where he had been teleported to. His eyes hadn’t survived Kaelir’s fire either, and his hands were still trapped in the hot metal that remained of his armor. That last firestorm had really been something.

What was he supposed to do against such power in the future? Sure, it had been a bad matchup, but in general Thalion lacked an attack or skill that could rival such overwhelming strength. He only had his bloodline skill and that one left him very vulnerable when charged to that level.

Thalion also wondered how much mana Kaelir had left, since by the end he himself had dropped below thirty percent. Infusing all that blood with mana had taken its toll. Speaking of blood — besides his essence blood, there was none left. That damned Chosen had vaporized all the blood he had gathered over such a long time. He could have easily filled a few Olympic swimming pools with it.

He really needed to find a way to make the blood he stole more powerful and more resilient. This battle had shown what a Chosen was capable of and just how massive the gap was that he needed to close before the end of the system event. Until now, Thalion had no idea how to accomplish that, especially with his level still locked without evolving.

First, he needed to treat his wounds. Then, he could take some time to plan and review the battle in peace. He was unable to move with the molten armor hardening around him. Without the system, he would probably have needed to use the vines of the — but thanks to the spatial amulet, he had another option.

He simply placed the remains of the armor into his spatial amulet. The pain of his partly healed flesh tearing open again was unbearable, and if he hadn’t bitten down hard, he would have screamed. It wasn’t just his body — his face had also been scarred where the melted mask had fused into his skin. All in all, Thalion couldn’t remember ever being in such agony before.

Good thing he had an easy way to heal: his bloodline skill. One teleport later, and with no mana left, his injuries were mostly healed. Just to be safe, he drank a healing potion and two mana potions to speed up recovery.

“Ahh, this feels much better,” Thalion said aloud while standing up and shaking his arms and legs. The light blinded him for a moment, but his healed eyes adjusted quickly.

“Now let’s take a look at where we stand,” he thought, scanning his surroundings.

He stood in the middle of a massive grassland surrounded by four mountains. On each mountain stood a palace. From some of them, he could feel auras erupting — likely the result of fights between smaller but potent parties. None of that concerned Thalion right now. He was healing nicely, but he still needed to fix his soul shape and spend some time as the Tidecaller Serpent to ensure the crystal’s power was properly absorbed.

Before that, though, he looked down at what remained of his armor and sword. His armor was now a single fused piece — all the runes gone. Thalion had inscribed many repair runes, but every single engraving on both sword and armor had been destroyed, which meant there would be no repairs. The same went for his sword.

A hot, bubbling anger began to rise within him. He had worked so hard to craft this armor and sword, and now both were ruined. The had no blade anymore — only the hilt and its crystal remained.

Now, this meant war. Before, he had been merely annoyed by the elves and disliked them — but now, they would pay the price. At least the crystals could still be used for future crafting, and some of the material might be reusable, but all in all, this was a tragic loss. The only two items remaining intact were the spatial amulet and his golden amulet, which had greedily devoured the souls of the dead.

Luckily, he had always been thorough when looting. Among his spoils was a good black robe from one of the humans he had killed in the last palace — otherwise, he would have been forced to run around naked.

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A quick shift brought him into the form of the Tidecaller Serpent, where he began rearranging his soul body — or rather, twisting it back into shape — while spreading the crystal’s energy more evenly. It seemed the crystal’s effect caused his soul to twist more the stronger it became, trapping energy within and forcing even greater distortion.

As long as he took the form of the Tidecaller Serpent every few days, it should be enough to keep things under control.

To rearrange his twisted soul body took only a few minutes. In his other forms, he wouldn’t even be able to see where the distortion originated, but as the Tidecaller Serpent, it was easy. It was rather obvious, considering that this was the form twisting his soul in the first place.

After setting his soul back in order, Thalion switched to his human form. The fights atop the palaces intensified, sparking some greed within him. He also felt a decent amount of anger after his items had been destroyed. Why not think about the fight later in the safe zone? He was losing precious time right now.

He still felt a bit dizzy from using the escape token, but his connection to the Outsider meant such inconveniences faded relatively quickly. He didn’t plan to charge up to the palace directly — instead, he would join the battle using the Crimson Eidolon. But before that, he needed to make one more change.

Now that he was without a sword, an idea came to him. The — the first skill he had ever bought and always used to unleash the — was practically useless at the moment. He could form a blade from blood that was sturdier. The only truly good part of the skill was the ability.

Then, there was another similar skill he had gained with the Crimson Eidolon: . It essentially did the same thing, except that instead of forming claws from blood, it used the crimson mana the Eidolon was made from. This ability also had a slashing effect like . Combining the two skills could hopefully create a better, stronger version.

Thalion also did it partly out of desperation. He felt so far behind the curve that he needed to take risks if he wanted any chance of catching up. There was no hesitation when Thalion activated Skill Fusion and waited for the result.

Claw of the Blooded Templar (Mythic)

Channels crimson mana into his hand, shaping it into five elongated claws that shimmer with liquid blood and burn with predatory intent. Each talon hums with volatile energy, extending his reach and turning every swing into a blur of red light. When unleashed, the claws can project five crescent-shaped arcs of condensed crimson mana that slice through the air and carve into anything in their path. The arcs grow stronger the more blood saturates the battlefield, their power rising with his fury and the pulse of life around him. Within each claw forged from his conviction burns that same relentless belief — the merging of devotion and destruction.

“Yes. Yes!!” Thalion celebrated. Oh, that was exactly what he needed — a good old Blooded Templar skill. From the description, it didn’t seem like much had changed besides a few lines about belief, but so far none of those skills had disappointed him.

It was also quite convenient that, for some reason, the skill used crimson mana — whatever that was — instead of blood. Which was perfect because he didn’t have any blood left, and there was no way he was going to use his essence blood for a skill. At least this had worked out perfectly.

So why not test it again? There were two more skills that were quite similar — Blood Harvest and Blood Absorption. They basically did the same thing, and normally there wouldn’t be much point in fusing them. But with the last few skills and items he had created, all of them carried the name — and they had all been far more potent than the rest.

So why not make a new skill out of two that were practically identical?

Screw it. The first fusion had gone perfectly. Why not now?

Sacrament of the Blooded Templar (Ethereal)

The Blooded Templar raises his hand, and the battlefield stills. The blood of the fallen and the living alike begins to stir, remembering its origin. With a single command of will, it abandons its hosts and returns to its rightful master. Flesh pales, hearts falter, and crimson mist seeps from wounds as blood bends to the Templar’s conviction. The blood flows back into his body, restoring his strength and sharpening his resolve. Bones mend, flesh renews, and the air grows heavy with sanctified dread. To the Blooded Templar, this is not theft but divine restoration. Blood belongs to the faithful and through the Sacrament of the Blooded Templar, it merely returns to where it was always meant to be. To the vessel of conviction, to the one who believes without doubt or mercy.

It looked like it was his lucky day. If he found any beasts, he would simply take their skills and fuse them with some of his own to get more Blooded Templar abilities. Two mountaintops were now emitting the sounds of battle. Before engaging, he would take a look. Maybe he could find some elves.

He would much prefer to butcher a few elves to cool his blood down a bit. In the end it wouldn’t matter: Thalion had already witnessed what power a Chosen could wield, and that was likely not even the strongest. Kaelir hadn’t even reached the top one hundred, and Thalion had surpassed him with all the treasures he had gathered in the labyrinth and the palace. No — it was time to gather more treasure.

Thalion sat down, legs crossed, and closed his eyes as the Crimson Eidolon emerged from his chest and a red flower enveloped his body.